River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-08-09
A FIRE TRAP.

SONS anu the lnIuring OF Eleven OtheEs
in New York City Heart-Rending
scenes at the Burning Of six-Story
Tenement
NEW YORK, Aug. 4-Seyenteen people
were burned to death In a six story brick
building in the rear of ig7 Bowery Friday
afternoon. Six more, burned so badly
that they vii. probably die, were
removed to various hospitals. The
house was a ramshackle affair. hid
den IN the middle Of the block, the only
entrance 10 II being a narrow alley
way from the Bowery. In front Of il was
four-story building. OF the first floor Of
which was a saloon called tho White
House. Adjoining this is Harry Miners
Peoples TheGJer. In the rear of the
burned building were two houses hem
ming it in on the Christie street
side. In this caged-in building lived
about $50 people Each of the six
floors was occupied by a single family,
the head Of which was tailor who made
clothing for the cheap wholesale clothing
houses, and employed from fifteen 10 TWEEN
~ men, women and children, in addition
to his own family, in making up the
clothing. They were all Polish Jews,
and employers and employed worked,
ate and slept in the crowded rooms
II the dingy tenement The tenants
who rented the apartments were :. Coon,
). Graft, Klein q Marks, :. Harris aud H
Levina. About 4:l5 o'clock p m, while
all the occupants of the building We're
ousily at work In the closing hours pre-
,eding their Sabbath eve, flames broke out
IN the lower floor The fire had. when dis
covered, already gained such Roadway that
t was in fun possession of the stairway,
and escape by it seemed impossible.
a stout German woman rushed frantic
ally into the street wringing her hands and
screaming out: Mein Colt! Aieiu Gott.
Dose peoples are burning upw This was a
startling reminder that lives were in peril,
and great excitement ensued. The police
reserve was called out, and in short order
100 blue-coats in charge Of Inspector
Williams were on hand ready TO assist the
bremen Alarm after alarm was sent out
after ambulances, and IN a very little
while surgeons rolled up from St. Vincent,
Chambers street, Bellevue and New York
hospitals, while the department of chart
lies and corrections sent two of their am
0ulances Their services were badly
headed Many of the frightened inmates
7 rushed down through the flames and es-
,aped 10 the narrow courtyard with
clothes ablaze and hands and bodies burned.
Six of them were so severely burned that
hat they were taken to the hospital and
may die. There were escapes on the
'front.' and rear of the house perpendicular
ron ladders running down the front and
ear of the bu ldlng). but before any of the
inmates had tried TO escape by them the
DANES had assembled through the house
and were reaching from the windows, so
hat descent by the horoscopes was i'm
possible
One man, already half burned TO death,
capped from fifth-s.ory window and fell
nangled mass of flesh in the little court
yard. Others jumped from the second
story windows and escaped with bruises.
The enormous crowds that had gathered
shrank with fearsome dread and sym
oathy as the wounded shiieked and
groaned with the pain.
Charles W. Norman, property man Of the
Peoples Theater, with several of his COM
-ades, ran to the roof of the theater carry
ng a small ladder. which they stretched
over to a window of the burning building
woman with her hair and clothing al
ready ablaze appeared at the window, ana
Norman called TO her to cross over on the
adder. She cried back that she could not
cave her two children. Norman tried to
cross over on the ladder, but the flames
irove him back and he could not save her
{
sr and two children were found in the
building Three men. however, availed
themselves of the ladder and escaped to
he roof Of the theater.
When the firemen had at last drowned
he flames 80 that they could enter the
house, they searched floor by floor as they
iscended, and on the third floor they
ound the burned bodies of a man, a
woman and "a boy. On the fourth floor
hey found five bodies so badly burned
hat il was impossible to tell whether they
we're those of men or women On the fifth
1oor no bodies were found, but on the sixth
i've more bodies were found, and they
also were burned so that it could not be
old whether they were the bodies of men
)r women.
While the firemen were searching the
uins the cry came that the roof was fall
ng in and the cracking of timbers was
heard The firemen did not desert the
building, but ran TO the windows where
/ hey waited orders. They shouted to
/ Chief McGill, who was on the roof
/ If a lower house Wait till / see, y
/ ne shouted back. He climbed a lad
| Ter and saw the roof sagging in,
1ut he shouted back orders 10 prop
I up. and this was successfully done All
The bodies had not been taken down, and
until this was done the hremen would not
! iesert the ruins
( Several Of the bodies were burned so
/ BADLY that they fell apart when they were
! removed, and the firemen were obliged to
! over them from the win dOws in nets.
/ The names of the dead are
Adele Gruft, aged % with her newborn
babe, burned 10 death; Jos Gruft. years.
I burned 10 death, Celia Gruft, years. burned
% death; Philip Taloph, y years, killed by
jumping from sixth story; Henry Schwartz,
tailor, suffocated on fourth floor; woman I'M
Known, at mOrgue, burned beyond recognition;
Abraham Schneider, 20 years, burned 10 dea h ,
solomon Weinberg. burned almost beyond
I ,ecognition; ten men at mOrgue burned To-
yond recognition. The death OF Asias Speu-
aet at the hospital at late hour makes the
seventeenth death to midnight.
The injured number eleven.
The fire started on the first floor in the
apartment of Emma Stevenson, the jan
itress of the building, and was caused by
the explosion Of kerOsene-on stove.
The burned building belonged to
Lawyer Abraham Stern, who bought
it six months ago. The damage to
the building is about 5000, covered by in
surance. The loss on the stock of cloth
ing in the various apartments is estimated
at sl5OOO. 1t is believed it was not insured.
The house in the rear of the death-trap
was badly burned, and the Peoples Thea
ter was slightly damaged by fire and