The Bowbells tribune. [volume] (Bowbells, Ward Co., N.D.) 1899-1969, 1900-03-16
MEET AWFUL DEATH
FOURTEEN LIVES LOST IN A TENE-
MENT HOUSE FIRE.
Building Was n yeritable Fire Trap
and Burned Like Tinder-POlice
Confident the Fire Was of Incen-
diary Origin-Men and Women
Leaped From the WindOvs-Fire
Rushed Through Every Room in
the Frail Building ia Ten
Minutes - SickenfnE Stencil of
Roast Flesh.

New York, March 14.-Fourteen per-
sons lost their lives, two persons We're
seriously injured and many others
slightly burned in Il fire in Newark. n
j., yesterday morning. The tiremen
after the flames had been subdued.
took thirteen bodies from the ruins,
and while they We're thus engaged an
other victim of the fire died in the city
hospital. One family was wiped out
completely, and of another only the
father lives, and he is in the city hos
pital, where it is believed lie will die.
The building in which the fire broke
out was a veritable fire trap. 1t was
old, of frame construction, and eX-
tended two stories above the ground
door. Until three or four years ago the
structure had been used as church,
but it was converted into a tenement.
AS nearly as can be learned the struc-
ture was occupied by en- families. all
Italians. Two of the occupants, Vito
CredanZa and one other family, kept
boarders, and although the total pOpu-
lation of the rcokery could not be def
niteiy ascertained
During the Excitement
attending the fire, there seemed to be
forty or fifty persons of both sexes and
all ages in the building when the fire
started.
The police are confident that the fire
was Of incendiary origin and they have
arrested Vito Credanza on suspicion.
There was a ilisorderly card game i'll
one of the rooms which lasted we'll
nto the morning. CredanZa was 4 par
ticipant and IS said to have made vlO-
lent threats against his fellow players.
A few minutes before . o'clock every
one in the t.;::liEg was awakened by
the flames.
The hallway and the stairs were
burning, entirely cutting off the only
egress from the upper floor on which
six families lived. 1t also cut off the
escape by tho door for those who lived
in the rear part of the first floor. Those
who could made for the windows.
From these they leaped or dropped.
The whole neighborhood was awake in
M instant ard from the burning build
ing came agoniZing screams and calls
for help. From the basement and
ground floor the inmates of the build
ing poured naked, or nearly so. From
the upper story
Men and Women Leaped
TO the sidewalk. By the time the fire.
men reached the scene the building
was wrapped in flames and those who
had not escaped We're dead or doomed.
They must have died within a few
minutes, for the fire rushed through
every room in the frail building within
ten minutes. There was fearful excite
ment about the burning building. Men,
women and ciiildren who escaped from
J the burning building rushed about al
, most naked, looking for their relatives.
The fire lasted only few minutes.
The search for the dead began within
twenty minutes after the alarm sound
ed, SO quickly was the fire conquered.
The stencil of roasted flesh coming
from the ruins was sickening. 1t was
noon before the search for the bodies
was ended, and by that time every BIT
of the debris had been gone over most
carefully.
There were still many persons miss
ing, but they were accounted for IN
various parts of the city during the
course Of the day.