St. Landry democrat., 1890-03-01

noon. He bore messages of coincidence
from Secretary Blaine. The latter Is Deaf-
ing up bravely under his own great anne
ton, and went out for walk during 'Ae
afternoon with his son. Emmons,
The President remained with Secretary
Tracy until Q o'clock, when he went to the
White House. The bodies of Miss Tracy
and the servant (since identified as the
French nurse, Josephine MoreD were this
afternoon removed temporarily to the resi-
dence of Attorney General Miller, where
the body of Mrs Tracy was taken this
morning. ~
James Welsh, the Secretary's butler, told
his story of the fire. He said:
"I slept in the basement, and this morn
inp got up about $40. There was no
smell of fire and no appearance Of anything
wrong. About o'clock started to clean
mn nav dining room, when there was ring
at the bell, and when | answered 1t
colored man said, Your house is on hre.
At once | rushed up stairs to arouse the
family, and although the smoke was very
thick | succeeded in knocking at every
door and from each room | secured re-
sponse. Then | started to 60 down stars
and nearly choked with the smoke.
fell three times, but finally got to the front
door. / went around to the rear OF the
house and tried to get ladder so as to
reach the Secretary and Mrs. Tracy's bed
room. Mrs. Tracy was then at the window,
and while the few of US who were there
appealed to her to keep still for one min
pte more she climbed out on the sill and
lowered herself until she hung by her
hands on the narrow stone projection. Ev-
erybods who saw her yelled to her to hold
on for moment, and we looked around
for something to catch her so "a to break
the fall which had to come. Mrs. Tracy
NAV have heard our cries, but it isn't GER
tain that she did,"
"How long did Mrs. Tracy hang there {"
"Not more than few seconds. she
told me afterward that she slipped. She
fell into the alley, almost touching me IN
her swift descent, and struck on her left
| side, No sound save a little incoherent
murmur came from her lips. | picked
her up and carried her into Mr.. Rheems'
| house. 1t was the most awful occurrence
in my life."
The parlors are completely ruined, but
the fire didn't damage the dining room
to any extent.
To those who were admitted to view the
destruction of property the bedroom which
had been occupied by Secretary and Mrs.
Tracy was the principal point of interest.
It is on the second floor, and must have
been beautiful apartment. With the
heads towayd d the west two large brass beds
stand side by side, and on these Mr.. ano
Mrs. Tracy slept that night. The brass is
tarnished, and every thing around is black
ened and soaked with water. Tbs room
| is a huge cinder. Pictures are charred
mirrors cracked, silver backed hair brushes
and the hundred and one little toilet acces-
sories are ruined completely. The Frenct
clock on the mantel was silent, the pendu
lum having stopped at $40 a. NJ.
The two front rooms on the second hool
were occupied by Mrs. Wilmording ant
her daughter, Miss Alice. These apart
ments were wrecked. On the third floor
in the central front, was the room occupied
last night by Miss Tracy. This was ruil
of the most thorough description. Charret
in every corner, the ceiling gone, the door
burned out, cinders ankle deep cover thu
floor and what the flames had spared wa
destroyed by water. Adjoining this room
on the east was the room which was to b.
Miss Tracy's permanent room, and ther
was scattered all around evidence OF pre-
parations. On couple of chairs wer
artists materials, paints, brushes and tn
other etcetera of decorative art.
On one side of the room was woodel
bedstead, the only one in the house-an'
on its headDoard the skillful fingers of tn
prstty girl. now dead, had shaped festoon
of poppies and morning glories pendan
from true lovers knots. The fire ba'
been more kind here than elsewhere, an
there was still to be traced the floral forn
now dirty white on the smoked ground
The brushes were just where they ha
been dropped by the artist.
The FIRE originated in the psrlor, nea
the open fireplace. Whether it originate
from the CRATE or heating pipes is nc
known, as no one could be found VIII
could tell whether there was fire in tn
CRATE that night or not. The framewor
adjoining the mantel was where the fir
started, and it no doubt burned some tim
before it was discovered The furnace
directly beneath where the fire started
and the pipes led to the upper stories
passing the rear Of the woodwork. Th
firenen generally think that the woodwor
caught fire from the heated pipes. Th
commissioners Of the District of Columbi
held board session, to day and direcse
Inspector Entwisle to make thorough II
vestigation into the cause of the fire an
report.