Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-02-07
ENCOMPASSED By FLAMES
The Residence of See. Tracy at Wash
ington Gutted by Fire
His Wife and Daughter Perish Before
Help Reaches Them.
SuccOr Reaches the Secretary and Fl,
s Saved.

WASHINGTON, Feb. "A terrible calam-
ity visited the household of Secretary Tracy
this morning, whereby three persons lost
their lives and three others were badly In
jured. The house is three-story
and basement brick. situated on | street.
between Connecticut avenue and 18th
street, and has recently undergone extern
Sive improvements Persons passing by
the house at Z o'clock this morning saw
smoke issuing from the front windows,
and at once raised an alarm of fire.
The fire and police departments respond
ed promptly. The premises were al
most completed Y concealed by dense
smoke, which was thickened by i
heavy fog, which was just lifting. 1t was
soon discovered that the house was all
ablaze inside. and that the main stairway
was burned. thus cutting off cOmmunica-
ton with the sleeping apartments on the
second and third floors. Several streams
of water were thrown on the flames. and
every effort was made to check the fire.
A scene of the widest confusion ensued
when it was known that all the members
of the family were in the house. The
tiremen behaved like heroes in the emer-
gency, and went through fire and smoke
searching for those in the different
apartments. Mrs. Wilmerding. the sec
retary's daughter, and Miss Wilmerding,
forced their way through the binding
smoke and jumped from a second story
front window Ladders were raised for
them. but in their excitement:they failed so
see them. Mrs. Wilmerding broke her
wrist and was severely injured. Her
daughter was badly injured about the low
er limbs, but broke no BONES Both Suf-
fered severely from tie shock They were
at once taken to the residence of DR..
Baxter, near by, and restoratives applied
Secretary and Mrs. Tracy occupied the
back room on the second story. Mrs
Tracy, it is thought, was first awakened
by the sutfoCating smoke. Sec. Tracy was
at the time unconscious. and Mrs. Tracy.
with heroic devotion, attempted to drag
the inaninIate form of the secretary to the
window. In this she only partially sue
ceeded. Half dazed and blinded by the
smoke, she opened the window, and just
as the firemen were putting up ladder to
rescue her. she made fatal move which
cost her her life
Mrs Tracy endeavored to escape the
raging element by dropping herself from
the bedroom window, and In her effort to
decrease the distance to the ground
grasped the narrow stone window sill and
lowered herself as far as able Those who
saw her in this perilous position shouted
to her to hold on, but either she did not
hear or her strength failed her, for after
thus hanging a moment between life and
death, she fell forty feet into the area way
before anything could be done towards
rescuing her or relieving her fall. She
was Immediately taken to the house of
a neighbOr, Doctor Rheem. and placed
upon the lounge in the sitting room. She
was perfectly conscious, and did not seem
to suffer pain Occasionally she COM
planned of oppression IN the nelgborhood
of her heart and found difficulty in breath
ing. She talked awhile. coughed slightly
and then became silent The physicians
looked at each other significantly. Mrs.
Tracy was dead. The immediate cause of
her death was supposed to be from injuries
to her heart, in her fall from the window
which flooded her lungs with blood.
1t is said had she delayed her movements
a couple of minutes, ladders and mattress
ses 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
Almost at the same moment two bodies
were taken from the building. One was
the secretary's daughter, Miss Mary. a
young lady, and the other was that of the
French maid, Josephine. That of the
former was found by Chief Parish on the
floor in the hall at the head of the stairs.
She had evidently died from suffocation.
The chief lifted the Iifeless 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 of
saved herself if her strength held out a few
minutes longer 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 recognition. Both
the bodies of Miss Tracy and maid were
taken to an undertaker's establishment in
the vicinity.
Secretary Tracy himself had a most
wonderful escape. and is now lying in a
somewhat p~ecarious condition at the res
idence of Judge Davis Like the others he
was overcome in his sleep by the smoke
which filled the house, and rendered him
unconscious. He was discovered in this
condition. and with considerable difficulty
was removed to one of the windows. Cries
for a ladder were quickly answered.
and many willing hands were
raised to assist him 10 the
ground. He was at once removed to a
neighbor's house. and was soon surrounded
by physicians The doctors applied ar
tifcial means to induce respiration and
succeeded after an hour s work in restor-
ing him to semi-consciOusness 1t was
then thought safe to remove him to Judge
Davis house He improved slowly from
this time on. and soon regained conscious
ness. recognizing friends who called to In
quire in regard to his condition. Among
the first of these were the president, vice
president and several members of the cab
inent.
This afternoon President Harrison re-
turned from the bedside of Secretary
Tracy, who he reported resting as comfort
ably as can be expected in the the cir.
cumstances. About II O'Clock Mr. Tracy
recovered consciousness and asked Presl-
dent Harrison where Mrs. Tracy was. He
could not answer the question. Mr.
Tracy, evidently feeling that heI
escape was almost impossible asked
is she dead?" Still the president
could not answer the question of his friend
and Mr.. Tracy, apparently realizing the
truth. from the president 5 hesitancy. at
once swooned and remained unconscious
for a half an hour. Recovering, he asked
for his daughters. The president told the
secretary that , his daughter Mary
was dead and again Mr.. Tracy
swooned. Secretary Tracy's physicians
say that he is out of danger.
James Weleh. the secretary's butler.
said: I sleep in the basement, and this
morning | got up at about $50. There
was no smell Of fire and no appearance OF
ANYTHING wrong. At about Z o'clock |
started to clean my dining room, when
there was a ring at the bell, and when
answered it a colored man said, Your
house is on fire" 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 one
in the rooms | secured a response. Then |
started down stairs and nearly choked with
smoke | fell three times. but finally got
to the front door I went around TO the
rear and tried 10 get a ladder so as 10
reach Secretary ard Mrs. Tracy's bed
room. Mrs Tracy was at the window, and
while a few of Us who were there. appealed
to her to keep still for a minute or 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 some
thing on which 70 catch her, and so break