Evening star., 1896-04-01
SUFFOCATED IN BED
Ten Lives Lost in a Tenement House
Fire.
ESCAPE By STAIRWAY cut OFF
Disaster in the Italian Colony in
Brooklyn.
MANY EXCITING INCIDENTS

NEW YORK, April 1.-Ten persons per-
ished by suffocation in Brooklyn tene-
nlent house, in Union street, early today.
The names of the victims are as follows:
August Buno, his wife ard two children,
Sally. five years old, and Johanna, eighteen
months.
Lena Calabia, eighteen years old.
Nicolo Tralia, eighty years; his daughter,
Lena Tralia, twenty-four years; Dominick
Tralia. his son, twenty-four years, and an
eighteen days old baby.
Cornelia Marretti, twenty-six years.
All met their death by suffocation. The
bodies of some of them We're badly burned.
Buno and his family lived on the third
floor. the rest of the unfortunates lived on
the second floor.
The fourth floor was unocc upied. The oc-
cupants of the first floor escaped without
injury John Calabia, husband of Lena
Calabia. also escaped from the second floor
.tninjured- The cause of the fire, which
originated in the hallway of the first floor,
Is unknown. The pecuniary loss is about
S4.6sD.
The fire started in the lower hallway of
the building, which is Il four-story tene-
ment, and before the sleeping tenants could
be warned of their danger all ESCAPE was
cut off.
The flames swept up the stairways and
the halls and rooms were quickly filled
with smoke. Ten of the tenants were suf-
focated in their beds.
The section of the city where this terri
BILE disaster occurred is near the water
front The majority of the residents are
Italians of the poorer class. and they form
the biggest colony of their race in Brook
lyn- The firemen succeeded In getting the
fire under control after short time. The
damage to the building Is estimated at
$iOO.
There were many exciting incidents con-
nected with the fire. One man. an Italian,
whose name is unknown Jumped from a
window in the third story and escaped
with only few burns and bruises.
1he fanl1iy of Joseph Estosito. living on
the second floor of the house. had mar
row escape from death. When aroused
they found their way cut off. and the
haHnes were sweeping into their apart
ments- Estosito led his wife and three
children to the cornice in front of the
heuse and guided them along 1t to the
building adjoining, from the roof of which
they Were taken by fremen.
Each floor of the burned building was di-
Elded INTO five rooms. There was one
large front room, with two windows OPEN
Ing on the street. a hall bed room ad-
joined, with window also opening on the
street In the rear was another large
room. with two windows with a good
sized kitchen adjoining. The front and
rear rooms were connected by a hall and
bed room.
An iron ladder at the rear of the house
ran down between the kitchen window and
the window of the rear room, so that it
could easily be reached from either WIN
dow 1t had been rendered SO hot by the
nameS. however, that the inmates of the
house dared not use it.
Except the fire escapes. the only outlet
from the crowded room in the upper floors
was the narrow wooden stairway escape
by which was cut off soon after the fire
started
After the fire had been extinguished John
Calabria was found unconscious lying on
the fire escape He had gotten out of a
second-Story window so completely eX-
hausted that he could go farther. He
will recover.
His wife was dead in her apartments
Subsequently nine other bodies were found
when he had somewhat rallied from the
effects of suffocation and heat Calabria told
the story of how he escaped and left his
wife behind, and, while he seemed to be still
somewhat dazed, he had clear conception
of the events Of the night. Later he said
that he tried to carry his wife to the win
dow. but could not, and hurt his hands in
getting out. He had called for help, but
none came, as the house was red" before
the tremen came.
The Espositos were aroused by the calls
OF fire. and say that five minutes after
they could not have got out of the building
The bodies of the Buno family who lived
In the top Moor, were found huddled to-
gether. showing that the family woke dur
Ing the fire and made efforts to escape.
Bunos body was found close beside the
window: The Italian family were on the
floor below
Fire Chief Dale expresses the opinion
fhat the fire was the work of an incendi-
airy. He says that the frernen did not
know that there was anybody in the house
until after the fire had been extinguished.
The chief is not at all impressed with the
story Calabria tells. The latter says he
made several attempts to get out of the
burning building. but on account of the
heat could not. He finally fell exhausted
on the fire escape. from where he was taken
by the firemen. The man was fully dress
ed and before he fell on the escape he was
seen by the firemen On the roof of the
burning building.