The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1885-05-22
HORRIBLE.
An Insignificant Fire in a Cincin-
natl Printing Office
Results in the Death of Fifteen
Persons
And Terrible Injuries to Many
Others.
Fearful Scenes Caused by a Burst
ing Benzine Can.

CINCINNATI May 21-This city has had its
share OF shocking disasters, but never mas one
happened where such a pitiful loss OF lie ocs
CURED as that of today, and With so little oc-
casion. In less than fifteen minutes after the
fatal bluader began, 16 or II persons had per
ished, every one OF whom coRld have been
very easily saved. Short as the time Was
there were displays OF heroism that saved Two
lives, but one of the heroes lost his own life.
At half-past / this afternoon, j. A Green,
city editor of the TimesStar, upon going up
the stairway to his office, saw dense clouds OF
smoke issuing from the rear Windows or the
building, Mes. 19 and 81 West Sixth street, and
Immediately telephoned the fire department.
The alarm brought the engines almost instant-
", and it was not fifteen minutes before the
fire was so much under control that Chief E.ss-
giDeer WisbY was able to re ach the fifth or top
floor, but he was too late to rescue the girls
employed there, and to his horror he found ten
dead bodies lying with their hands to their
faces, and their faces blackened and distorted
in death.
The Chief said, in speaking Of it: "The
house is not burned out; in fact the fire was
chiefly in the fifth story. In the smoke,
counted ten girls lying upon benches, tables,
and other things, and some on the floor. Their
clothing was not burned, but the skin on the
backs of their hands was scorched. 1t was
terrible sight, the worst ever saw in my ex-
perience. The girls lay where they had fallen
in their wild and helpless despair
The fire started from can of benzine on the
second floor near the elevator shaft. A boy
on that floor, says he heard report, and in-
stantly the fire leaped to the elevator shaft and
darted up it. This shaft reaches to the top Of
the building, and from the third story TO the
fifth floor it was enoircled by wooden stair
way, which was the only means of access to
these floors. The elevator shaft, to add TO its
combustibility, was encased with thin wood
en- lattice work. The second floor, where the
ire started, was the press room, the third the
composing room, the fourth the storage and
waste room, and the fifth the folding room.
AS soon as the fire started John Sullivan, a
young man and a cousin of the proprietor,
ran up the stairway to the fifth floor to give
warning to the girls and instantly almost he
found he was too late to get them down the
stairway and that bis own retreat was cut off.
What he did for the frightened girls could
only be told by glimpses that could be seen of
him at a smoking window from which four of
the girls had already leaped to their death. j.
r. Kinsley's son and his foreman had gone to
the roof of their building adjoining this on
the west, and knowing the girls were impris-
oned on the floor below they procured rope
snd lowered 1t to the window where Sullivan
was, who instantly grasped it and fastening
one Of the girls to it, helped her out of the
window and Kingsley and Schroeder lowered
her safely to the sidewalk. The rope was then
brought up and Sullivan quickly fastened it to
another girl and sent her down safely. The
rope came up the third time and as the other
girls by this time were all suffocated or were
afraid to venture Sullivan fastened the rope
to his own body and was being lowered when
as he was halfway down, the flames shot out
OF the window and he fell headioremost to the
Sidewalk in the presence of a horrified crowd
who had witnessed his heroism.
When the girls were jumping from the win
dow large colored man heroically tried to
catch them and so break the force of their
fall and he nearly lost his own life in the St
tempt.
Within ton rninutes q fer +ha 6re bao,, -
troll wagons were called into use TO carry away
the wounded and killed. There were 30 occu-
pants of the building of whom 20 or % were
girls In the fifth story Boys were on the sec
ond and 3rd floors, and this accouhts for their
escape All agree that the spread OF the flames
was almost instantaneous. There was an ave-
nue. of escape which the panic stricken girls
did not think OF. Ii Was an opening in the
roof which they could easily have reached
from bench standing beside the wall and
once on the roof they could have reached other
building with perfect ease. The lack OF ready
access to this place cost all these lives.
The ire was almost insignificant and the
wooden stairway around the elevator shaft is
not SO burned as to be useless or even unsafe
yet the flames seem to have pervaded ali the
floors and to have ruined all the paper and
other light combustible matter. Mr.. Sullivan
estimates his loss at $4,000. The damage to
the building is slight.
The scenes at Habig's undertaking estab
llsntAoutI Wubr6 bu5 uobQ DOuloS were taken,
aud where friends and relatives came to iden.
tify them, were of the most painful character
Ia one case policeman identified his Sisters
Lizzie aud Dolly Handel twins; Mrs. Meiers
fouud the body of her daughter, and had TO be
led away from the terrible sight. Mrs. Lss-
ban had the awful experience of finding her
three daughters among the dead
The fatal list, as now made up, is:
killed-Anna Bell, aged 48; Dolly and Liz
gle Handel, twin sisters, 20 years old; Fannie
Jones, %; Della, Katie and Mary Leabon, SIS
ters, aged %, IA and 16 respectively; Katie
Lo"ry, 20; Lizzie Meirs, 49, Annie McIntire
20j Fannie Norton, "a; Katie and Mary Pat
nam, sisters, % and 10; John Sullivan, %;
Lellie Wyman, 20.
IDjured-WIl Bishop, printer, % years;
will probably die; Josie Hawkes., Emma
Pinchback, will probably die; Mamie Shep-
herd, head badly cut.
Preparations are already in progress for the
relief of the families of the victims, most of
whom were the support of dep endent families.