The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-08-04
DEAU I'M SMUkE anu FLAME.
Seventeen Persons Known to have Lost
Their Lives,
By the Burning Of a New York Tene.
ment House,
While Many Others are Reported to be
Missing.
Egress by StairWays and Fire Es-
eapes Cut Off,
Making the Establishment a Perfect
Death Trap.

NEW YORK, Aug. 3.-Seventeen persons
lost their lives by a fire in Bowery tene-
ment house this afternoon and number of
others were injured by jumping from the
windows and probably fatally hurt. The
fire was caused by the upsetting of kero-
sene oil stove in the rooms of the janitress.
The building was six story death trap To-
Gated in the rear of the Peoples Theatre, in
the centre of the block bounded by the Bow
cry, Rivington, Choustie and Delaney
streets. 1t could be approached only by an
alleyway scarcely three feet wide and hun
dred feet deep. Several floors were used as
tailoring shops by four different firms, who
employed NEARLY 100 men and women to
manufacture cloaks. All the employees were
Polish Jews. The building burned fercely
and rapidly. Back of it is narrow court
yard, six feet wide, covered with
tagging. All the roads of escape being cut
off, many of the affrighted inmates rushed to
the windows and jumped from the third and
fourth story windows to the narrow pen be-
low, only to receive broken limbs or heads.
Many were overcome by smoke before the
fire reached them and burned their bodies to
crisp One dead body was found in the al
leyway. On the third floor were the bodies
Of man, woman and boy; on the fourth
foor five unrecognizable bodies, and on the
fifth, five more. All were burned beyond
recognition, An unknown man died while
under surgeons hands in the white house
saloon. The building had fire escapes but
the fire ran up the rear Of the structure cut
ting off egress by these as we'll as by the
or S0mQ of tho yiafin1c iult haxro
escaped by way of the roof If the dense
smoke had not oyerp0wered them.
THE DEAD.
Mrs. Adele Graft, aged 2S with new born
babe, burned to death.
Joseph Graft aged 7, burned to death.
Celia Graft, aged 4. burned to:death. -
Phillip Tallopp, aged %, killed by jumping
from the building.
Henry Schwartz, suffocated.
An unknown woman and 10 men, all
burned hey ond recognition.
The police have record OF 10 injured and
two missing.
THE INJURED.
Asas Spennett.
Bernard Rothman
Phillip Tartove.
Michael Rubinoff.
Abraham Navotski.
Edward Napastic. @
Morris B. Rescher.
Nathan l.. Aniie.
Ida Frank.
A woman named Sarah, last name un-
known.
All were tailors. The two women and |
Spennett will probably die. The total loss |
Of property, including $1,000 damage to the |
Peoples Theatre, will not exceed $4,000. |
Charles Norman, property man of the Peo- |
ple's Theatre, saved many lives by breaking |
down the partition on top of the theatre |
and throwing ladder over the alley to the |
third story windows of the burning building, |
over which the occupants of that floor could |
escape. When they were all out, Norman |
threw the ladder up to the fourth story and
rescuing many there. He thinks the large
loss of life is mainly due to the people be-
ing panic stricken. The scenes attending
the fire were heartrendering. Owing to the
peculiar situation of the building, the fire.
men were unable to reach the people at the
windows and prevent their jumping, and the
Of the place was so faulty, it is
doubtful if the suffocation and cremation of
the inside victims could have been prevented,
even if the firemen had been able to get to
work earlier.
Even More Thsn Supposed.
NEW YORK, August 3-Aseas Spennett
died at Bellevue Hospital tonight. Addi-
tional reports show the missing to be more
numerous than at first supposed.