The evening world., 1894-01-10
LEAPEO FROM FIRE.
Mrs. Holz Badly Injured in q
Houston Street Blaze.
Occupants Of a Big Tenement
Thrown Into a Panic.
Many Brave Rescues by Fire Lnddies
and Policemen.

SiOA - ~ = tloCh tIlS HlOTIiHM
fire broke out In the cellar Of the Ave.
story te~nement-house known as The
House OF Death" at so East Houston
street. Thu building derives It's name
from the extraordinary number Of deaths
which have occurred there during the
past year.
The house is a tumbiedown, ramshackle
AFFAIR. 1t is one OF the Oldest In the
vicinity. having stood there for over
seventy-ive years. The entrance to
the house Is barely three feet wide, and
from this door a flight of stairs. steep,
narrow and rickety. leads upward. The
halls. even on the brightest day, are
pitch dark. The house belongs to the
Weeks estate.
Bernard Gerrity, who lives on the top
floor with his wife and seven children,
started for the bakery at 4.35 o'clock.
When he reached the second floor he was
met by a volume OF smoke. Without
stopping to investigate its source, he
Near the corner Of Mott street, two
men stood talking. When they heard
the cry and saw the smoke they rushed
around the corner on Mulberry street,
and had an alarm turned In.
Then the two men ran around to the
out. The men were Robert Fuller, OF IS
Macdougai street. and Robert Clifford. Of
"a Stanton street.
poured from every, crevice OF the build
Ing on the ground floor. On. this floor
there is a barber shop and d tin store.
a rhs , f1rst ,i T. kept sp N X Frank Thompson
Fuller saw little Loretta Maxwell. six
years old, In night gown and bs~ refooted.
Siinging to the coping on the trst floor.
down the fire-eSCape. but could get no
further.
Fuller shouted to the child to cling
to her. He then climbed UP the barber
pole. thus reaching the, coping. where
little loretta was caught In ~ arms
and passed TO- ssrgt; Kelleher below, who
the cold to Gerrity's saloon near by.
BY this time the tenants were In an
uproar, At every window there were
Some men and women started to jump,
and were only deferred by the cries OF
the big crowd i'm the street.
Just as the first engines arrived, Mrs.
Holz, who lives on the third floor, ovey
the tin shop. stepped out on the Window
sill. The tremen OF Engine Company 81
started to put up a scaling ladder, all
But she had evidently lost her head,
for before the ladder could be adjuste@
with one Wild cry she dropped from thy
she suffered internal injuries,
In the room from which she jumped
her husband was III in bed Of pneumonia,
Firemen Ford and Gerrigan carried the
man out.
Six ambulances had been summoned
to the scene by Sergt. Jack Kelleher,
Of Police Headquarters-two each from
st. Vincent's, Bellevue and New York
hospitals. The report had got abroad
that a dozen people were burned.
The fremen had found the fire in the
cellar. 1t was in a place hard to get
at under the circumstances. and the
binding smoke made 1t we'll nigh impos-
could be used to effect. =
Fireman German. of Engine 80, was the
dow. He smashed in the windows of the
room occupied by Mrs. T. Mcintyre. She
Is a widow, and is known by everybody
for blocks around as the woman who
live her two young sons, a woman
named White, who is seventy years old.
and Patrick Hayes.
unconscious. Chief Mech n Assistant
Foreman Breslin were soon In the room.
and the air coming In through Inc Win,
revive all but Hayes.
All were carried down the ladder, tn 9
two women by Policeman Charles J.
Muller. of the Mulberry street station.
When Hayes was taken out he was en-
tirely unconscious. He a been over
come by the smoke. He, with Mrs.
Holz and her husband, was taken to the
BY this time there were ladders up 10
the building on the front and east size;
On the fourth floor live a family named
Is deaf and dumb. She did not SEEM 70
comprehend what was the matter, and
| struggled ficrcely with the firemen who
carried her down the ladder.
The firemen had the most trouble with
the family of Jacob Merkle, who lives
on the third floor. Their room looks out
on the east side OF the building into a
little courtyard. Up to the second story
back only twenty feet, leaving the court
Yard space behind 1t. The Merkle's win
dow is directly over this yard. W..
Firemen Fox, Hulslander and Ward,
der on the jewelry store. The end Of
this ladder was five feet from the Merhie
window.
Merhle and his two sons. Henry, ten
years, and Jacob, twelve years, swung
from the window and were caught by
Rut there was more difficulty with
Mrs. Merkle. She weighs 200 pounds.
ty-hve-foot ladder to reach. from the
courtyard to the window, Mrs. Merkle
tied "A clothes-line about her and was
about to lower herself Fortunately ne
Firemen Farley. OF truck No. .. car,
ried her down. OF the seven families u
down ladders by the bremen. Not one
attempted to walk through the dense
When the hreh ad been e~xtinguished u
OF the cellar. lbs said to have been.
caused by homelass men, whom Barber'
Thompson permitted to sleep there Il
is thought that agies fron their pipes
fell In u LOT OF RUBBISH