The sun., 1888-03-20
THEIR FLAT A FIRE TRAP.
FALLING FROM THE WINDOWS OF
THE BURNING ELBEROM

Hurt, Just ms More Firemen Expect t.
he In the Fiat Kegien-Eisht Injured Al
toRether-A~d Yet tho Building Law
Net Violated by tho Csnstructors.
The flremen who have to fight flames In
that part Of the city between Third avenue and
Madison avenue and between Fifty-ninth and
Ninetieth streets. shake their heads and some.
times swear when they talk about the great
number OF apartment houses which are built
and are building in that section without fro
escapet.
There are several fats in East Eighty-flfth
street that look mu oh handsomer and probably
rent better than they would with fire escapes
down the fronts. and that the firemen consider
particularly dangerous: and when. at $3.50
o'clock yesterday morning. a young man. bare
headed and painting. rushed into the house Of
~ Engine in East Eiehty-fltth street near
Third avenue. and yelled: "Firel Firel
There's big fiat on fire up the street,"
Capt. Pat Donohue Of tho engine company let
no grass grow under his feet before he got into
his wagon and went skimming up toward Mad
ison avenue As he left the engine house he
saw where the fire was, and his heart sank
within him. Great clouds Of smoke were pour
ing out OF tho top stories OF the Elberon flats
on the southeast corner OF Eighty-Hfth street
and Madison avenue, and the Captain could see
men and women Ia white leaning out OF the
windows and waving their arms frantically at
the people In the streets. There were no fire
escapes on the Elberon.
Capt. Donohue halted his wagon at the cor
ner of Fourth avenue and ordered his driver,
Ballantyne. to send out two more alarms from
the fire signal box there. He saw that it was
useless. ON account Of the Snow drifts. for the
E h%
the ElIeron by Eighty sixth street. 'N ~
So, 3d. n. s5 5. %. IS. &c. and Trucks IS, ie, 2
and II were on the ground. Chief Michael I.
neigsboriood and came around quickly. - NV
brown. stone front Eiberon were ore madiy on firs
seen at once that there had been some awful
delay in getting word to the fremsnM,not a
LyneS on the beat Which co~ers ths Essron
has post Sm
hss The sUsoxs s1 n s their 81 Shss
men at the fourth and the sixth windows
from the corner, and two women at the third
from the phers are
ing by their hands from tho narrow window
sills, and one Of the women. u young woman.
evidently her mother clutched despairngiy at
her dauEhters hands irSn % within the hgiidinE;
tho % hook and s LADDER S Battalion The hook and ID
ladder men wore busy getting out their ladders.
and the Chief called on the scared crowd who
people were too bewildered to move. and it
n he hand and
the young man at the fourth window broke
his hGs sSw su ks oree uaTi n s
.m.s.srs whs held it, and us tSs Ia man III sHs S
picked him up and carried him to tho opposite
de % the fbs he was
enue @ .s occupied by the sisters % Of CHARITY Of st.
Lawrence's Church. He was Fred L. Westlaks.
aged %. whose mothers family occupied tho
fifth floor. His injuries wore sprained back
and severe shock.
In the mean time the firemen had got ladders
es af Easns 8r
up tho Eighty-tlith street side with 2 scaling
succor Up Qnirk mounted while tho breath
less crowd looked on putting the little hooks Of
fourth story. the, Nth story and then hung his his
down it 70 the M fourth story @ and and hang @ on the
window sill until he; in turn, descended.
Bpt the yoHnG i:llsw in gotpg dewn knocked
was no living on that window sill when 9uirk
feiI Into tho net. but again the Ie net was IS torn @
from the hands Of those who hold it, and ahe
hs ankle snG sensrs %nor
bruises. He was Isaac Westiake. aged ii.
brother q Fred. He vas was unconscious. He. too.
Qnirk mirht have got his ladder down from mi the he
@ ANA sfn'insSs n . m the s brehn asa
struck the side of tho not below him and 70.
pavement. Blood came from his mouth, and
his face, was as. white as death when they
81 the Presbyterian Hospital declared that at
As snS as I
While all this was going on worse was going
on on at tho window whore tho two women were.
window and two or three men were Just run
arms But the addsr lad Hardly dE besn m placed .ns
when Mrs; Frances Westlaks, the woman who
GaassF baf 4 ihs n xnaox zads ss
sustained herself for moment and then
Eot into the net safely though the impetus Of
eS Of s BE fsa's eSns Tni % a ss @
NY oh; y ssys y n, %o'hsS PIE Ts.s r sss tsiaisd and
rem T.. s6s hat IL Ess sf Eshs HTssr
nth Slrttl, hL tu0 lHN!lHtlOn OI Ino occupants,
l.. b. Hall and p. V. Williams. Drs White and
Bowers said there that Addis had sustained
severe injuries OF the spine. beside being badly
burned. She Is "a years old.
The hremen tried to obey Adde'S prayer to
save her mother. but the flames and smoke at
the lfth-story window drove them back, Thon
they went 70 work at the task Of lighting the
fire and got it under control at s O'Clock. The
four upper stories OF the building were gutted.
Whom the flremsn got into the fifth story they
found Mrs. Westlake quite dead, her body lying
where II had fallon back from the window. The
body was unburned, though the face WAS cut
by glass. Mrs. Westlake had evidently died
from suffocaton. The lremen lowered the
body to the ground by a, rope over a ladder.
Those living In the flats besides the West
lakes. who occupied the entire fifth story were:
second Fi0or-Joseph Sedenberg his wiie and three.
months old Coy baby Miss Mary Mot2Ger (Nrs Seden.
btrEs sister) and Two servants Mary Brandes and TIL
lie liartn ann
George and servant sarah Miner.
Tho fourth floor was unoccupied. On the
ground floor are big nnoccupiel store and
barber shop. into which Joseph Tim niberg had
Just moved. The different floors OF the fiat
were all arranged upon the same plan. There
was big square parlor on the Madison avenue
corner, which took up nearly all the Madison
avenue side. Tho extra space was occupied by
a hall bedroom south Of each parlor. Right
back OF the pArlor, on the Eighty-flfth street