Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1885-05-28
TERRIBLE LOSS OF LIFE.
Seventeen Persons Burned or Crushed to
Death.

Cincinnati has had its share Of shocking dis
asters, but never has one happened where such
ptiful loss of life has occurred as that which
happened Oh the 2lst inst, with SO little occa-
sion. In less than fifteen minutes after the
fatal blunder began sixteen or seventeen per-
sons persisted. Looking over the scene after
the event II Is very plain that every life could
have been easily saved
Short as the time was there were displays of
thoughtful heroism that saved two lives, but
one of the heroes lost his own life.
At hall, past l O'Clock In the afternoon, Mr..
j. A. Green, city editor OF the Times-Star, up
on going up the stairway 10 his Office saw
dense clouds OF smoke issuing from the rear
windows of the building 10 and 81 West Sixth
street, and Immediately telephoned TO the fire
department. An alarm brought the engines
almost instantly and as the firemen could
reach the building from the front and rear, II
was not fifteen minutes until the fire was so
much under control that Chief Engineer Wis
by was able TO reach the fifth or top floor But
he was too late 10 rescue the girls employed
there and to his horror he found ten dead
bodies lying with their hands To their faces
and faces backened and distorted in death. As
soon as the fire started, Jno. Sullivan, young
man, cousin OF the proprietor, ran up the stair
way TO the fifth floor To give warning TO the
girls ms Il ltly almost he found he was too
late to TT them down the stairway, and that
his own rttrca: was cut off. What he did for
the frightened girls could only be told by the
RulnpSeS tnht cOulu De seen Oh hin al The
smoking window whence six of the girls had
already lcaped 10 their death Two other men
had gone % the roof Of their building adjoin-
ing this On the west, and knowing the girls
were imprisoned on the floor below, they pro-
cured rope and lowered II to the window
where sullivan was. He instantly grasped II,
and fastening one of the girls to 1t, helped her
out of the window the men lowered her safely
to the sidewalk. The rope was brought up
and Sullivan again quickly fastened 1t to an
other girl AMI s@at her down safely The rope
came third tine, and as the other girls by
this time were all suffocated or afraid TO ven
ture, Sullivan fastened the rope TO his own
body and was being lowered, when, as he was
half way down. the flames
shot out of window and he
fell head foremost to the sidewalk in the
presence of Mortified crowd of people who
had witnessed his heroism When the girls
were jumping from the windows large color
cd man II roicaly tried to catch them and so
break the force OF the fall. He nearly lost his
own life In the attempt. Within ten minutes
after the fire patrol wagons were called into
use to carry away wounded and killed.
All this while there was an avenue 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 IA bench standing be-
side the wall, and once on the roof they could
have reached other buildings with perfect ease.
The lack of ready access TO this place lost all
these lives The fire was almost Insignificant.
The wooden stairway around the elevator shaft
was not burned 20 as to be useless or even UNI
safe, yet the flames seem to have prevailed all
the floors and TO have ruined all the paper and
other light combutible matter. Sullivan esti-
mates his loss at $1,000 to $4,000, with an
ample insurance. The loss to to the building
is slight.