Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-11-24
DETROIT'S FATAL FIRE.
Three Persons Dead, and Five
Are Missing.
THE CLERKS Gagged IN THE STORE.
The ''Fireproor' Structure OF a Big Dry
Goods Establishment burned Like Tin
der-soms Jumped and Were Killed.
Roasted Before the Eyes of n Crowd.

Goods Embellishments Burned Like Tin
der-some Jumped and Were Killed.
Roasted Before the Eyes of n Crowd.
DETROIT, Nov. 24-One of the worst fires
that Detroit has experienced in many years
completely destroyed the five story build
ing at the corner of jefferson avenue and
Bates street, occupied by Edon, Moore &
Co, wholesale dry goods merchants, and
damaged several adjacent buildings, cAus-
ing total loss of $7OO,OO0 Three men en-
ployed by the dry goods firm lost their
lives in the flames, and five others who are
missing are also supposed to have persisted.
Dead and Missing.
The dead are:
James Mckay, clerk, aged -.
bradley a. Dunning, porter, aged a..
l. Genther. entry clerk, single, aged -
The missing are:
Edward y. Voirt, order clerk
Patrick Marley. aged j.; leaves widow and
three children.
Daniel \. Baker clerk
Henry Rider packer.
Charles w. kirshner, clerk.
So quick was the work of the flames that
in half an hour the building was complete
ly Quilted, and practically only the firmly
bolted iron front remained standing. For
an hour the department fought with a fire
which fairly defied their efforts. The blaze
was first seen on the sixth floor, and il
looked as though the fire would lie kept in
subsection, but the flames spread as quick
~ rs though the building was great
wooden structure. At the time it was
erected it was said TO be fireproof but the
interior burned like finder, and the heat
from the fierce caldron was felt over half
block away
Burned Like finder.
y general alarm was turned in, which
called out the entire fire department of the
city. y strong wind blowing from the
northwest sent the sparks and embers fly
ing everywhere. and it was feared that
other fires would break ont. Luckily the
flames were confined mainly to the dry
goods building, which was entirely con-
sumed, and considerable damage was done
to adjoining structures.
The saddest feature was not the destruc-
ton of property, however, but the loss of
life. Long before the many engines re
sponded to the general alarm two men
could Ike seen on the window sills of the
fifth story on the Bates street side of the
building. \ gruan went up from the crowd,
which in Il moment realized the awful peril
of the unfurtunateS and SAW but too plain
ly what little chance there was to render
etfectual assistance. So rapid had the flames
progressed that the men undoubtedly had
not the time To get out of the building.
I Caught like rats in n trap, with the flames
roaring above and beneath them and
spreading every moment, with the smoke
behind them increasing in suffocating vol.
umes, the unfortunates were fairly driven
to the window sills. There they chung
The crowd shouted: Don't jump. Dom
jump! There's help coming But even a.
those below called ont their words of use
less encouragement the flames behind them
advanced and burst around them
y bale of jute was procured by the spec
tators and placed below the window il
which Bradley Dunning was perched
I Driven by the flames which roared arounc
him, he sprang from the window and land
ed on the bale, lie bounded off and fell Il
/ the sidewalk, where he lay limp and ap
parently hfeless. An ambulance carriec
him to the hospital, where he died soor
after