The evening world., 1894-03-08
BURNED TO A CRISP.
Michael McCutchen Lost His Life
in a Flat House Fire.
Others Hurt by Sliding Down a
Rope to the Street.
Suspicious Circumstances Attending
the Outbreak.

several people injured In a fire which
broke out early this morning In the four
story fiat house at 62S Eighth avenue.
Three alarms were sent In. but before
the fire could be checked 1t had extended
to three other houses.
In ali about $4,000 damage was lone
to property. circumstance connected
with the origin of the blaze the nremen
think are suspicious.
The man who lost his life was Michael
McCutchen, who occupied a hall room
On the third floor. He was a butcher.
t~wenty-one wears old.
1t was just 1.55 o'clock when a young
mar walking through Eighth avenue
noticed a bright light shining through
the doors of Henry Liski's restaurant
on the ground foor of the fiat house.
Hurrying up the street in search of a
tive Bowling.
BY the time Bowling reached the house
he had been Joined by Patrolmen MCGEE
and Coleman.
MCGEE turned in an alarm. The other
policemen put In their time ringing the
tiat-house bells to arouse the sleeping
tenants. The fire had started in the
the alarm was turned n had already
burned to the stairway, cutting off all
escape by that means for the people up
stairs.
William Schneeweis, who lives on the
top floor. was the first tenant who tried
to get out. He rushed into the hall.
only to be met by dense clouds of smoke:
Below he ,ould hear the cracking of
burning wood, and realized that to at
tempt to get out by the stairs meant
death.
Blu Schneeweis has had experience
with fires before. There was a small
fire in the same house last October. and
since then he has kept in his room an
grolnd Sri be- ready FOR the next fire.
he used to say. So he returned to his
rooms and threw one end OF the rope
out the window.
But when he looked down to the street
his nerve failed him. and he hesitated.
There was no one in the room wi h him.
his wife is in Germany on a vi'it. and
Just then the first engine arr'9si. The
other tenants. aroused from th~r sleep,
were panic-str'cken. When they found
the stairs burned away. with one accord
they made for the rear fre-escape. But
the fire made such rapid progress through
a rear air-shaft that the escape was rem
hame that !epped from the windows.
There was no escape on the front OF
the house. People stood at the windows
saIIsd e s sS5 essifsaP fS slide The do t1Tem Sis
rope, but he shook his head and waited
for the flames The rope passed other
windows on each floor. but nobody had
courage enough to use It,.
Finally Mrs. Sophia Llski, who lived
with her husband, the restaurant keeper.
on the first floor. grasped the rope and
no other Injury than badly lacerated
hands.
Now that the ice vas broken. the other
tenants followed like sheep. They all
wanted to come down at once.
Mrs. Tulip, a dressmaker on the second
floor. slid next. Her hands were badly
cut. While she was sliding down Henry
Liski was crawling along a cornice to
the house next door.
on the third floor lived Mrs. Elizabeth
Heatherton, a widow. her daughter. and
Heatherton is sixty-eight years old. She
was the next to try Schneeweis's es-
She vas no. as rh successful cess oa as the
hands so badly that at the second floor
she let go and fell to the pavement. Her
ankle was broken, and she was taken to
Mrs. Heatherton's hoarders, :Nugent
the hospital. one Of his fingers was
torn nearly off and his hip hurt:
S~chneeweis. He came shooting down,
without making, a stop by the way; He
looked surprised when he reached the
"That's a pretty good idea after ALL"
said he. Then they took him to Roose-
yelt Hospital to nave his injured hands
The other people in the house, got out
through the roof, and escaped to the
street through adjoining houses. While
they were doing this ne bremen were
upper part, they poured water into the
place from the roof and ground. The
interior OF the house appeared like n
Two more alarms were turned in. The
people who had gotten safely out
deluged the fremen with questions about
missing relatives and friends. who they
Gradually the fire extended to the ad-
Joining houses in Eighth avenue. Nos. 626
and $50, then to a stable in the rear. Nos.
269 and 2l West Fortieth street.
Patrick Ford, an expressman, lives on
the second floor and has his six horses In
the stable. He got the six out all right,
other stable he could only find five Of
them. Some one had stolen the other
horse.
control that the men, with the use Of
ladders. could get into the building,
they began the search for missing per-
s sSinned down sm'' to TWO. Mccutchen and a
seventeen-year-old boy named Willie,
wac worked as a dishwasher for Llski.
McCutchen,s body was found burned
to a crisp. II lay near where the door
had been. 1t il thought he was over
come by the smoke before he could
reach the hall and had burned where he
fell.
The boy While could not be found One
OF the tenants said he had seen him
go out early in the night.
The body Of Schneeweis's dog was
found, and also that Of another valuable
Mexican dog. Maxey. owned by Liski.
the restaurant-kceper.
The hremen found that the flames had
apparently started in two places. One
place was right over a range. and the
other Is n little ante-roOm, twenty feet
away. Iiski says positively that there
was no fire In the range when he left
his place at 10 O'Clock. The matter will
be reported TO the Fire Marshal.
The losses are estimated as follows:
Henry Liski's restaurant and household
goods, s., 200; william Schneeweis. 81 900;
Mrs. Heatherton, 500; building 62S Eighth
avenue, 5000; stable at 269 West Fortieth
street. 500: house 626 Eighth avenue. S.-
Salvation oil - a certain, cure for headache,