The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-12
REAL LIFE TRAGEDY
THREE MEN BURNED TO DEATH In
SIGHT OF A LARGE
CROWD.
CAUGHT ON FIRE ESCAPE.
FLAMES BROKE OUT BELOW THEM
AND CUT OFF ALL
ESCAPE.
MANY OTHERS SUFFER- INJURIES.
Six-Story Building I'm the Manu-
featuring District of New York
Destroyed by Fire.

NEW YORK, Aug. 11.-A least three
persons, and possibly otaers, were
burned to death In fire that destroyed
six-story brick building at No. 4e5
Greenwich street this afternoon. Sew
eral persons were injured by the smoke
and heat, and by jumping, and two Of
them are expected to die. The dead
are:
William Gray, foreman of the Electri-
cal Repair shops and two unknown
men, all of whom were caught on a
lire escape and burned to death In
view of the crowd. The injured. who
are expected to die, are: Felix Hass
and an unknown man. The other per,
sons hurt went to hospital and then
home
The ground floor of the building was
occupied byA. K. Warren & Co., which
firm operated the New York Electrical
Repair shops. The firm also occupied
the third fourth, fifth and sixth floors.
The second floor was occupied by Ju-
Illus Cohen as a distillery, and the third
floor was occupied by Plaut Bros, man
ufacturing jewellers. This building, as
we'll as the one adjoining, was burned
out. The latter building, No 467 was
occupied on the ground floor by Alex
ander Klinkowski, a wine refiner, and
the second floor as we'll The third
floor was vacant, the fourth occupied
by John Laney, as the New York Pan
company, and Kellsal & Co., cane man.
ufacturers, occupied the fifth floor The
top stoy was vacant. The fires origin
is attributed to an explosion. It began
in the rear, on the ground floor of No.
465.
Most of the fifty persons In the build
ing were at work in the shops Of War
rem & Co., on the fifth floor Of the
building. Those who were first to reach
the fire escapes succeeded in making
their way down to the first floor land
ing, and from there Jumped to the side
walk. Those who followed found that
they were cut off by flames and dense
smoke which poured out Of the windows
below and escaped over the roof.
One of the last men to make for the
fire escape on the fifth floor was the
foreman, William Gray. He was seen
on the landing a moment. He was fol-
lowed by another man who was not
recognized. Men on the roof shouted
for him to take hold of a wire which
they had let down, but he either did
not hear or was too frightened to do
anything. Flames suddenly shot up
and drove the men on the roof back,
and they then lost sight of the men be-
low. When it shifted, the charred and
naked bodies of the two men were seen
on the fire escape as the firemen played
the hose into. the building. Another
unknown appeared on the same fire
escape above Grays body. For an in,
slant he gazed distractedly on the
crowd below. A sheet of flame swept
from the windows again and when they
fell back the dead body of the man
was lying on the grating.
Four alarms were turned In and for
time it looked as if everything on
the block would burn. All traffic in
that section of the city was suspended,
as the hose crossed not only the sur
face railways but the elevated as well.
Eight or ten explosions added to the
excitement, but served good purpose
in aiding the fire department, as there
after the flames were more easily con-
trolled Individual losses were not def
nitely known. and a total of $4,000 is
estimated. Warren & Co.'S loss, as all
others, is total and is estimated at
$25, 000