Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-03-20
THROWN DOWN TO DEATH.
TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES AT A NEW
 YORK FIRE.

tected by Fire Escapes the Scene of Mad Leaps for Liie-Mrs. westlake Thrown to the Ground.
 NEW YORK, March 20-Three families in .ive-story flat house at Madison avenue and Eigh.y-fifth street were driven out of their -ooms by a fire yesterday. The house. although new and fine looking, was a death trap, which had been erected by speculative build CTS. There were no fire escapes to prevent .oss of life in an emergency, and the elevator shaft had been constructed in such flimsy manner as to conduct the flames rapidly from one story to all the others. Four persons on the top floor were barred in by the flames One was killed and the rest were hurt while escaping. Three other inmates of the house were injured, and brave fireman, who was trying to save others lives, nearly lost his | own.
 The names of the dead and injured are as follows:
 ! Dead-Mrs Frances Westlake, age 45, sui located while trying to get out of a front window.
 !, Injured-Sarah Mother, age g, burned se- verely on the face and hands; William Quirk, 34 years old, assistant foreman of engine | injured; Joseph Seidenberg, hands and face injured; Mrs. John A. Tynberg, age IS, suf- fering from shock due to a faIl; Adelaide Westlake, age 24, back injured severely by jumping from a fifth story window into a net; Christopher Westlake, age 10. severe confusion of right hip; Frederick Westlake, age 22, spine injured seriously.
 The store floor of the burned building was vacant. Joseph Syldenvery, with his wife and child and enc servant, occupied the first floor. On the second floor were NJ. A. Tyn- berg, his wife and Sarah Mother, a servant.
 The fourth floor was unoccupied. On the fifth floor lived Mrs Frances Westlake, a middle aged widow lady; her daughter Annie, aged 24 years; her son Frederick, aged 2a years, clerk in a down town store, and Isaac C., aged 19, who is a cripple, and Harriet Kane, an old colored domestic. The house was only finished last summer.
 1 At GAS a. m., while the Tynberg fam fly were dressing for breakfast, Mr. Tynberg smelled smoke and going into the kitchen found it wrapped in flames. Running to the front part of the flat he dragged his wife and servant toward the staircase, huddling around them such bedclothes as he could lay his hands on as he ran. On the second floor he became separated from his wife, and on reaching the street found that she was still in the building. In moment afterward she appeared at window, where she remained until the fire men arrived and spread a net into which she jumped. In doing so she was seriously hurt.
 Ten minutes elapsed after the discovery of the fire before an alarm was rung, and thers was considerable delay, owing to the condi- tion of the streets, before the first engine arrived, by which time smoke and flames , were pouring from the shird and fourth story 1 windows on Eighty-fifth street and the rear. l IF fbot oil fla in,,,a hol made their escape when suddenly the win dow of Mrs Westlake's bedroom, the center one on the Eighty-fifth street side, was thrown open, and the lady appeared, clad only in her night dress, with her hair stream ing down her back. Her shrieks for aid were heartrending. An instant later Miss West lake and her brother appeared at adjoining windows, and joined their cries to those of their mother.
 "Dont jump! Don't jumpr' was the cry, and while some firemen snatched the light scaling ladders from the trucks and rushed forward, others got out the life saving nets and stretched them beneath the window
 By this time Miss Westlake had been driven out of the room by the smoke, and was hanging to the sill by both hands The net was ready none too soon. It had scarcely been stretched when the unfortunate young lady let go and fell, turning over and over in the descent and falling squarely in the net. The rebound threw her to the sidewalk, where she lay unconscious.
 Her brothers followed immediately, but in both instances the net merely served to break the full force of the fall. Both were carried away badly hurt. Mrs Westlake remained seated on the window sill, paying no heed to the entreaties of the fremen to jump to the net. She had ceased to scream and appeared | to be completely dazed with fright. Suddenly she threw up both hands and fell backward into the room.
 l Assistant Foreman Quick and Fireman | Donohue, who, each with single scaling lad der, had scaled up the front of the building, reached the window just as she disappeared. They climbed in and found her lying motion less and to all appearances dead. Not a sec ond was to be lost Mrs. Westlake was a | large, heavy woman, and to carry her down by means of the light scaling ladders was an impossibility. The only chance of rescuing the body from the flames was to cast 1t into the net. There were but four firemen hold ing the net and their united strength was not sufficient to withstand the concussion The body fell with prodigious force, bearing the centre of the net to the ground and striking the pavement with a hideous crash. The top of the skull was driven in and the body was otherwise fearfully mutilated.
 The family of Joseph Seidenberg, on the second floor, escaped in novel fashion. Mr. Seidenberg was still in bed when the alarm was given. Finding the stairway choked with smoke, he hastily wrapped his 6-months- old infant in blankets, and tossed it over the banisters to the floor below, where it was deftly caught by a fireman. Then Mr. Sci | denberg and his wife and servant ran to the dumb waiter shaft, and slid down by the rope. Beyond cutting and bruising their hands they escaped without injuries. Jealousy and Murder. DENVER, Colo, March 20-Charles Sweig- hart, a German, 40 years of age, visited the