Evening star., 1895-06-15


manner and waited cooIly until the fremen
had succeeded in raising the ladders to
them. One woman had to be carried down,
but another, older woman, managed to
climb down the ladder without assistance.
All this occurred in full sight of large
crowd which had been attracted by the
fire and filled the avenue from side to side.
There was naturally considerable excite
ment and there were rumorS rife that the
rear rooms contained number of people
who were hemmed in ty the flames and
could not make their escape. This, for
tunately enough, was rot the case. Mr..
John Moylan. the proprietor of the hotel,
and one of the employees lost no time, as
soon as the fire was discovered. in hurry
ing through the halls and notifying every
one in the building that there was fire.
No Fire Escapes Front.
The rear of the Owen House is fairly
we'll supplied with fire escapes. but there
is none on the front nor on the side. which
fronts on a wide alley, where there was
plenty of room for any number of fire
escapes. A number of people who were on
the upper floors started at once for the
rear and made their escape that way, and
several escaped down the front stairs,
which open onto the avenue in narrow
passage beside the restaurant which oc-
cupies the main part of the building on
the ground floor Others, however, broke
for the front rooms facing on the avenue,
and it looked at first though some one
would be hurt there Smoke was pouring
out of the windows. and the fames We're
rapidly drawing near 20 those who were
penned in, but as soon as they realized
that the firemen We're on the spot and
were raising the ladders to their assist
ance they stood as patiently as might be
and made no attempt to jump. The less
said for their costumes the better, for it
would take few words to describe them.
Those who filled the avenue windows, two
women and two men, had evidently been
sound asleep when they were first noti-
fed that there was danger. At any rate
they looked that way and were dressed
that way when they made their appear
ance at the windows.
Coming Down Ladders.
John Leach a barkeeper in the Owen
House, lay sick abed in one of the upper
rooms and was with difficulty removed to
a place of safety. He was to the front of
where the flames had their origin and could
not have made mis- way to the fire escape,
even if he had been physically able. AS it
was he was assisted to the front window on
the third floor and was the first one to go
down the ladder, the women calmly giving
place to him as ne was sick.
DIR. J. R. Harrison was also in one of the
third-Story windows, were Miss Lizzie
Moylan and Miss Florence Lightfoot. All
of these were brought safely down the
ladders. Mss Moylan had to be carried
down the ladder and when she reached the
little portico above the entrance to the
restaurant and was quite safe she pro-
ceeded to go into a dead faint. She was
carried into the store next door and restor-
atives were resorted to. Others who were
caught in tight places, but managed to
make their escape without injury, were J.
V. Davis, J. c. Lay, Mrs. Fields, Miss Rosa
CAM and Mrs. Tichenor
1t was not an easy matter to tell where
the fire had its origin. In the opinion of the
firemen who went first into the building 1t
started near wine room ON the third
foor but one of the women, who was in
the midst of it at the worst, told a Star
reporter that the fire was fercest near the
linen room, which is midway between the
front and the rear of the building. 1t ragged
strong around the staircase in the middle
of the house.
After the fire department got fairly to
work at the flames it not a difficult
fire to handle, but so much time was lost
after the fire was discovered. and before
the alarm was turned in and Il taking cut
the people that the flames had got a head
way that they would not otherwise have
had.
Delay in Turning in the Alarm.
There was a remarkable delay in turning
in the alarm. A middle-aged white man
was passing by when he heard cries of fire
from the upper part of the building, and at
once started to hunt up the nearest alarm
box. Strange as it may seem, there was
no one in Wllard's or in the neghboring
STORES W no dieu " nave Inc Slis5 HtGSl
idea where there was fire box or who had
the key. The result was that the first
alarm went in over the telephone and acted
only as a special still alarm The first
re gular alarm was not turned in until after
the first of the firemen We're the spot.
By that time a box had been discovered on
1ith street between the avenue and F
street, and an alarm went in from box 145,
and engine companies /, ., 6 and and
truck C responded. The fire looked SO
| threatening when Assistant Chief Belt ar
rived that second alarm was sounded.
which brought engine companies 3 and 4
and truck Z. By this time the fire had
gained such a headway that Chief Paris
OF dered a third alarm sounded. and engine