Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-02-07

Ctllu ICOCuc UIlG llllllttttO. II pCCHC VI ttlt
widest confusion ensued when it was
known that all the members of the family
were in the house. The firemen behaved
like heroes in the emergency, and went
| through fire and smoke in searching for
| them in the different apartments.
LADIES JUMPED FROM WINDOWS.
| Mrs. Emma L. Wilmerdlng, the Secre-
tary's daughter, and Miss Alice Wilmerd-
ing, his granddaughter, forced their way
| through the binding smoke and jumped
| from the second-story windows front
Ladders were raised for them, but in their
excitement they failed to see them. Mrs.
| Wilmerding broke her left wrist and was
severely bruised. Her daughter was badly
| injured about the lower limbs, but broke no
| bones. They both suffered severely from
the shock. They were taken at once to the
residence OF Dr.. Baxter. near by, and res
toratiVes applied. While this sad scene
was being enacted in the front Of the house
| firemen were engaged in the sad task of re-
moving Other members of the family from
| the rear.
MRS. TRACY S DEATH.
Mrs. Tracy endeavored to escape the rag
Ing element by dropping herself from her
bedroom window, and in her effort to de-
crease the distance to the ground she grasp
| ed the narrow stone window sill and lowered
herself us far us she was able Those who
saw her in her perilouS position shouted to
her to hold on, bat either she did not hear
OF her strength failed her, for, after thus
hanging a moment between life and death,
she fell forty feet into an areaway before
ANYTHING could be done towards rescuing
her OF relieving her fall. She was immedi-
lately taken to the house OF a neighbor, Dr..
| Rheem, and placed upon a lounge III the
sitting-room. She was perfectly conscious
and did not seem to suffer pain. Occasion
ally she complained OF an oppression III the
neighborhood Of her heart and found diff
Guilty in breathing. She talked awhile,
coughed slightly, then became silent. The
| physicians locked at each other significant
! ly. Mrs. Tracy was dead The immediate
cause of her death was supposed to be from
| injuries to her heart sustained in her fall
from the window, which flooded her lungs
with blood. 1t is said that had she delayed
her movements couple of minutes ladders
and mattresses and other means of safe
escape would have been at hand. Her body
was soon removed to the residence of
Attorney General Miller, on Massachusetts
| avenue.
MISS TRACY AND THE MAID.
Almost at the same time, two bodies were
taken from the burning building-one was
! the Secretary's daughter, Miss Mary, a
young lady, and the other was that OF the
French maid, Josephine Morell. That of
on the floor in the second floor hall, at the
! head Of the stairs. The body was not
greatly disfgured by the fire; she had evil
IDENTIFY died from suffocation. The chief
lifted the lifeless body in his arms, and
although the staircase was ablaze, he
brought it safely out into the street. 1t is
said that Miss Tracy could have saved
herself if her strength had held out few
minutes longer. She fell in the hallway of
the second story, a few yards from the
bathroom, which, if she had reached and
against the fire and smoke until assistance
could have reached her. OF the French
maid little is known save that her dead
body was found in her room on the top
floor of the house, burned beyond recogni-
ton. Both the bodies of Miss Tracy and
her maid were taken to an undertaken IS
establishment in the vicinity.
THE sECRETARY's RESCUE.
Secretary Tracy himself had most won
drous escape. He was taken into the kitch.
en- of Hon. J. G. Bancroft Davis, on H.
street, near Eighteenth. Like all the others,
he was overcome i'll his sleep by the smoke
which filled the house, and rendered COM
pletely helpless. He was discovered in this
condition, and with considerable difficulty
was removed to a place near one of the
windows. Cries for a ladder were quickly
answered, and many willing hands were
raised to assist him to the ground. He
was at once removed to a neighbor' S house
and was soon surrounded by physicians,
including Drs. Wales and Ruth. He was
suffering from asphyXia. The doctors APP
piled artificial means to induce respiration
and succeeded, after an hours work, in re-
storing him to semi-cOnSciOuSnesS. 1t was
then thought safe to remove him to Judge
Davis's house. He improved slowly from
that time on and soon regained conscious
ness, recognizing the friends who called tc
inquire in regard to his condition. Among
the first of these were the President, the
Vice-President and several members of the
cabinet.
THE PRESIDENTS SYMPATHY.
The neighborhood is fashionable one
and full of acquaintance OF the Tracys
but few Of them got to the scene before
President Harrison. Secretary Tracy had
hardly been carried into the kitchen before
the President, summoned before breakfast
and hurriedly dressed, arrived. He was
Just in time to press Mrs. Tracy's hand be-
fore she became finally unconscious.
From that time until late in the after
noon. with few Interruptions made nee
essary by the public business, the President
STAYED with his stricken friend. N woman
could have been tenderer than he in his
sympathetic ministrat1Ons. No one evel
saw him weep in public before in Washing
ton, but each time that he came out from
the Secretary S side his eyes were glistenine
with tears.
i CONSOLATION FOR THE AFFLICTED.
Besides the President all the members Of
the Cabinet in town, except Secretary
Blaine-who was sitting beside his OWL
promptly hurried to the little frame
house upon hearing the terrible news
There, too, were Senators Chandler, Hale
Cameron and other members OF the two
Houses, together with prominent army
and navy officers, diplomats and Other
pubic men, with many ladies. Everybody
wanted to do something to help OIL console
the afflicted survivors.
The President wanted Secretary Tracy
taken at once to the White House, and also
the remains Of Mrs. and Miss Tracy, but
the physicians said that the Secretary could
not be safely carried so far, and SO he was
: taken as soon as possible to the residence
of Hon. J. G. Bancroft Davis, formerly AS
sistant Secretary of State, right around the
corner.
THE DEAD TAKEN TO THE WHITE
HOUSE.
For convenience sake the remains Of
Mrs. and Miss Tracy were first taken tt
Attorney-G General Miller's house, but latel
IN the afternoon they were removed to the
White House, where they are now lying il
state in the East Room.
When Secretary Tracy reached the house
of Mr.. Davis, having been carried on 6
stretcher through the crowd i'll the damp
| air of the wet morning, he at first revived
c but afterward he fell into comatose con
dition which frightened the physicians. He
had been talking incoherently while he was
in the kitchen, where he was first carried
but just before he became unconscious at