Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-17
DEADLY NIGHT FIRE.
A Family Almost Cremated in a
Tenement Out Penn Avenue.
FIVE PERSONS FATALLY BURNED,
And Two Hen Seriously Injured by Jump
ing From Second Story.
CAUSED BY THE EXPLOSION OF A LAMP

One of those terrible tenement house
fires occurred about midnight in Nos
ser's row, Eden alley, near Forty-frst
street. Wolf Kupperman, with his
family lived in the building. Five of them
were probably fatally burned. and two men
were seriously injured by jumping from
second story window.
The names of the burned aud injured are:
MRS. WOLF K KUPPERMAN. aged 81 years,
burned about the face, neck, head, arms and
chest; will probably die.
SIMON KUPP ERMAN, brother OF Wolf
Kupperman, aged II years, burned about the
face. chest, arms and internally; fatally hurt
DAVID KUPP ERMAN, aged years, burned
about the ia ee, arms and hands; condition
serious.
TRICE KUPP ERMAN, aged 2 years, burned
about the hands, wrist, face and feet; se-
rious.
INFANT KUPPERMAN. aged 4 weeks,
burned from feet up TO abdomen. and skin
burned off face neck and arms and burned
internally; will die.
The men who jumped from the front
room window were Solomon Goldberg and
Frank Smith, vino boarded with the family.
Goldberg had his wrist torn by broken
glass, and Smith had mis- hip dislocated.
Caught Like Rats in a Trap.
Kupperman is tailor, and lives in two
story frame house in Nosser's row. Shortly
after II o'clock several members of the
family of Mr. Nosser observed flames issu-
ing from the rear of Kupperman's house.
An alarm was sent in from station No.
73, and in a few minutes No. engine
company was at the place. A line
.E ha. IL
and stream turned on the burning house.
Smoke and flames were issuing from all the
windows, and a ladder was placed
against the adjoining house to see
if an entrance could be gained.
As Fireman Frank Corner was ascending
the ladder he heard the scream of a child
from a room on the second floor. The fire.
men had been assured that everyone was
out of the burning building, but at
the cry of the child the ladder was at once
thrown over to the window. At this instant
the window of the front bedroom of the
second floor was broken, and two men
jumped to the ground. When the ladder
had been placed Assistant Chief Coates and
Police Captain Brophy ran up and plunged
into the burning room. An instant later
Captain Brophy came down the ladder with
baby in his arms, followed
by Chief Coates with child. Other fremen
followed, and in a few minutes three chill
dren, their mother, and lad of II years
had been carried down the ladder all
screaming from pain. They were carried
into Mr.. Nosser's house and physicians sent
for at once.
Five People Badly Burned.
Drs. Sands and Cameron arrived and
dressed the burns of the injured, al ter W hich
they were taken to the West Penn Hospital
in ambulances. Of the five carried down
the ladder all were terribly burned.
In the meantime the fremen rapidly ex-
tinguished the fire. 1t had been caused by
the explosion of hanging lamp in the dir
ing room. The family were all up stairs
and, the flames spreading quickly, the room
and stairway were filled with flames
before they were aware OF the fire.
The boarders and children were in bed, and
Kupperman and his wife became too ex-
cited to know what to do. In almost an
instant the upstairs rooms were filled with
flames and smoke, and those in the back
room were overcome and sank to the floor.
When the fremen got into the room they
found all of the inmates scattered about the
floor. But for the last cry of one of the
children attracting Fireman Corner when
he was on the ladder, all of them would
have been burned to death, as the fremen
had been told upon reaching the house that
all the people were out
Goldberg and Smith, the boarders, were
awakened by the smoke filling their room,
and too much excited TO think if others
were still in the house, jumped
from the window. The fire
was soon put out, though the
rapid1ty with which the flames spread
caused the almost total destruction of the
interior The damage was about 5000, COW
cred BY insurance. The house was owned
by C..P. Nosser.
Mr.. Kupperman, whose family suffered
SO much, is Polish Hebrew, and tailor.