The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-02-22
SOME JUMPED TO DEATH
ers Were Unable to Reach the Win
dows, and Fell Back Into
Fiery Furnace.


ing for life as the hot flames chased
them with hungry tongues, was the be-
ginning of a fire tonight that consumed
thousands of dollars worth of property |
and caused the destruction of many |
lives From the outside of the high |
building the first notice of impending |
disaster was the sight of a body OF |
girls as they rushed out upon the fire |
escapes from the windows, those who |
were fortunate crowding out of the en- |
trance. Following them was a mass OF |
smoke with flashes Of hot flame in lurld |
streaks. Then the mass of frenzied hu-
mainly finding the egresses too small
for instant escape, began climbing over
the sides of the escapes, and bundles OF
clothing filed with writing humanity
dropped at the feet of the Mortified pass
ers-by.
Within 20 minutes after the fire start
ed there were three dead women laid
upon the floor of an adjoining store
and at least a dozen burned and manned
girls and women taken to the hospital
or to their homes OF the $50 girls and
women in the building, it is presumed
that at least half a dozen are in The
ruins, for it is impossible to locate all,
and there may possibly be score of
dead
1t was Just 80 minutes before the clos
ing hour in the Stettheimer & Co. shirt
waist factory on River street, and the
$50 girls and women were working rap
idly to finish up. In the cutting room,
on the fifth floor, the $50 girls were clos
ing up their days assignments and
preparing to leave when the whistle
should blow. Lille Kreiger, who was
working near a machine, called TO
small boy to light the gas over her
work The boy struck a match and
threw the burning stub to the floor. 1t
struck a pile of oily rags and in an in
slant the girl was enveloped in tames
with her clothes and hair burning, she
rushed to the window, and at once the
room became a struggling, shrieking
mass of humanity, filling the windows,
the fire escapes and the only stairway.
tanning and pushing and tearing each
others clothes from their backs, turn
ing into narrow corridors to find a sis
ter or mother or friend, the number OF
the exits augmented every minute by
those from the other floors, these girls
and women fought for their lives to
get away from the flames that seemed
TO be growing to a monstrous size.
With rare presence of mind, Police
man Farrell, who was on the street.
seeing that in the panic number were
liable to Jump, let down the awning
over the entrance Barely was 1t down
when two or three forms came Tying
down from the fifth and sixth stories
and bouncing from the awning fell TO
the sidewalk. Lille Krieger, over whose
machine the fire started, was one OF
these She struck the awning, fell on
her back and bounced to her hands ana
knees on the walk. She got up ana stag
gered about until people helped her TO
her feet again. BY this time nearly
every window had female form dang
ling from it, and when the hremen ar
rived there was a hustle to get the lad
aers up.
At the center window on the sixth
floor a woman hanging by her hands
was forced out by the flames licking her
face. With a last Shrek she let go and
came tumbling over and over until she
struclx the pavement. When picked VI
n was found that she was Mrs. Mar
earet Carroll. Her spinal column was
forced through into her brain. JUS
below her. in another window hung 6
woman, turning appealing glances u
the crowd The black smoke was pour
ing from the window, but as yet M
flames were visible and the crowd yelled
encouragingly to her to hold on, but
bish red flame reached out just thel
and licked her face and in an lnstan
herbody was rebounding from the pave
ment. She was Mrs. Foley, widow
and when picked up she was dead.
ON the same floor, hanging from an
other window, was another woman, an
salvation in the shape of a ladder wa
almost within her grasp when he
strength failed and she went twirlin
down to death. She was Mrs. Kane.
The firemen and police worked INK
heroes. and to their energy was due
great saving of life. At least doze
women and girls were carried down II
ladders or dragged out of the corridor
the officers and firemen going into u
midst of the smoke. The fire burned s
fiercely by this time that no detailt
search of the building could be mad
and from what can be learned the
were many girls and women on Il
three upper stories, either lying in fain
ing fits or overcome by smoke. ~
flames ate down.through three floors
ouicl,lv that the Western Union Tel
eranh Company, the Jessup & Goppn
Sroc1kery Company and the Van Ian
e Jacobs Collar Company had no til
to save anything.
After the fire had started, an adjoi
ing house caught from the falling of
norton of the roof and from it
small buildings on the south caug
About s o'clock the firemen hea
shrieks coming from the two-stc
building on the south They discover