The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-03-22
KILLED.
MRS. THOMAS TAYLOR
MRS. ANNA SCHAMEL
INJURED.

INJURED.
Mrs c. E. Brosius; face and hands
burned.
Mrs. A. King; face badly burned.
Mrs. A. L. Samuelson; face and hands
severely burned: both wrists broken.
May Samuelson, five years; 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; in
jured internally; may die.
Mrs Mary Hopkins; face and head
badly burned.
Mrs Mary Sullivan; hands and face
severely burned.
Mrs. w. A. Reade; hands and face
severely burned.
Mrs. Ed Sinner; face body and hands
burned; bad cut on the head; will prob
ably die.
Mrs. French, South Omaha; face and
hands burned.
Mrs. A. A Smith: face and hands
badly burned; injuries probably fatal.
Mrs. c. E. Allen; face and hands
/ burned; cut by glass.
! Mrs Thomas Thornton; face and
hands burned severely.
Walter Scott; hands and face severe
ly burned.
Unknown man; badly burned on
! hands and face.
Steve Williams, five years old; face
and hands burned.
Fireman William Guider; suffocated
and fell from ladder; internal injuries;
will probably die.
! Lieutenant James Adams; injured
about the hips by falling down stairs.
A group of happy women, busy with
| the affairs of the secret order with
which they were affiliated-the state
/ Lodge of the Maccabees-Were in a
moment brought face to face with
! death. Sixty seconds later seven of
| them lay burned and bleeding on the
| pavement to which they had dropped,
| thirty feet below, and the others were
rescued after they had been more or
less severely injured in their desperate
dash down the single fight of stairs
| that led to safety.
The blaze started just after 8 o'clock
| from a gasoline stove explosion in a
room in the rear Of the third floor OF
! the building and next to the elevator
! shaft. It was not discovered until 1t
| had spread to the adjoining apart
ments and the entire floor was filled
with smoke and flames.
About twenty members of the wo-
mems lodge of Maccabees were attend
! ing a committee meeting in the wait
| ing room in the front of the building
on the same floor. They were uncon
! scious of danger until ianitor threw
open the door and told them to get out
before the flames cut them off. The
! warning came too late. The hre 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 face burned
and blistered. The rest faced solid
! wall of flame.
There was a fire escape at the south
front of the building, but not one of
them seems to have thought of 1t.
They rushed panic stricken to the win
dows, through which the smoke was al
ready pouring In suffocating puffs.
The fire was scarcely a foot behind
them. 1t caught their clothing and
scorched their faces with increasing in
| tensity.
In another instant the spectators, at
tracted by the clouds of smoke, were
Mortified to see one after another spring
| from the open windows and fall heav-
| lily to the pavement. Not one arose.
| They lay in an inert and apparently
! Iifeless heap until carried into the Of
flee of a physician across the street
Most of them were bleeding from Sc
we're cuts and bruises and all were
burned until their torn and blackened
skin hung in shreds.
In a few minutes all except Mrs. Tay-
| lor recovered consciousness, and phy-
sicians and nurses, hastily summoned,
| did all that was possible to relieve
their sufferings. AS fast as hasty
| dressings could be applied the victims
were taken to the Clarkson Hospital by
the ambulances. The body of Mrs. Tay-
| lor was taken to the Morgue and others
whose injuries were less severe were
treated at a neighboring drug store and
| at the offices of downtown physicians.
Aside from the fatalities and the .in>
| juries to persons, the fire was not Sc
rious one Few of the losers are able
! to place an exact estimate on their
losses. but the total will not exceed
$50. 900. The loss on the building is less
| than half that sum, and aside from
| that the heaviest losers are the pro-
prietors of the Boston Store, who had
! a large surplus stock in the basement
of the block The loss of the various
secret societies that occupy the halls
on the second and third floors is large
| ly by water and smoke and is diff
| cult to estimate. One lodge of the A.
O. U. w, two lodges of Red Men, two
/ lodges of the Degree of Honor, four
lodges of Maecabees and several others
/ lost regaIia and various items of furnf-
ture The building is insured up to the
| so per cent clause and most of the other
! losses are largely covered by insur-
! ance.