The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-09-26
A FIRE HORROR.
Another Fatal Conhagration at
Washington, D. O.
SIX Men Burned to Death in a Fire Which
Destroyed Mattress Factory-Others
Fatally Injured by Jumping from
the Blazing Building-The
Property Loss.

WASHINGTON, Sept 1s.-With the
terrible confagration which destroyed
the large Knox warehouses and stables
and in which three brave fremen lost
their lives fresh in the memory of the
residents here, a fire alarm at noon
yesterday was sounded from X street.
where fire had been discovered in the
mattrass factory owned and operated
by Stumph Bros. This was soon fol-
lowed by a general alarm, and in
short time all the engines in the city
were on the scene, but so quickly did
the flames spread that the employees on
the fourth and fifth floors were obliged
to jump for their lives before the trucks
carrying the long ladders had arrived.
-Four of these jumped; one of them,
James 3. Vaughn, sustaining fractures
of beth legs and internal injuries. He
is not expected to live. The other three
who leaped escaped with more or less
severe injuries, but all will recover
Albert ]. Haske had both legs broken
and was otherwise severely injured.
Arthur E. Bevins was bruised inwardly
and had his wrist sprained, and Harry
Bacon was badly bruised.
So rapidly and complete was the
work of the flames that within less
than half an hour from the time of
their discovery the greater part of the
four walls had fallen in, and by $50 the
firemen had pulled down the sole re-
manning pieces Of briclswork over
twenty feet in height which marked
the location of the handsome five-story
structure which had stood there two
hours before. BY this time the spread
of the flames had been checked and at
8 o'clock the work of searching the de-
bris for the bodies of those who were
known to have been in the building and
! not accounted for, was begun.
So far as could be learned the miss
ing ones are Henry Fowler, Phil Acker-
man, Robert Reitzel, William Tenny-
son, Willie Ashe, little boy, and one
other, an engineer, name unknown,
and this includes all of the dead. 1t
! was not long before the searchers found
three bodies, close together, about fiji.
teen feet from the X street entrance,
every particle OF clothing burned from
them and the bodies charred beyond
hope of recognition.
1t was not until o'clock that the
searchers found another Of the missing
ones. This body was discovered within
few feet of the engine, on the GROUND
floor, and is presumably that of the en-
gineer, and this also was burned be
yond recognition. The four bodies liz
at the morgue.
James Z. Vaughn, one of the mel
who jumped from the roof of the burn
ing mattress factory, died about
o'clock last night, of injuries that III
received.
The fires, besides destroying tn,
Stumph building, consumed the Wood
ruff building, factory where all of tn
government files are made and the fall
ing walls of these buildings crushed
Hall & Cammack's furniture house ant
injured the Homeopathic hospital build
ing on Massachusetts avenue. The los
on the Stumph building is In the neigh
borhood of $50, 900; insurance about S15,
900. The entire loss will probably b.
about SS5, 900.