The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-12-16
THEIR WASHHOUSE BURNED.
Some of the Employees Make
Their Escape.
LINEN WILL NOT BE RETURNED.
All of the Inmates Are More or Less
Injured and One of Them
May Die.

Four badly charred bodies at the Morgue
aud the she'll Of an old roOkery out at the
Mission, the floor of which is stTewn with
bundles OF Scorched linen, are about all that
remain of Lee Sings washhouse. which
formerly tlourished at 537 Valencia street.
About $50 O'clock yesterday morning
the neighbors in the vicinity were startled
by the cries of MongOls. ana Officer
Doran, Whose beat is on Seventeenth
street, was quickly on the scene and found
the flames bursting through the sides Of
the building. He turned in an alarm from
box 276, and it was quickly responded to
by engine and truck 6. and the work of
putting out the fire was quickly accom-
plished.
AS several of the Chinese had been seen
on the street at the time the alarm was
given it was supposed that all the occu-
pants of the laundry had escaped with
their lives, but as soon as the flames were
extinguished the fremen began to investi-
gate the interior. and 1t developed that not
all of the inmates had been so fortunate.
The door leading from the washroom
into the large laundry-room was found
omen, and lying against 1t were the bodies
OF two of the Chinese burned TO q crisp
where they had fallen in vain attempt to
escape from the burning building. Near
the center of the room was found another
charred body, the unfortunate having been
awakened by the fire, and after max
ing an effort TO escape had fallen to the
floor, blinded and suffOcated by the smoke.
Still another body was found in a hunk
in the corner of the room. but no attempt
at an escape seemed to have been made,
and no doubt death found the Chinese
while he was still sleeping off the effects of
the opium with which he had closed the
days labor.
From the way in which the building is
burned it is evident that the fire started
near the stove. which stood in the center
of the room. and which served the double
purpose of heating the irons of the work
men and drying the clothes which were
suspended from the ceiling. The better to
accomplish this latter object the pipe. iu-
stead of going up straight through the
roof, was carried along Tor distance OF
ten or twelve feet. and the clothes which
hung near il. becoming dry. were finally
ignted and set fire to the woodwork from
which the linen was suspended.
The flames then quickly spread through
the building, and but four out of the
eight Chinese employed there managed to
escape The names of the men whose
bodies are ut the Morgue are Hong Ching
LeOng All Ohu, Chin All Fook and Fung
All Quong.
The others made their way to China
town, where one of them was found to be
so badly burned that ne NAV die. and the
others suffered from slight burns.
The Chinese had worked until late in
the night. They retired about o'clock in
the morning, and had of course gone to
sleep by the aid of the opium-pipe, and
may still have been under Its influence
when the fire broke out.
The property belonged to Mrs. James
Duffy, VINO resides on California street,
and the damage will not amount to more
than $500 aside from the clothing which
was destroyed, the value of which could
not be estimated.