Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-08-11
Burned to Death in a Folding Bed.

A fire which resulted in the death of
one woman and the burning of woman
and her nine-days old baby started at
$50 o'clock Wednesday afternoon in
Bank street, New York.
The building is three story brick,
owned by Edward Conan, truck
driver employed by Taggart's storage
warehouse. Mr.. Conan, with his wife
Sarah, three sons and daughter, occu-
pied the first floor Of tho house and
rented the upper floors to several fami-
lies. Mrs. Conan was alone on the
first floor Wednesday afternoon and
was engaged in exterminating vermln
from folding bed in the front room.
She used mixture of carboic acid
and kerosene oil and was sprinkling the
stuff in the corners of the bed. In her
hand she carried lighted kerosene
lamp. Suddenly the bed closed, break
ing the lamp and scattering the burning
oil all over Mrs. Conan and pinning
her inside the bed, which held her with
vice-like grip.
Mrs. Goman's screams could be heard
all over the neighborhood, and Miss
We'll. who was taking bath on the top
floor, slipped wrapper on and ran
down stairs. She was met by a volume
of smoke, but forced her way through
it and out on the stoop.
Miss We'll ran to the corner OF Bleck-
er street, where she met two men, who
turned in an alarm. Truck No. . was
the first 10 reach the house and the fire.
men were confronted by a wall of fire
which was rapidly consuming every
thing in the halls and on the first floor.
Miss We'll was on the stoOp and shout
ed to the fireman that the house was
full of tenants. A thirty-f foot lad
der was run up 10 the third-floor win
dows and firemen McCarty and Coylc
ran up and climbed into the window of
the front room Lying on the floor
close 10 the window they found Mrs.
Catherine Collins and her nine-day-old
baby, and they bore them down the
ladder. Mrs. Collins was badly burned
about the arms and body and the baby
had received burns on the head.
Several streams of water were turned
on the flames and in few minutes the
|
men entered the front room on the first
floor. The first thing that met their
gaze was the blackened and charred
body of Mrs. Conan still partially en-
closed in the embrace of the fatal bed.
Only the skeleton of the bed was left,
and few blows with an axe released
the body, which was carried into the
back room and laid out on sofa.
Mrs. Collins and the baby were taken
in an ambulance to st. Ninccnts Hos
pital. where it was stated last evening
that while Mrs Collins might recover
the baby would undoubtedly die.
Mr.. Conan returned home soon after
the fire. When the news of his loss
was broken TO him he was almost crazed
with grief. He sat in the back room Of
his little home for hours looking at all
that remained of his wife. The dead
woman was forty-eight years old and
the pair had been married twenty
years. The father was followed home
by his children. Ada, the youngest,
was playing in the street when the fire
started and was taken care of by neigh
bors: Edward, the Oldest son, returned
from work to a desolate home, while
Fred, the younger boy, heard the story
before he reached the house.
German was painter by trade and
amassed comfortable sum of money
by leading steady life with the saw
ing partner he had and was finally able
to buy the piece of property, No. 81
Bank street. The house is on a small
lot and each floor is divided into three
rooms, with a winding, tinder box
staircase on the west side Of the house.
The second floor he rented to Mr..
and Mrs. Wright and the third to Mr..
and Mrs. Collins, who sublet a portion
of the floor to Miss We'll, who is as
modest as she is courageous. A room
is also rented to young man who
works at night and was asleep when
the fire broke out. He jumped from a
rear window to an extension of the ad-
joining house without injury and did
not return.
Mrs. Collins, hearing the cries Of
Murder ~ "Helpm uttered by Mrs.
Conan in her dying agony, ran into
the hallway with her child in her arms,
only to be confronted by flames. She
ran back into her room, and closing the
door fell fainting to the floor, where
she was found by the firemen.
The damage to the building amounts
to about $1,000, and is covered by in
surance.
Opening and Closing of the Mails.
Northern mails close at 7 so and 8 80 a. m.
| I'D 10 2D e 20 and AZ n IN Oman at
s 90 a. m 10 90 m. and 6 80 p. m.
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