New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-07-06
FATAL WORK OF THE FLAMES.
A NEwsBoY sUFFoCArED WHILE ASLEEP.
TWENTY MEN NARROWLY ESCAPE DEATH IN A
sPRUCE-sT NEWS AGENCY.

TWENTY MEN NARROWLY ESCAPE DEATH IN A
sPRUCEsT. NEWS AGENCY.
That part of Spruce-st. which is mainly given
over to the newspaper interests was thrown into
great confusion yesterday by fierce fire which
broke out in the dark hours of tie morning. The
fire was of brief duration, but in less than twenty
minutes 1t had brought death to one human being
and serious loss to two others.
1t was shortly after o'clock, when the work;
of sorting and distributing the newspapers for
the mails is at its height, that gush of fame
burst from the basement windows of No. Spruce
ST., a fve-story red-brick structure, Immediately
adjoining The Tribune Building The fame was
followed by rush into the street of men in shirt
sleeves and undershirts who had beer at work
in the burning rooms
The basement of the building was occupied in
the front by Henry E. Barnes, and in the rear by
William Miller, both Of whom are wholesale news
dealers serving papers TO small retail stores and
stands in Brooklyn and Jersey City. Owing to
a failure in the gas supply Barness men were
compelled to work by the light Of kerosene lamps
One of these lamps stood on a table in the front
part of the room just under the window BY
some means this lamp was either knocked or
shaken off the table and was shattered on the
floor. There was a sudden flash, and in an in
slant the piles of papers on the tables near by
were ablaze. The flames shot up to the ceiling
and out of the window. The only avenue Of
escape for the twenty men at work in the rooms
was by The narrow doorway next TO the window.
Through this they rushed pell-mcll up the short
flight of steps to the street.
They had scarcely reached the street when the
doorway was enveloped in a sheet of fire. Had
they Jeen a second later their escape would have
been cut off and every man in the room must
have perished When the fremen reached the
spot the volume Of fire extended TO the road
way, where a large number of Tribune and other
wagons were standing. Inside of minute these
wagons and horses had been moved away 20
place of safety. The fremcn, mindful of the
fact that a large quantity Of valuable printing
and other property was stored in the building,
sent out two alarms but a few minutes work
was sufficient to eXtinguish the flames. Then the
street was flied with a dense volume of thick
black smoke which chOked and blinded every one
within hundred yards of the spot and rendered
it impossible for the iiremen to make their way
into the basement.
At first it was supposed that every one had es-
capped from the rooms. But lad named
Casey, who drives newspaper wagon remembered
that two minutes before the fire broke out he had
seen q newsboy named Abraham Frank lying asleep
under q table When the fremen were able to
make their way into the room they came upon
the body of Frank lying under the table where
Casey had last seen him. lie was still breath
ing when carried out but died as his body touched
the pavement. The boy who was fifteen years
old and the son of Isaac Frank, poor journey
man tailor lived at No. 42S South Fourth ST.,
Williamsburg and sold newspapers at the ferries at
Broadway, Brooklyn The appearance OF the body
made it plain that he had been sunOcated as he lay
asleep and had suffered no pain. The body was
hon, fha
thence TO the house of relative at No. "a East
FOuTth-st
In the rooms which were burned out there were
about 80 900 papers, all of which are destroyed.
Neither Barnes nor Miller was insured for cent and
they viii lose 81 500. Benjamin j. +. Dunlap,
agent for Ne English Shoe Machine Company, who
occupied the ground floor, loses $500, the build.
ing, which is owned by Allen IL Co., Broadway,
Being injured to the same extent.