The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-05-08
MANY MEET DEATH.

MANY MEET DEATH.
Eight Lives Lost by the Burning of a New
York Tenement House-Two Firemen
Killed at Blaze in Chicago.-several
Persons Blown Into Eternity by Boiler
Explosion at Galveston, Tex.
New YORK, May 4.-The double tene-
ment house at 672 First avenue was the
scene of terribly fatal fire at about one
o'clock yesterday morning. Eight people
are dead, three are dying, and fourteen are
lying at the hospital in various stages of in
jury. The house is of brick, five stories
high, and arranged for four families to
floor. 1t is of the tenement variety known
as double decker" and the record of these
buildings in New York has been dismal in
the extreme when fire or other mshap has
befallen them. The fire-escape was in the
rear, and the platforms were of wood.
About one-half of the platform opposite the
second floor was completely burned away,
and all the way up the woodwork
OF the escapes" was charred. Four
families lived on each floor, and
the doors between the various apart
ments were usually kept locked, so that
when the tenants were aroused it was inn
possible for those in the front rooms to
make their way to the rear to get on the
fre-escape. The Railways were full of
smoke, and flames were pouring up the
stairway. Had there been fire-escape ON
the front OF the house all might have made
their escape The Inspector of Buildings
said that the law did not require owners of
tenements to place escapes" both in front
and rear.
There were about forty persons in the
tenement when the fire broke out. On the
ground floor of the tenement Joseph Hum
phrey, better known as "BeefsteaK John, -
kept restaurant, and it was in this
place that the flames started. At
one o'clock Humphrey was seen to leave
the restaurant and go upstairs through
the common hallway. 1t is supposed his
discovered the fire in the kitchen of his
restaurant and ran to awaken his family
and the other tenants. He was found sutfo-
Gated on the stairs by the tiremen. His
wife and child were asleep on the fourth
floor. Six others besides Humphrey were
taken from the building dead from the
smoke.
The most thrilling incidents occurred be-
fore the arrival of the firemen. Michael
Allen, strapping young fellow, was one of
the first ON the ground. He saw woman
crouching at a thrd-story window amid
dense volume of black smoke. She was
Mrs. Limbacher. "Help, help" she
shrieked, and then disappeared. The
spectators supposed that she had lost con-
sciousness and was slowly dying from suffo-
cation. In few moments she appeared
with a child in her arms. ''Save my
babyw She cried frantically, and then
flung the little one to the street, distance
of fully forty feet. Michael Allen firmly
braced himself and held out his arms to re-
ceive the child that was making such per-
ilous aerial journey. He grasped the infant
in its descent and carried it unframed to
place OF safety. A man next appeared at
the same window with another child in his
arms, and having shouted to the crowd
below threw it out. The child was
caught by Officer Thomas Flah-
erty, and was u but slightly: in
jured. Mrs. Lambacher again presented
herself with a third child and let it drop
to the street. 1t was also caught in
Michael Aliens arms and was placed with
the others. The parents were rescued by
the fremen.
When the hook and ladder trucks ar
rived such of the tenants as were perched
on the WindoW-Sills were rescued without
difficulty 1t is known that eight persons
lost their lives, although it is thought two
or three more will die in few hours. The
dead are:
Joseph Humphrey, Henry Humphrey, Mrs.
Christina Koerner, Pauline Koerner, Mrs.
krptZSahmar Richard
Hurley, Mary, servant of Mrs. Humphrey.
FATALITY AT A CHICAGO FIRE.
CHICAGO, May 4.-Twenty firemen were
caught by the falling roof at fire at 161
and 1863 South Water street last night. Two
of them were taken out dead. The others es-
capped more or less injured, but none are con-
sidered. to be very dangerously hurt. Among
the men who were caught by the timbers
were Chief SWenie, ten members of Hook
and Ladder truck No. l, several of Chem
ical Engine No. /, and several of Engine
No. II. The fremen had been working
hard about thirty minutes to keep back the
flames which had crept from the rear of the
third floor to the hay stored on the
fourth floor of building 161. Several
streams of water had been directed
on the hay. Chief Swenie, who was
personally directing the work, feared the
great weight of the wet hay, and gave or
ders to the various Captains to call out
every man in the building. Scarcely had
the words been uttered when the roof and
top floor fell
The two dead men were taken out about
1880 o'clock this morning. They were
found under the heavy timbers, and were
slightly burned. Their names are Charles
Bird and Martin Mulvey. Bird was mar
ried. Chief Swenie was slightly bruised,
and several flremen were badly injured.
TERRIBLY FATAL EXPLOSION.
GALVESTON, Tex, May About 1880
yesterday morning one of the boilers at the
fremont House exploded, killing five or six
persons, wounding several others and bad
ly damaging several buildings. The Ire
mont House is a fve-story brick building,
the boiler-hOuSe, One-StOry brick
structure, being located in the north
west corner of the hotel. There were
two horizontal tubular boilers, each
OF siXty-horse power, but only one
was being used. When the explosion took
place the boiler shot away from the main
building. Passing out of the engine-house
end first, it crossed a yard and passed
through frame building, where the SER
wants slept, then crossed Twenty-fourth
street and over the roof of small house.
struck the roof of frame structure, and
finally crashed through the roof Of house
of ill-repute. The latter place was entirely
demolished. The killed are as follows:
Lawrence Carr, the fireman; Clara Miller, a
white woman who was in a disreputable
house; Anderson Jones, a colored scrubber;
several children, the exact number not being
known.
A number of the hotel employees were
hurt more or less seriously, but none fatal
ly. The explosion is believed to have been
the result of defective workmanship in put
ing up tho boilers, which were new last
OctohGr.
-"Hello, old man, where are you