Evening journal., 1889-05-08
THE FIRE CLAIMS FIVE.
npeAnruL WORK or THE FLAMES
IN WEST CHESTER, N. Y.
rerr,bfe FIRE Burns Five People TO
Death- Heroic Efforts to save Lille
Horrible suffsrings.

ing out Win lefce anu Nlsculuehb thsta-
tencv message that everybody under
stood. A minute later the fire bell on the
engine house and the bells of the Presby-
ferian Church were adding their voices
TO the summons for volunteers TO fight
the flames. But the credit of sounding
the first alarm belongs to William Noyes,
the night engineer at Mallet soda
factory, which is but few wards from
the house. He had sent the message
through the brass larynx Of the steam
whistle ,
The FIRE had been under way some little
time before the alarm was given and be-
fore any Of the occupants became aware
of their danger The house was two
story and attic building, constructed
of wood. Il was sort OF village land.
mark. as its construction was supposed
to antedate the revolution. IL is rumored
that the fire was caused by the explosion
Of a kerosene lamp which was suspended
at the first landing on the main stairway
and kept burning all night But what
ever the cause, once started, the progress
of the flames was rapid, the weather
dried shingles and well seasoned oaken
frames burning like straw.
Mr.. Bovine with his wife and their
3-year-old child, Rebecca, occupied a
room on the second floor on the southeast
corner Of the house. In a room across
the hallway slept his mother, Mrs.
Thomas B. Bovine, aged 81 years, and
his two daughters, Katie and Helen, aged
3 and respectively. In one of the attic
rooms slept the servant, Ellen Dunn, age
S2, with her sister Mary Mary had paid
her sister visit that day and intended
10 return home the next day.
Mr.. Bovine was first awakened by his
mother who rushed into the room shout
ing that the house WAS on fire, and has
tened back to her own SOON. intent on
saving the children who shared it with
her. he jumped ont OF bed
like a man startled by pistol
shot caught up his sleeping ehlld,
Rebecca, and, dashing down the stasea
which were already on fire, rushed out of
the front door and placed her on the
=stoop Of bis store, which was just across
the road, There the little tot was found
when the fremen arrived on the scene,
calmly seated, regarding with childlike
curiosity the burning house.
Papa told me stay here till he came, ="
she said to those whe carried her away.
had already gained an entrance to the
room. When he entered it again to get
at his children they offered an impossible
barrier. After being severely burned
he was forced to the roof again. Then
he tried to get into the the house
through the room on the southeast cor
ner. But here the flames beneath were
burning fercely The tin was almost
red hot. He bravely crossed it only to
encounter flames bursting through the
window. To 60 further was to encounter
certain death. Almost blinded, with
hands and feet badly burned, he returned
TO the side of his wife who was still OF
the roof, Of the piazza, and held her III
while he shouted loudly for help. =
Ere this the general alarm had beer
sounded and people were hurrying to tn,
scene. A ladder was placed against thl
house, and strong arms carried his wifi
down and then helped him to follow her
he would have rushed again into tn,
burning building, but the spectator
forcibly restrained him. His wife wa
very little hurt.
The engine house is not more than 10
feet distant from the Bovine homestead
1t is a hand engine, Of course. II wa
speedily manned and a few minute
after the alarm had been gwen, fift
stout arms were at work on the pun ps
+. Y. Armstrong, A. w. Harrington ah
Alexander Devlin were among the iirst't
offer assistance.
But quick as Mr.. Bovine had beer
the flames had been quicker. The stair
were blazing furiously. He could not n
turn TO his wifes room that way. Wit
great presence of mind he ran around [
the eastern side of the house, alon
which ran piazza, and climbing up on
Of its supports gained a footing on th
tin roof, broke open the window of hi
bedroom and carried his wife out upo
the roof, which was now so hot that
blistered their feet.
Crozier, r. ID. Robinson, Gordon Sc
and William Herring We're the first {
get into the building by means of ladder
when the flames had been sufficiently sui
-.dued to make an entrance possible.
Tho found Mrs. Bovine, the granC
mother, prone on the floor, with one
the children, bver whom she had throw
a blanket, clasped to her breast He
last effort had been to save the child
life. a few. feet away Tss streteht
the other child, little Katie Watts
Bovine. Ellen Dunn and her sist,
Mary Dunn, were horribly burned
But one stream Of water could av
little in quenching flames that had 81
combustible material to feed upon.
any were to be saved it would be
courage and not by water.
John Crozier, Jr., made a dash at
front entrance and clutehed at the bC
of the servant girl. Ellen Dunn, "
somehow had struggled down from
attic and was stretched out in the hi
way. But the flesh came of in his han
It was obvious that she was dead.
the same time the flooring gave way a
had not his comrades pulled him bi
the gallant fellow would have lost
own life.
It was lucky that there was no W
or Mr.. Bowne's store, just across
street from his home, and also Of wo
would probably have been burned.
in that event il is likely that the fiaI
would have extended to his lumber va
Mrs. Bovine is in a precarious col
tlon, but is likely to recover. The
quest on the bodies will be held tod
In st. Peters Church were FIVE
bodies, two Of them grown women
three of them little children. Death
come to them in its most horrid shap
that of iire-and imprinted no smile
their lips, but so blackened and dlstOr
the features that no friend would dar,
lift the covering which mercifully
them from sight.
The names were as follows: n
Thomas B. Bovine, 81 years old; X
Watson Bovine, . years old; Helen N
garet BOVINE years old; Ellen Dunn
years old; Mary Dunn, 10 years old.