The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-14
ELEVEN BURNED TO DEATH
IN CHRISTIAN HERALD,S BOWERY
 MISSION LODGING HOUSE.

Ing Flames Were Discovered Coming
 From a wash- Room on Third Floor
 Wild Scene of fExcitement-Lodgers Pan-
 ic Stricken-Cigarette Believed to Have
 Caused Fire.
 New York, March 13.-A thorough
 search of the premises at 105 Bowery,
 which was partially destroyed by fire
 at an early hour this morning, disclos-
 ed the fact that eleven persons had been burned to death. At first it was
 rnmored that the loss of life was much greater, but after searching the ruins very carefully the police and firemen discovered eleven charred bodies and removed them to the morgue.
 Insofar as the process of Identification has been completed the men who lost their ives H were: Cqddah, Elias, 2S Foran, John
 James, 42 Philadelphia; Soden, William, B. Spottswood, N. J.. - s-s <
 SIX bodies R%hss4 u9ideptied aS Injgred Ash feet; Graham, Lieutenant, fireman, burned
 about hands; Wilson, George, "A, burned about face and hands.
 Number 105 Bowery was one of the
 best known lodging houses on that thoroughfare. It was called the Bow cry mission lodging house and was conducted by the Christian Herald. In
 the basement of the building there was cheap restaurant, while on the ground floor gospel services had been held daily for several years. The four up-
 per floors were fitted up as a cheap lodging house, with accommodations for one hundred and fifty males. Last
 night almost every bed was occupied. AL half-past one o'clock this morning
 one of the lodgers discovered flames coming from wash room on the third floor, but before he had time to alarm the house the fire was noticed by pas- sers-by on the street. By this time the flames had eaten their way to the
 top of the building and were bursting through the roof.
 When the alarm was given and sthe inmates aroused, a wild scene of ax- citement ensued. Many of the lodgers became panic stricken. They rushed into the railways and fell over each other nefforts to reach the street. Those
 on the lower floors got to the street safely by the stairways, while those on the upper floors groped their way | through the binding smoke to the metal fire escapes in front of the build-1 | ing. The majority of them only saved | portions of their clothing. In the meantime three alarms of fire had been sent in and in few minutes the | firemen were busy deluging the build-S l ing with torrents of water. They st1c- | ceeded in keeping the fire within the 1 limits of the three upper stories of the structure. A large detail of police ] was quickly summoned to the scene in l charge of Inspector Cross and the re- | serves were called from the fourteen down town precincts This force of | officers had difficult work to keep the | vast crowd in check as well as helping l to rescue the unfortunate lodgers-s | Many of the injured were cared for by people in the vicinity and about fifty | of them were accommodated at the | Everett street station, three blocks | away.
 1 Several of the most destitute were | brought to the station house in patrol | wagons and on their arrival there were | partially clothed by members of the force and kind hearted neighbors. Af- ter the fire had been extinguished suf- l ficient1y the police and firemen entered l the building and the work of search ing for the victims was begun. Sew 1 eral bodies were found near the win- | dows on the two upper floors, where | they had been stricken down while att l tempting to make their way to the fire
 escapes. So many bodies were found in | the early stages of the search that it | was estimated that over forty persons must have been killed but only eleven l bodies in all were found. Some of l these were discovered in the small | rooms they had occupied, while others l were found in the railways and on | the stairs of the fourth and fifth floors. | All of them were naked and most of | them were burned and charred beyond | recognition. It Is thought by the po- | lice that only one of these bodies will be, eventually, identified. This one is 1 designated as No. 10. It was found in
 room on the fifth floor. In the same | room there was a satchel and it is
 thought that it's contents may lead to
 the Identification of the body. As soon
 as the bodies were carried to the street.
 they were transferred to the police sta-
 tion and by o'clock this morning the | police relinquished their search. Corr
 oner Zucca was summoned and after
 looking at the bodies in the station | house gave a permit for their removal l to the morgue.
 Manager Sardison of the Christian
 Herald, who has direct charge of the
 mission and the lodging house, called
 at the Eldridge street station later
 and told the officer in charge that he
 would bury the dead. The loss on the
 building is estimated at $7,500, con- 1 tents s5,000.
 John N. Wyburn, the superintendent
 of the Bowery Mission, said to-day:
 "When I arrived at the scene of the fire, the f1remen had it under control l and the police were removing the dead
 bodies. I started in at once to ascer-
 tain the cause and the exact place
 where the fire started. found to my
 satisfaction, that it originated in the
 lavatory on the third floor, and was
 probably caused by lighted cigarette thrown care1essly into lot of papers.