The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-14
ROWBRT'S A LIST ii.
.gr FATAL FIRE APPARENTLK DUE
10 A PIPE OR CIGARETTE

,...,, $50 LodEers In the BuidiuE. which
Nj, rail or Marrow Compartments with
-.oaep Partitions. Each Contrasting I've
,.,r.-oniy Three Of the Dead 1dentiaed-
-. other. Burned Beyond RecsGuttiop.
v,,vsp persons lost thoir lives at the fire in
1powcrv Mission lodging house. los Bowery,
W. 10 yesterday morning. The bodies were oil
- y. from tho building to tho Eldridge street
...ion and from there to tho MorRue, where
-. ., them were identified. Those identified
we're:
r,,,r John. machinist. 90 years old, stapleton. 81.
..nsrno,t. william. painter, Eighty -sikth street
-. FOR, Hamilton avenue, brooklyn.
adam. william, farmer. s~pottswood, Nd
r,-,n's body wat Identified by his two
,.o,hcrs. Michael and Thomas Foran, of Staple.
: The body was not badly burned. and a
-, IN the right elbow. caused by q broken
-, made the identification certain. A postal
- found in q pocket Of the coat was addressed
- Jobn Foran. Staplcton, 5. i. The identifica-
,,n n, McDcrinott was not altogether ~satisfac-
49, A man. who refused to give his name.
Ia be could identify one of the bodies as that
:, william McDermott by the false teeth. He
VA tho man lived with his sister. q Mrs. Ryan,
:. riobty.sixth street and Hamilton avenue,
pooklyn. Mrs. Ryan was sent for to make the
qualification more certain. Sodan's body was
H,rtiaed by James Began. also OF Spottswood,
yho came TO New York with Sedan n few days
.ro, The only one OF those identified whose
name appears on the lodging-house register is
Torsn. He was assigned on Saturday night to
rom 70.
The unidentified bodies was 30 badly burned
,A,, Il seems hardly possible that any other
ta,,,iacations can be made. There were about
,eo men in the building when the fro was dis
,.,ered. This number includes the employees,
Al, NJ whom escaped. Some of the patrons of
N, nlace were permanent dodgers. and their
names are on the clearinghouse books. Those
vbs took lodgings on Saturday night wero also
all registered. The clearinghouse register is
,ov at the Eldridge street police station, as is
,lso the book in which tho names of the perma-
,snt lodgers were kept. Had the fire occurred in a
botel. It would be possible, perhaps, with the
hooks in the possession OF the police. to check
of the names OF the persons who escaped from
the building, and thus determine who the uni
Identified dead are. But the patrons of the mis-
sion lodging house are Of the flotsam and jetsam
ofthe city's population. AS soon as they escaped
from the burning building they drifted away.
and It is now practically impossible to deter
mine lust who were in the hunks when the fire
broke out.
The lodging house was q hve-story-and-base-
nent brick structure. on the east side OF the
Bovery. a few doors north OF Hester street. At
the rear OF the building is a small court, from
which one might reach Chrystie street, one
block to the east. The building was provided
with fire escapes at the front and rear. Large
windows opened upon tho landings of the fro
escapes on every floor. One door to the north
Is Ale1snder's furniture store. Adjoining the
lodging house on the south is a low building
used as a shooting gallery. Windows on the
floors of the lodging house above the third floor
looked out upon tho roof Of the shooting gallery.
The ground floor OF the building was used by
the management of the mission as q place for
holding nightly religious services. Seats for
those who attended the services took up about
threequarters of the floor space. A few feet to
the east OF the front row of seats was the read.
Ing desk Of tho person who conducted the ser.
vices, and Immediately behind that was n large
pipe organ that was used at one time in the
chapel Of Princeton University. The organ was
dignity damaged by the water used in putting
out the fatal fire.
Over this room was the office of the mission
kdging house and the lounging room. Office
and ~lounging room did not take up quite half of
the length of the floor. The rest of the floor
was partitioncd into compartments, having q
passageway about three feet wide running be-
tween the north wall of the building and the
north partition Of the compartments. Between
the east wall OF the building ana the east parti-
ton wall OF the sleeping space was another
paSsageway about four feet wide. At the north.
west corner OF this floor werc two wa shrooms.
That part OF the floor space thus partitioned
Of formed a rectanEle perhaps thirty feet on
two sides and fifteen feet on the other two. The
longer sides of the rectangle ran from east to
west The walls forming it were Of thin.
matched boards of soft wood, painted white.
and about seven feet nigh. The partitions form.
Ing the compartments were OF the same ma
terial. The compartments, which were in rows.
were about seven feet long and FIVE feet wide.
IN each compartment we're two bunkS about
three feet wide. Between each row of compart-
hsnts was a piassageway about two and q half
leet wide. Each bunk WAS furnished with a
mattress. sheets. a blanket and II pillow. These
Compartments were called rooms" by the
MANAGEMENT. A charge of 20 cents a night was
these hunks.
The third floor was cut up exactly like the
punk part OF the office floor. The rectanglc was
longer, since the whole floor. except that taken
Up by tho narrow p~assageways along the north
Gae and at each end; was used for the rooms"
from one end of each OF the floors to the other.
SSSSSt i've feet from the north wall Of the
Val. on both the fourth and fifth
hoors, was utilized for a few more rooms
IKE those on the second and third floors. There
vas no elevator in the building. Access to tho
loors above the ground was gained by flights OF
taifs that had landings on the north side of the
building, at about the middle of the length Of
sAch moor. As on the office floor. two wash
tooms were at the northeast corner OF the third.
fourth and NTH floors.
BESIDES the sleeping accommodations above
Htound, there were forty cots in the collar.
hheie were two entrances to the cellar. One OF
snese was by a flight OF stairs leading from the
.oom where the religious exercises were held
uhuer the stairs leading to the Office floor. The
oner entrance was from the sidewalk. The
olAlde entrance was always closed, except
%heh supplies OF some kind were taken In. The
Ioor a. the head OF tho inside stairs was kept
iiockeo In the day tino by n hasp and small pad
10; according TO tho statement Of the superln.
,ehaent or The mission, but was supposed to be
unlocked at night. The whole building was
seS!ed by a furnace In the cellar. On tho top
hVTt was a !nrGe stove, used for heating water.
ionh H. Wybgrn is superintendent OF the
bJi % According to u statement made by
am yesterday afternoon there were l47
,ooms and cots on the second. third, fourth
a mn noors and, as has been stated, forty
STg.a in me cellar. In "a letter which he sent to
h.SCN last night he said that seventeen beds
Nv Nv me NTH floor, thirty beds on each Of the
oMn shd fourth floors and siXty.seven on the
SsMVc moor and in the cellar were occurred on
saturday night. This would make the total
,Lunnner OF occupants in the lodging house when