The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-03-24
Fire Similar to Burning
of the Windsor.
.HEhMED IN BY THE FLAMES
A Building In Omaha Burned While
Twenty-Five Women are Holding n
Committee Meeting Warned Too
Late for Escape-TwO Already Dead
and Several of the Injured will Die.
Twenty Suffering From Burns and
Injuries from Leaping from Windows

Omaha, Neb., March 21.-Compara-
lively Insignificant in material destruc-
ton, but appalling in its harvest OF
death and suffering was a fire that
partially destroyed the Patterson
block, at Seventeenth and Douglas
streets this afternoon. Two of its vic
Tins nave already passed away, one
more is not expected to live and TWEEN
ty others are suffering from broken
limbs and burned and lacerated flesh.
The killed are: Mrs. Thomas Taylor
and Mrs. Anna Schamel.
The injured are: Mrs. c. F. Brosius,
face and hands burned; Mrs. A. King,
face badly burned; Mrs. A. l.. Sameul-
son, face and hands severely burned,
both wrists broken; May Samuelson,
5 years old, burned on hands and face;
Mrs. G. D. Wilson, face, hands and
shoulders burned; Mrs. ]. C. Holt, face
and hands burned; Marguerite Holt,
hands burned, injured internally, may
die; Mrs. Mary Hopkins, face and
hands badly burned; Mrs. Mary Sulli-
van, hands and face severely burned;
Mrs. W. A. Rex, hands and face
severely burned; Mrs. Ed. Schiner,
face, body and hands burned, bad cut
on head, will probably die; Mrs.
French, South Omaha, face and hands
burned; Mrs. A. A. Smith. face and
hands badly burned, injuries fatal;
Mrs. c. E. Allen, face and hands burn
ed. cut by glass; Mrs. Thomas Thorn
ton, face and hands burned severely;
Walter Scott, hands and face severely
burned; unknown man, badly burned
on hands and face; Steve Williams, 5
years old, face and hands burned:
Fireman William Guider, suffocated
and fell from ladder, internal injuries,
will probably die; Lieutenant James
Adams, injured about hips by falling
down stairs.
The blaze started shortly after 3
o'clock. A group of happy women, busy
with the affairs of the secret orders
with which they were affiliated, wee
in a moment brought face to ace with
death. Sixty seconds later seven of
them lay burned and bleeding on the
pavements, to which they had. dropped
forty feet below, and the Others We're
rescued after they a been more or less
| severely injured in their desperate dash
down the single pair of stairs hat led
to Safe;4.
The fire originated from the explos-
ion Of a gasoline stove in a room in
the rear of the third floor of the build
ing and next to the elevator shift. 1t
was not discovered until it had spread
to he adjoining apartments and the
first floor was filed with smoke and
flame. About twenty members Of the
Woman's Lodge of MacCabe were al
tending a committee meeting in the
front waiting room on the same floor.
They were unconscious OF danger until
a janitor threw open The door and told
them to get out before the flames cut
themsoff.
The warning came too late. The fire
swept through the door and down The
single stairway. Those nearest the
door fled through the binding smoke
and reached the street with hands and
faces burned and blistered. The rest
faced a solid wall of flames. There was
a fire escape at the south front Of the
building, but none thought of it. They
rushed panic-stricken to the windows
through which the smoke was already
pouring. The fire was scarcely a foot
behind them. 1t caught their clothing
and scorched their faces.
In another instant the spectators
were Mortified to see n after another
spring from the open windows. They
were carried into the office Of a physi-
clan across the street Most of them
were bleeding from evere cuts and
bruises n all were burned
AS fast as dressings could be applied
the victims were taken to the Clarkson
hospital. Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Schamel
died without recovering consciousness.
Aside from the fatalities and injuries
to persons, the fire was not a serious
| one. The loss will not exceed $50, 900,
half of which was on the building. The
losses are fully covered by insurance.
Various secret societies which occupied
halls on the second and third floors
lost their regalia and papers.
At midnight the injured are doing as
well as could be expected, with the ex-
ception of Mrs. Sinner, Mrs. Smith
and w. w. Scott, all of whom, in all
probability cannot recover