The evening world., 1894-03-08
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.

- $3.50 W - oiiA
several people injured In a fire which
broke out early this morning In the four
story fiat house at 82S Eighth avenue.
Three alarms were sent in. but before
the hre could be checked 1t had extended
to three other houses.
In ali about sl2,0c 0 damage was done
to property. circumstances 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.
twenty-one wears old.
1t was just l.55 o'clock when a young
man walking through Eighth avenue
noticed a bright light shining through
the doors Of Henry Liski's restaurant
on the ground floor of the fiat house.
Hurrying up the street In search Of a
policeman, he met Central ONCE Detec-
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
~hat-house bells to arouse the sleeping
tenants. The fire had started in the
rear Of the restaurant, and by the time
the alarm wal turned n had already
burned to the stairway, cutting off all
escape by that means for the people up
William schneeweis, who lives on the
top Moor, was the first tenant who tried
to get out. He rushed into the hall.
only to be met by dense clouds Of smoke:
burning wood. and realized that to at
tempt to get out by the stairs meant
with fires before. TSere was 4 small
fire In the same house last October. and
since then he has kept in his room an
Kronnd rope srn l9 :. r. s%Suf for the to rsash nr 1hs
he used to say. So he returned to his
rooms and threw n end OF the rope
out the window
his nerve failed him, and he hesitated.
There was no one In the room with him.
ms wife Is IN y,S on a visit. n
Just then the first engine arrived. The
other tenants, aroused from their sleep.
were panic-str'cken. When they found
the st made O fol the aw resr fre.e. Sae a'f Bna
the fire made such rapid progress through
a rear a%ir.shaft that the escape was rem:
dasres f isa; .ss Psd ire rom st the w tGnk"ss of
the house People stood at the windows
shf}sd e s sS5 sssiitaP ts slide The do SEe% sis
rope, but he shook his head and waited
for the flames. The rope passed other
windows on each floor. but nobody had
Finally Mrs. Sophia Liskl. 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 was broken. the other
tenants followed lowe IKE sheep nnc They all
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 cornlce to
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 Sc~hneeweis's es-
cape.
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 boarders. :Nugent
and Lacy, slid next. They took Lacy to
the hospital a., sgS , Of n, his fingers was
schneeweIs. He came shooting down,
without making. a stop by the way; He
pavement and saw his bleeding hands:
That's a pretty good idea after all"
said he. Then they took him to Roose-
welt Hospital to have his injured hands
dressed. .
The other people in the house got out
through the roof. ana escaped to the
street ,Sev w ,hroq aSins sdt,SSil s he hG arsmen w Wars
fighting the flames. Unable to get to the
upper part. they poured water into the
place from the roof and ground. The
Interior of the house appeared like a
Two more alarms were turned In. The
people who, had gotten safely out
missing relatives and friends. who they
said were burning up.
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 Ell West Fortieth street.
Patrick Ford. an eXpressman, lives on
the stable. He got the six out all right,
but when he went to take them TO an
other table he could only find five OF
them. Some one had stolen the other
When the main blaze was so far under
control that the men. win the use OF
ladders, could get sstrc into for the m,. building,
sons. by this time the number had
thinned down to two, McCutchen and a
seventeen.year-old hoy namsd WiiIie'
McCutchen's body was found burned
10 a crisp. 1t lay near where the door
had been, Il is ,hSught he was oyer;
reach the hall and had burned where he
The boy Willie could not be found. One
OF the tenants said he had seen hin
20 out early in the night.
The body OF .S~chneeweis's dog. was
found. and also that Of another valuabl,
Mexican dog, Maxey, owned by Liski
the observation-disclosures.
The fremen found la the flames hat
apparently started in two places. one
place was right over a range, and tn,
other is a little ante room, twenty fee
away. Liski says positively that ther,
was no fire in the range when he lef
his place at 10 O'Clock. The matter vii
be reported to the Fire Marshal.
The losses are estimated as follows
Henry Liski's restaurant and household
goods, $1,000; william Schneewels, 1900
Mrs. Heatherton. 800; building 62S Eighth
avenue, 50 5000: stable at 269 West Fortieth
street. 500; house 6aS Eighth avenue. S.'
600.