Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1893-11-30
DROPPED DOWN TODEATH.
Blood-CurdIing SCIENCES At A
Detroit Fire.

the burning of the five story iro1
front brick building Nos 1876 tt
202 Jefferson avenne, occupied by
Edison, Moore & Co., wholesale dry
goods, this afternoon, certainly
three, and probably seven
employees lost their lives, fire,
man was badly injured, and the
monetary loss will reach in the
neighborhood of $S0o,000. The
dead are: JasMcKay, Bradley A
Dunning and Ed Genther. The
missing are: Edward N.Vort order
clerk; Pat Markey, Daniel A
Baker, clerk Henry Rider packer.
The fire started between the
fourth and fifth floors at the rear
of the building, aud spread with
frightful rapidity. The great
majority of the employees were at
lunch when the alarm was given,
but there were eight or nine of
them left on the upper floors.
Those who were first at the
scene saw a terrible sight. The
whole upper floors were a mass of
flames. On the window sill of the
fourth window of the fifth floor,
fronting on Bates street, stood
Bradley Dunnlng. Two windows
south of him stood James Mckay.
Don't jump; wait for the hook
and ladder" shrieked the crowd.
But before the ladders could be
raised the flames rolled to the
window ledge, where Dunning
stood. He bowed his head, grasped
the window ledge with his hands,
and then dropped. The people
watching him had just time to
throw a bale of jute beneath him,
and it was no sooner in place than
Dunning struck it. He bounded
up like a rubber ball, and then fell
10 the sidewalk, limp and mangled.
He was taken to a nearby drug
store and afterwards to Harper's
where be shortly after
wards died from his injuries.
The falling of James Mckay
followed in a few minutes. When
ne appeared at the window, he
made no sign that he was-starin9-
1eath in the face. For q few
moments he looked over the people
Who appeared at distance below,
Is though wondering what he might
10 to save his life. There were
shouts from below, but he
could not hear what was
being said. The roar of the flames
drowned all noise that came in
from the street. After a short
hesitation be threw his feet from
the window and slid down until
he was holding on with only one
Of his hands on the sill. He
hung this way for several seconds
before he released his hold. The
fire was bursting out of the
window when the terrified man
gave up all pesof saving
himself, and slipped loose from
bis hold. He struck Oh the case
ment of the second window and
partly turned over. This threw
him so far out from the window
that part of his body struck OH the
elecric wires below, which partly
turned him over again. He struck
on tho sidewalk within g few feet
of the building. Policemen, fire.
men and spectators quickly ran to
him, and he was carried to the
ambulance. He was unconscious
when picked up, and it was thought
that life was extinct He lived,
however, for couple of hours after
being removed to the Emergency
Hospital.
The awful spectacle of McKay's
and Duuning's descent was hardly
over when the spectators saw
another man creeping toward the
upper window nearest the corner
He was on his hands and knees
blinded and suffocating il the
dense smoke. He reached the sill
laid one arm upon it, and as he
endeavored to shield his face
from the frece heat with his hanc
tried to drag himself to the oper
air just Beyond. His stregth wal
too far spent A. sudden burst o:
flame closed around him, and tht
horor-strlcken beholders saw hi
head drop, his arm drug slowly
back and his body sink from view
in the flames within.