The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-09-18
FIVE CHARRED BODIES.
Big Fire in Washington Attended
with Fatal Results.
SEARCHING THE RUINS sFoRVICTIMs
The Hands and Feet wsro burned from
All the Dead. Their Features En-
tireIy Obliteratod and Clothing Con-
IL.

tireIy Obliterated and Clothing Con-
sumod.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 1s-The most fatal
are of recent years in Washington was
the burning of the mattress factory of
Stump & Bros. yesterday. Five bodies
are at the morgue, charred and crushed
beyond recognition, three injured men are
at the Emergency hospital, one of whom
will die, and there may be others buried
under the ruins, as several of the work
men are unaccounted for.
Two of the dead at the morgue are
known to be William IL, Tennyson, an old
man employed In the factory and Willie
Ashe, a boy of 1s years. Four others who
are missing are Henry Fowler, Philip
Alderman, Robert Reitzel and an old man
who had been employed in the factory but
few days and whose name is not remem-
bered by his employer Those at the hos
pital are: j. Haske both legs broken,
may die. Arthur C, Bevius, internal in
Juries and fractured wrist Harry Bacon
internal injuries.
The factory which is owned by Claude
N. and Edward b. Stump, stood at the
intersection of Seventh and X streets and
Massachusetts avenue, five story struc-
ture with thin brick walls, windows only
at back and front and no fire escapes. 1t
was stored with feathers, shavings and
other inflamable materials, and twenty
five persons were at work on it, six of
them young women.
Fifteen minutes before noon fire was
discovered in the picking room at the
front of the second floor. Almost before
the alarm could be given by the workmen
1t had spread through the second story
and burst up the elevator well. There
was delay in turning in an alarm on ac-
count of the panic
The escape of those on the upper floors
was cut of. They stood in the windows
shouting for help while hundreds on the
streets, unable to give assistance, yelled
to them to wait for the hook and ladder.
Three men were seen on the roof, two of
them gesticulatin9 frantically while the
other leaned calmly against u chimney
waiting.
Policeman Phil Brown found ladder,
and with the help of two stalwart men
dragged a mattress to the roof of a black
smith shop beneath the caves of the
factory. While these preparations were
under way Haske jumped from the
roof and was caught in the mattress
Vaughn leapad headlong so that in tho
force of his fall he tore through the mat
Bacon jumped from third story window
and landed on his stomach across bar
rel twenty-hv feet below. Other men
clung to narrow projections outside the
windows until pile Of mattresses had
been heaped on the sidewalk, and jumped
oil, sustaining severe injuries.
Twenty minutes after thu fire had been
discovered the east wall fell, crushing the
blacksmith shop, Pamer's oyster house
aud the Horse and Cattle Food company's
building A cloud of burning feathers
rose hundred feet over the building
and, drifting down, set fire to several
awnings In front of Seventh street stores,
making lively work for volunteer tiremen
with water pals.
Shortly afterward the other walls tot.
tered and came down, crushing the two
story brick building Of the Woodruff File
Holder company, George J. Benefits
marble shop and Hall & Cammack's fur
ntture store, frame building. Ono fire
man and several speetat ors were hurt by
falling bricks.
The scene at the morEnc, where men
aid women collected To look for missing
relatives, was most Distressing. The
hsnds and feet were burned from all the
dead their features obliterated and cloth
Ing consumed. 1t was possible to iden-
tify Willie Ashe by the size of the body.
and the old man. Tcnnyson, by his teeth.
is doubtful whether the identity of tho
other bodies can ba distinguished
The cause of the fire is unknown.