News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-02-13
WASHINGTON GR|EVES.
The Sad Cabinet Aff1ictiops
Stop All Gaiety.
Tragic Death of Wife and Daughter of
Secretary Tracy.
The Secretary Himself AIthoupb ovsr-
come ~ Smoke, Recovers-A Servant
Also Burned-Harrowing Details-The
Presidents Practical Sympathy.


Also Burned-Harrowing Details-The
Presidents Practical sympathy.
mouse dismantled and smoke-beorimmad
Two marines pacing up and down in front M
an adjacent house beneath the xv;ndoH y.
what may or may not be a death cbsmbor
the great East Room of the White House ,nra
pared to receive two bodies, one charred he-
fOnu 100 hIsioh, the other mangled; a
burned and diSmembered fracmenf Of o.
other body, mass of human embers only at
Inc undertaker's-thoSew were the only visihia
signs on the night of Monday. Feb 2 nt
What the night before was home of hanni-
ness anu wealth. ana dignity and honor across
the street from the White House, LOOKING
out toward that other house where the mo-
rlnes were standing guard, there is still an
other house from which the heavy monrnina,
oraPeres are depending, as they did only two
weeks ago, where lies the BODY of the oldest
daughter of Mr. Blaine-the second Cabinet
home made deSolate. That in the outIina Ia
the story of that tragic day. 1t is a TRAGEDY
which will startle the whole world and which
appeals 70 every human heart. ''Why did we
ever leave our home in Brooklyn, where we
were so happy! mOaned Mrs WiImerdino
the eldest daughter OF Secretary Tracy nj,
the morning, who escaped from the burniror
mouse as Dy miracle. do not seek to sym-
pathize with u.s. said Mrs. Blaine. sswbep
we stand in the presence of so much greater
grief" -o'''e'
The Tracy household was asleep so far as
the world knows, when neighbor saw
smoke issuing from an upper window and
gave the alarm to the fire engine, which was
only stones throw distant. Three of the
inmates OF the house now sleep the sleep that
knows no waking. A few moments after
ward a policeman and fireman gtined en-
trance into the house to find upon the second
floor Miss Tracy, the Youngest DAUGHTER
dead. charred to cinder, and distorted he
yOnd recognition, and the PROSTATE body Of
the Secretary of the Navy, with the feet
toward an open window, from which had
jumped or fallen his wife, who Law in the
area below with leg and an arm broken.
nearly dead from suffocatiOn, while a moment
afterward, from a window on the floor above
Mrs. Wlimerding, the oldest daughter
pushed her daughter, girl of fourteen years
OF age, to the grass plot in front of the house
jumping herself afterward on the ledge rIIn-
ming beneath the Fren' h roof on the story
above Almost at the same moment the spec-
tators who quickly gathered here saw a fe-
male servant madly fighting with a blanket
the flames and seemingly about to iumn to
certain death. She needed the cries of alarm
from the street, "Don't Jump and before tho.
flames had burned her badly the tiremen ON
the top of the high ladders had reached and
saved her.
In the house the Fire Chief himself. who
had endeavored to carry the seemingly life
less body of the Secretary of the NAVY down
the stairs, the ladders not having been raised.
was not SO fortunate. He fell with his great
burden in the smoke, and it seemed an hour
before he finally succeeded in reaching a lad
der and in bringing his charge safely to the
street. The Secretary was slightly bruised.
as he was allowed to slide down the ladder
but ne suffered no other external injury. He
was unconscious from suffocation and from
the nervous shock.
The other officer. who fell over the dead
body of Miss Tracy in the hall, tried to lift
her to the ladder; but. to his horror the flesh
of her hand was left in his. Covering her
body as best he could IN sheet, he bore her
TO the ground. Other firemen found the
charred body Of the French maid, who had
en-eayored to escape.
just around the corner on Seventeenth
street, in the rear of the Tracy house. is a
frame house, one o the few remaining wood
en- buildings within the fire limits. Into that
house were borne the unconscious body of
the Secretary OF the Navy and the painfully
conscious body of his poor wife. Mrs. Tracy
was laid upon Il lounge. She was perfectly
conscious, although two limbs were broken.
and she was nearly sutfOcated with the
smoke. She spoke few words to the doc
tors, who were pr. mptly on the ground. She
was silent only for a moment, When strug-
CLING from the smoke in her lungs, a blood
vessel BURST and, in an instant almost the
poor woman was dead. Before she breathed
her last the president bent over her low couch
and took her hand. She opened her ewes for
moment in silent recognition and breathed
her last as the President released her hand.
her husband had not regained his con-
sciousness and did not know for two hours
.A4 A1~ a.sAa salSsa s.lAAAss
his side. Among the earliest to arrive were
the President of the United States and Sem
ator Chandler. The President sat by the side
of his Cabinet officer, and scarcely left him
until after O'Clock. The President desired
TO hive Mr.. Tracy taken at once to the White
House. The physicians thought the distance
too great, and decided that it would be better
to accept the offer of the house of Bancroft
Davis, which was less than block away.
1t was almost hal an hour before the Sec
rotary seemed TO breathe. His lungs were full
of smoke. The physicians were anxious lest
he would never breathe again; gradually he
opened his eyes, and with returning con-
seriousness recognized the President. Admiral
Rogers and the physicians. He began to gain
strength. The breathing and respiration be-
came normal, and he realized what had hap
rened.
Then the greatest ordeal of the President
began. The feeble Secretary insisted upon
knowing what had happened to his wife.
The President told him to be strong and to
make every effort to recover for the sake of
Mrs. Wilmerding and the grandchild, and
then calmly told the terrible story. Mr.. Tracy
was not strong enough to hear the news, and
fell into a swoon. The physicians watched
the sufferer very closely. They were anxious
for the result. The Sc rotary regained con-
seriousness aud grew stronger. 1t was hoped
that the worst was over. For time he
seemed very respondent. He thought that
he was dying. He did not care to live. The
lungs, however, closed with great regularity
and the stricken man was able to take little
beef tea. The 2 esdent sat by his bedside
all day, save for the short intervals when he
called to inquire after Mrs. Wilmerding, and
to ply visit OF coincidence to the house of
Secretary Blaine. A woman could not have
been more tender as a nurse.
Later in the day there was sad funeral
procession as the bodi s of Mrs. and Miss
Tracy were borne from the house of the at
torney-generai to the White House. About
O'Clock two hearses bearing The remains left
the residence q the attorney-gener Il, fol-
lowed by half dozen carriages 18th the
Cabinet and their wives, and slowly through
the streets, and entered the grounds of the
While House through the western gate.
just after the funeral cortege started, the
carriage of the vi,e-president drove rapidly
up the street nd Joined the sad procession.
Mrs. Miller, wife of the encouragement, Of
ferred seat in her carriage to Mrs. Har-
rison, which was followed by the Presiden g
private carriage. Upon reac ling the EXecu-
tive Mansion. where all things had been
placed in readiness, the pall-bearers furnished
by the undertaken carried the two plain
black clOth-covered coffiEs into the marble
corridor, where the President stood with
bowed head to await them. Having been
quickly joined by Mrs. Harrison, Vice-pres.-
dent and Mrs. Morton. Encouragement and
Mrs. Miller, MIR. ana Mrs. Mchee ana MIS-.
Halford line was formed through which
the bodies were borne into the East Room
and placed side by side just beneath the large
chandelier.
There are several stories rs to the cause of
the fire, but the most plausible appears to be
that it was the result of defective fiue. The
insurance on the Tracy house amounts to
$4,000, divided equally among the following
named companies: Aetna and Hartford Of
Hartford. Conn.,, tie Springfield Of Massa-
ehusetts and the Franklin Of Philadelphia.
The Tracys are Of New England extrac-
ton. The great-grandfather of the present
head, one of the first to shoulder musket in
the cause of independence, fell with Warren
on the sacred soil of Bunker Hill. The Cat
inns on the maternal side are descendants
from Capt. Dan. Broadhead, who served with
Gov. Nichols In 1864 in the expedition und-
err the Duke of York against the Dutch in Am
erica, and upon the SURF er of their posses
sions to the English settled In Ulster Co. n. 7.
As a natural consequence of so universal a
sorrow all public receptions and official din
ners will be closed for the season.
Nominations by lie CCHtIIor of Maine
ha4r hpp m