The sun., 1893-06-05
THEY WOKE Half SIIFLED.
Tho Victims of tho Forty-third Street Fire
Could Not Got to the Open senltle.

Tho Victims of tho Forty-third Street Fire
Could Not Got to the Open ScuttIe.
Mr.. Cooper Hewitt. whose father Is part
owner OF tho fiat house at 1873 East Forty-third
street. In which five persons lost their lives
by fire early yesterday morning. is informed BY
Janitor Frank Ate and he believes that tho fire
began on the third floor near either to the
dumb waiter or the air shaft. and that it ate
Its way up and down at the same time. The
fremen think it began in the basement There
should have been no fire in either the base-
ment or on the third floor. which was unoccu-
pied. The basement was occupied only as a
coal cellar and storage room Janitor Ate says
that he was In the third fiat four or five times
on Saturday. and that there was nothing there
from which the fire could start. He was in
the house at 10 o'clock Saturday night when
he put out the gas in the halls on each floor.
The fire was first seen by a shoemaker
named Quigley. who sent in nm alarm and
then told the janttor. Ate. who lives close by,
says that he was on the ground before the
fremen. and that. when he got there smoke
was coming from the third floor windows. and
there Wa no fire in the basement. The ap-
to the two Shafts. and found them both abIaSe jas
at the basement There is nothing hut the
lack Of any other explanation to suggest in
. The lirss fire company to reach the fire was
;nnnR = druGs' an ana the the men OF the company ran
the top floor for, the smoke. but the peopIe in
the street told them that every body was out.
While the iL fTenen I. we're @ in the house Thomas
ters Of iaa Charlss il. Diets. Who Whose ed daush- ugh,
er bshnd Both o' mtn eaed
At, At the window fof several minutes: and. get
body oS a certain that
1t WAS hall an hour before the hremen could
60 through ths top moor. Tho n,en oi )
woodwork Of Ihe walls ana The engine men men
though. o iootne for Tor corpses until G the Cap nT.
tain stumbled over, one. 1t was that OF Henry
PuEsIsy lie was ,ps lying iust inside the door
max ed and the flesh was sinEed. The lremen
dropped their hose and made a hurried search
they found the body Of the 7.year-oid child
Helen Helen Wetmore Dietz and the body Of Mrs.
and the other on the other.
Both were lying on their faces. their hands
way to the hall door. @ Tie bodies iI OF Eisie fHsi
EGnte AND and her brother william were found
bedroom open nr into a private hall. None M sg OF
Ners sd' to enfs Ss Ts.s
n, mGyed M TO samuel sIoan's ndertaksrs shop, at
Dstz they viii %o 'sSt bsrea u" from f"s a'as the
Adams Memorial Church on Tuesday.
The building is provided with a fire escnpe
IN the rear In the front there Is a board lad
aer reaching from the main hall to the roof
!, 4 ne scuttle was open when the flremen got
there. and the ladder was not burned nt all
mere was no ire to amount to anything in
the hal. the flremen say. Ii Is presume od that
the he, ,unlortunate Mort people We're all asleep, and
that they did not awake until nearly over
come hy the smoke. which flied the rooms
from the two shafts. and that they were as
phyTlated before they could reach the door to
the hall and b" scuttle. for which it was ap-
parent from the position in which they were
found. they were all making.
pink al and white bull pun and atabhy cat
we're found together yesterday morning under
the piano In tho apartments of the Misses |
heiliy on the second floor Of tho house They
had bsen there all night,
While the FIRE was NJ Its height an explosion
occurred IN Mr. Gately's apartments at 1876. |
Ihe hrslnen say It was due to the gases Df |
Imperfect CON Lustion that collscted Getween |
side walls were blown out. ~ Wv
:, Mss Elsie Bente was organist In the Sunday |
school OF the Adams Memorial Church She |
was engaged to be married. Henry Pugsl"y |
leaves wife and two children in yineland. |