New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-11-17
PANIC IN A PLAYHOUSE.
-y1RTY FAMILIES IN MAD RUSH FOR
SAFETY.
.,,n SMOKE FILLED THE BUILDING AND
THE ELECTRIC LIGHTS WENT OUT
NARROW ESCAPES.


NARROW ESCAPES.
o,rshaft again played the leading part in
~. ,rhich broke out in the big five-story fiat
-, No 500 West Fifty-thrd-st last night
~ hv the promptness and energy OF the hremen
s ,be tenants in the building saved from death
W. ,niprv The house is a part of the Ellsworth
striker estate, which extends from Tenth to
S,,snth ave. and from Fifty second to Fifty third
tn. house is occupied by thirty families, mostly
:. ,hs better working class. Two boys named
G c..rse and James Gillespie who live in the rear.
:, ,,. second floor. went down into the back Gel
=, shortly before o'clock last night for the pur
81 chopping wood. When they went up
',,irs they left the candle still burning In the
'".aashed That woodshed was just underneath
m, main airshsft About half an hour later,
I.,,sm b Hildrcth, an ex-policeman of the
Tr.p,y second Precinct, became aware of a smell
.,hnrnipr wood which evidently originated in the
..u., lie went down into the basement and found
~ roodshcd merrily blazing away, the smoke
.Dd fame beginning 10 creep up the alrshaft
t1detb darted up the stairs and sent out an alarm
II the meantime the people in the house, aroused
). uildreth's cries and the smell of smoke and
ssu. rushed pell-mell down the stains in mad
-. ,or the first avernue of escape In the same
,pkfQ
nns and the place was in total darkness. Then
,,om the panc-stricken creatures came wild yells
:, e,ecration and fright, as they CROPPED blindly
- and down the stairs in their efforts TO get be
,,ara the reach of the binding and suffocatng
sroke Those who had failed TO reach the street
:, ~. srst alarm, found their way barred by the
tbick volumes of black smoke which rolled up
from The basement and hid the whole of the lower
stairway.
sop, one. with presence Of mind. rushed into
Oh, second-noor rooms and called to the crowd
N follow. A few did SO; others rushed back to
the upper floors and got out upon the fire-escape.
,rbich extends downward only as far as the first
floor. A few of the women tried to Jump from
N. windows. but were stopped by the fremen
who shouted 10 them TO stay where they were
Tim Assistant-F Foreman Torton and Firemen AS
pel. Sheridan, Conin and Neuroth. of Hook and
Ladder Company No. 4, mounted ladders and one
by one brought the terrified women in safety
70 the ground. amid the wild cheers of the crowd
Ghose who tried 10 escape by the second-foor
window got out with little difficulty.
In the rear of the second floor there lay, dying
Of pneumonia, a man named John Kelly. His
case had that day been given UP as hopeless by
the doctors He rose from his bed ana staggered
uDdlueI dCToSo Unc NuOI W IlOHb Nluuo"'
There his wife took him by the arm and helped
him out on the stone coping which runs along the
front of the window She followed him. and to-
gethcr the pair made their way to the stone roof
ing Of the front stOop. whence they were taken
down by the Gremen
Kate Shsehan. deaf mute ran into a fireman
as she grOpcd her way downstairs and was knocked
into the hallway on the second floor. where she
lay stunned and helpless. SIS, was carried 10 the
second-fOor window and slere put into the arms
Of one of the fremen on the ladder.
The smoke and fame having by means of the
aishaft got possession OF No. 800. now made their
way into Nos 507 and sos. the latter being a
stable. In No. 507. on the fourth floor. lived
Ms. Maria Korndorf She rushed into the
street on the first alarm, followed by her little
daughter. Mrs. Korndorf had not seen her
daughnr. and believed that the child was still in
the house. Then screaming. she tried To set back
70 her rooms. When the fremen held her fast
She fought and tore at them. but was overpowered
and dragged away.
The sudden eNtinguishing of the electric lights
attributable 10 the fact that the owners OF
the estate generate their own electricity. After
giving the alarm Hildreth had rushed to the engine
house in the rear of the flats and turned off the
main current and put out the furnace. The base
m,nt and first and second floors of No 500 are
burnt out, and the whole building is more or
less >lmaged by smoke and water, which also
>CintO the upper floors of No J07. Nearly all
The tenants in the building were insured. and
tie total loss viii not exceed $4,000.