Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-04

house il on fire." At once rushed upstairs to
arouse the family, and, although the smoke
was very thick, succeeded in knocking at
every door, and from each one IN the room
secured response. Then started to 90 down
stairs and nearly choked with the smoke. /
fell three times. put finally got to the front
door. l went around to the rear of the house
and tried to get ladder 80 as to reach the Sec
retary and Mrs. Tracy's bedroom. Mrs
Tracy was then at the window, and
while the few of us who were there appealed
to her to keep still for one minute more, she
climbed out on the sill and lowered herself
until she hung by her hands on the narrow
stone projection. Everybody who saw her
yelled to her to hold on for a moment and we
looked around for something on which to catch
her, SO as to break the fall which had to
come. Mrs. Tracy may have heard our cries,
but it Is not certain that she did. The cook,
who was on the roof, was screaming so that
we could not hear anything distinctly. How
long did Mrs Tracy hang there? Not more
than few seconds. She told me afterward
almost touching me in her swift descent Il
was on the ground level), and struck on her
left side. No sound, save little incoherent
murmur, came from her lips; I picked her mp
was the most awful occurrence in my life.
HOW THE HOUSE NOW LOOKS.
The parlors are completely ruined, but the
fire did not damage the dining-room to any
extent. To those who were admitted to view
shS NSSGE VI pEOpeELy Tue D6uTOOm
which had been occupied by Secretary and
Mrs. Tracy was the principal point of inter-
est. 1t is rear room on the second floor,
and must have been beautiful apartment.
With the heads toward the west, the two
brass bedstands stand side by side, and on
these Mr.. Tracy and Mrs. Tracy slept last
night. The brass is tarnished, and every
thing around is black and soaked with
water. The room is huge cinder. Pictures
are charred and smoke-stained, mirrors
cracked, siIver-backed hair brushes and the
hundred and one little toilet accessories are
ruined completely. The French clock on
the mantel was silent, its pendulum having
ceased to swing at 8:20 o'clock. Dirt and
dirty water had ruined everything that was
not imperVious to heat and continuous
moisture.
The two front rooms on the second floor
we're occupied by Mrs. Wilmerding and her
daughter, Miss Alice. These apartments
are wrecks. On the third floor, in the CEN
ter front, was the room occupied last night
by Miss Tracy. This was q ruin of the
most thorough description-charred in
every corner, the ceiling gone, the doors
burned out Cinders, ankle-deep, covered
the floor, and what the flames had spared
was destroyed by water.
A PERFECT WRECK.
Adjoining this room on the east was the
apartment which was to be Miss Tracy's
permanent room, and there was scattered
all around evidence of preparation. On a
couple of chairs were artists materials,
paints, brushes, and the other etcetera of
decorative art. Ga one side of the room
was a wooden bedstead-the only one in the
house-and on its headboard the skillul
fingers Of the pretty girl, now dead, had
shaped iestoons of poppies and morning
glories, pendant from true-lovers' knots.
The fire had been more kind here than else
where, and there was still to be traced the
floral forms-now a dirty white on the
smoked ground. The brushes and palette
were just where they had been deposited by
the artist.
The fire originO ted in the parlor, near the
open fireplace. Whether 1t originated from
the CRATE or heating pipes is not known, as
no one could be found who could tell
whether there was a fire in the CRATE last
night or not. The framework adjoining the
mantel was where the fire started and Il no
doubt burned some time before it was dis
covered. The furnace is in the basement,
directly beneath where the fire started, and
the pipes leading to the upper stories pass
in the rear of the woodwork. The fremen
generally think that the woodwork caught
fire from the heated pipes.
The Commissioners of the District of Co.
lumbia held a board session to-day and di-
rected Inspector EntWisle to make a thor
ough investigation into the cause of the fire
and report.