Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-07
The Fire at Rochester Turns Out
to Have Been Much Worse
Than First Reported.
TWOFAMILIES ALMOST WIPED OUT.
Several Persons Who We're Apparently
Smothered Before They Had an
Opportunity to Escape.
no AID FOR TIE HELPLESS INMATES.
The People On the Street Were Compelled to Stand
Idly By and See Then Die

house on New York street at an early hou
this morning shortly after midnight. Th,
flames had gathered full headway befor'
ANYTHING could be done to save the inmates
The result was that the following peopl,
lost their lives:
CJ. KEENE, aged 40.
WALTER KEENE, his SOD, aged9
JOSEPH PAEMA, aged IS, residence un
known.
ANNE TECCHIo, aged .
BAPTISTO TECCHIO, aged 40
ANN TECCHIO, aged IS.
YOSEF TECChIO, aged Is.
ROSA TECCHIO, aged s.
VICTORIA TEGCHIO, aged 81, brother o.
Baptisto.
1t was about 1925 this morning when Ton
McMarus, fagman, saw a bright light
coming from the windows of one of the
three houses closely packed together or
New York street. McManus ran toward
the spot, after calling the attention of hi:
fellow trainmen to what he at first though
was q small fire.
Driven Back by the Flames.
Before they reached the houses the flames
had leaped from one to the other, and a per
feet furnace of fire drove them back and
prevented any successful attempt at rescue.
McManus, however, hastily ran a long
plank up to the windows of the building
that had first caught. the middle house, and
shielding his face from the intense heat,
looked into the second story room for a mo-
ment then, half strangled, slipped to the
ground. He had seen little, owing TO the
smoke and glare, but he had heard enough.
There were groans and subdued cries and
awful struggles heard within the room, showing
a
last agony.
There was nothing for him to do to help
them. and in half an hour the buildings were
totally destroyed. The first alarm had brought
the volunteer fire department to the ground,
and the streams of water thrown on the blaz-
ing ruins only served to keep the flames from
spreading to other buildings, as rothing could
then save the light frames that had first caught
fire. c. J. Keene and his family lived in the
house nearest the railroad. He and his son
had retired early, as Mrs. keene and the two
youngest children had cone on visit to Pitts
burg. ana were expected back on the train that
arrived shortly after the fire broke out. The
middle house was occupied by the Edwards tea
store on the first floor and Baptisto Tecchio
family on the second floor. The third house
was occupied by ]. X. Hall and wife, who had
millinery store in the building, and Miss
Laura Ewing. dressmaker. occupied the front
room upstairs.
The Burning of the Tecchio Family.
Mrs. Hall tells a terrible story of the burning
of the six members of the Tecchio family She
says she was awakened by the sound of
scufing in the room adjoining theirs, which
was only separated from that of the TecchiU
family by thin board partition. Immediately
on awaking she detected the odor of smoke
ana she with her husband and Miss Ewing
barely escaped from their house before the
flames burst through the thin partitions
Though Mrs. Hall distinctly heard groans and
cries from the other side of the partition, where
Ippph1OS tOOarlar an
pected for moment but that they were max
ing hasty preparations for flight, and simply
cried out in alarm.
Even before she and her husband left their
room, it was noticed that the sounds within the
other room had died away, and there was only
heard the cracking Of the flames as they swept
along the frame walls, and devOured everything
within their reach Supposing they had all es-
capped she paid no attention to them until after
her family had reached place of safety, when
the dreadful truth burst upon her mind. The
Tecchio family could only reach the ground by
way Of dark, crooked stairway at the rear of
the building, and this stairway must have been
burned before any one discovered the place
was on fire. Mary Tecchio, the only surviving
member of her family, saved her life by leaping
from the second story window. She was slightly
injured by her fall. but had been badly burned
before reaching the open window.
Mary Tecchio's Narrow Escape
She says she Was sleeping in the back room,
fire was then blazing in the lower rooms. She
ran in to waken the other members of her fam.
ily but the room was so filed with smoke they
must have been partly ssphyxiated and be-
came panic stricken, and, not knowing which
way to turn. were burned to death in their
rooms. After the girl leaped to the ground
the front of the building fell away, and the
crowd that had gathered by this time was sick.
ened by the sight of an entire family burning
-. II :
wife both seemed to have their consciousness,
but were unable to reason Ann was seen to
rush to the window and drag Maria back from
the open window and then disappear. The
girl says she thinks her mother wanted her to
save the child.
BapistO himself was seen lying in bed after
the front of the house fell. He grasped the
edge of his bed firmly, but apparently made no
effort to rise, being partially unconscious by this
time. Then, as the flames licked up the bed.
posts and weakened the floor beneath one end
of the bed slowly tilted down. disclosing the
writhing, wretched man to full view flames
licking his fingers and leapIng to his clothes
whle the intense heat shriveled his face until
II was drawn from all semblance to humanity
The still writing body was thrown into the no,
bed OF Goals and virtually cremated before the
very eyes of the people. 1t thought the other.
we're unconscious before the flames reached
them, as there was no struggling and no outcry
after the first alarm
Father and Child Burned to Death.
Hardly had the spectators withdrawn thei-
eyes from the spot when they were confronted
with another pathetic scene. Mrs. Keene anc
her child had just returned on the o'clocF
train. and the frightened wife and mother saw
the flames of her burning home from the car
window. Her husband and child were to NEE,
her that morning, and when they failed to an
pear at the depot dreadful fear of the truth
almost drove the woman wild. Her doubt,
were soon dispelled by the still more frightfu
truth. Both husband and child had beer
burned beyond all recognition: They had evi
IDENTITY been smOthered in bed before the flame.
reached them, and probably felt no pain. The
blackened, unrecognizaDle bodies were then re
moved from the smoking ruins, and their posI
tion told too plainly how each had died.
BapusUo had turned on his face, and eyi.
IDENTIFY pressed his mouth into the pillow in 3
vain effort to escape the strangling smoke. His
wife had died while trying to save her children
Had she thrown herself from the window she
would have been alive to-day, but she had
turned back, and died with her arms around
her younger children, as all their bodies were
found together.
There is no known origin for the fatal fire
but II is generally thought that a lamp had
been Fft burning in the kitchen, by Mr. Keene
Tor his wife and in some way exploded thus
causing the smothering smoke, and explaining
the dreadful ferocity of the fire. The heat was
so intense that windows on the opposite side OF
the street were cracked and broken, and
It was with the greatest difficulty the depart.
ment was able TO keep the flames from spread.
ing -o-day the scene Of the fire was visited
10y thousands from adjoining towns who
.fewed the blackened forms stretched in a
line. Mrs. keene insists on seeing the remains
of her husband and children, and 1t is feared
she will lose her mind when their unrecogniza.
bic shapes are before her. The group of
houses we're owned by ]. S. Smith, who places
his loss at 5000; no insurance. Mrs. Keene's
loss, 81. 800; insurance. $1,000. G. s. Edwards
loss. sl2OO; insurance, $3.50. Mrs Halls loss,
81. 200; insurance, $500.