The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-02-01
TWO TENEMENT H0L0CAUSTS
MOTHER AND FIVE CHILDREN BURNED TO DEATH.
The Father Was Playing Cards In a Nearby Saloon at the Time of the Fire-In the Other Fire One Child Lost Its Life-Three Tenement Houses Burned to the Ground Loss Estimated to be Over $15O,00O.

Loss Estimated to be Over $15O, 900. Hoboken, N. J., Jan. 31.-This city was visited by two disastrous fires be- tween 11:30 o'clock Saturday night and 8 o'clock this morning. Seven persons were burned to death and thirty fam lilies were made homeless. The Satur- day night fire started in the three-sto- ry frame building at 40 Newark street. Here six persons lost their lives. They | were:
 Mrs. Nellie Schroeder, aged forty; Henry Schroeder, aged eleven; Maggie Schroeder, aged seven; Kate Schroeder, aged nine; John Schroeder, aged three; Willie Schroeder aged three months. The father of the family, Charles | Schroeder, was in a nearby saloon | playing cards while his wife and chill dren were dying.
 The second fire started at 3 o'clock this morning in the five-story tenement at No 157 Fourteenth street, over a mile from the scene of the first. In this fire three tenements, Nos. l5o, l57 and 159, were entirely wrecked and No. 153 was badly damaged by water One children was burned to death on the fourth floor of No. 157. She was Mabel Mangles, aged eight.
 l As near as can be determined the 1 fire last night at 40 Newark street started in a defective fiue in Schof- fer's Wheelwright shop on the ground l floor. Schoffer occupied the second floor as living apartments. The front | rpor1c hn ha irJ io6 by Charles Schroeder and family, while James Blanchfield and family occupied the rooms in the rear. The Blanch- fields discovered the fire, which had gained much headWay, and barely made their escape by the way of the roofs of adjoining buildings.
 It was impossible to discover the fate of the Schroeder family until the fire had subsided
 When the police entered the building little save the shell remained and they were obliged to exercise great care in climbing about the place. They fin- | ally reached the top floor and made their way into the front room Stretch ed across the bed, blsckened and char red, lay the mother, and clasped tightly in her arms was the baby Willie. l Beside the mother and baby in the same bed lay the charred bodies of the l girls, Maggie and Kate. It is likely l that they were suffocated in their sleep On a mattress on the floor near the window lay the body of the boy, John, but the body of Henry, the oldest boy, was nowhere to be seen. Upon further search being made the boys body was found under mass of de- bris in the hall, burned almost to a crisp. It is believed the boy was aroused during the fire, and in his ef- forts to escape ran into the hall.
 There he was overcome by the smoke and his body was covered with part of the roof which fell on him.
 The fire at 157 Fourteenth street started from some unknown cause. There were two families on each flour of the four tenements. All the families were forced out in their night clothing or with what little covering they could grab in their hurry. The family of Ferdinand Mangles occupied the fourth
 floor of 157. Mrs. Mangles with her four children started for the street,
 which they reached in safety, with the exception of Margaret, who was suf- foca ted
 The body of the child is probable bur | jed beneath mass of debris in the
 cellar The loss on the buildings Nos. 155, 157 and 159, which were completely
 wrecked, is $S0,000. Not over half a
 dozen families in the three buildings
 carried any insurance and their be- | 1oneines were woth about S10 000