Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-11-04
FIGHT WITH FLAMES.
BIGGEST FIRE PITrsBuRe HAS
SEEN IN YEARS.
Wall Fell Out and Crushed Four Houses.
A Number of Men Received Burns--Two
Of Them Thought to Be serious-Loss
About s1so.ooo.

a Wall Fell Out and Crushed Four Houses.
Number of Men Received Burns-Two
Of Them Thought to Be serious-Loss
About s1so.ooo.
PITrsBURG, Oct. ga FIRE which
proved most disastrous broke out in the
building Of the Hoeveler storage ware
house on Mulberry avenue, between
Twelfth and Thirteenth streets. A
number of men received burns. Two of
Thorn are considered in dangerous con-
dition. Their names are Thomas He'll
man and John Griffin. A man named
Smith and three boys are unaccounted
for, and it is feared they have persisted
In the burning building.
How the flames started is not known.
A man named Sprees. who worked on
the third floor Of the Hoeveler building,
was the first to discover it. He gave
the alarm to the others and started for
the fire hose. While he was turning on
the water the flames cut off his retreat
by the stairway. The smoke nearly
choked him, and he rushed to window
and leaned out to catch the air. This
revived him somewhat, and he made an
attempt to reach the stairs, but his
clothes caught fire and he turned back.
He managed to tear off his burning coat
and again reached the window He
prepared to jump to the tracks Of the
Allegheny Valley road. but some men
called to him 10 hold on. He lowered
himself and chung to the stills for 20
minutes before the ladder companies
arrived and rescued him. As soon as
he reached the ground he became IN
conscious and was ,arried to Heber's
drug store at the corner of Thirteenth
street and Penn avenue, where he re-
vived and was later taken home.
The flames spread with such rapidity
that before the fire engines arrived the
entire building, as well as that of the
Chautauqua Lake Ice company adjoin-
ing. were mass of flames. The scene
was an awful one and terrified the resi-
dents of Mulberry alley. Great crowds
gathered in few minutes and rushed
directly into danger. So threatening
an aspect was the narrow alley that the
I firemen themselves hesitated before
going into it. Both buildings were
seven stories in height and from every
window flames and great volumes Of
smoke poured forth. The magnitude
Vi tic nfo udu iDCEtSScu W SUCH All OK
tent that in few minutes after the
chief arrived a second alarm was
sounded, and 10 minutes later third,
calling for nearly the whole fire depart
ment, was sounded.
The entire block from the Allegheny
/ Valley railroad to Penn avenue and
Twelfth to Thirteenth streets was in
such danger the hremen thought il
I Wun ha NM m
residents on Mulberry alley made haste
to get their goods TO place of safety,
while storekeepers on Penn avenue,
most Of them secondhand clothing
dealers, were making frantic efforts to
remove their stocks. The building of
the Pittsburg Storage company also
caught fire.
Later the walls on the Mulberry street
front fell out and crushed four 2-story
brick dwelling houses and stable,
completely destroying them. There
was no one in the houses at the time.
and great part of the household goods
had been removed from the dwellings
A few minutes later tho four upper
stories OF the Thirteenth street front
I fell with an awful crash. filling the
street to depth OF many feet with
burning debris. The fremen had ex-
pected this and had got out of harms
way. When the walls fell the heat
was so great that the crowds were
driven back as far as Liberty street.
Even the fireman could not approach
close enough to do effective work and
for once they were completely baffied
The list of casualties as far as could
be aseertained are: Arthur Griffith.
residing Wester avenue, burned about
head and face. Thomas j. Heilman, 30
Thirteenth street. burned about tho
head and internally injured Not OK
pected to recover. Edward Spices 800
Bedford avenue, burned about head and
internally. William Parks, Parnassus,
not seriously hurt.
After several hours hard work tho
firemen succeed in getting the fire
under control. The loss will be fully
$3.50, 900.