The Savannah morning news., 1901-06-22
HORRIBLE HOLOCAUST
FIREWORKS EXPLOSION BRINGS
DEATH TO MANY.
A TENEMENT DEATH TRAP.
FOURTEEN DEAD AND OTHERS
MISSING AT PATTERSON, N. j.


Setting the Four-stOry Frame
Tenement AbIaze Almost Instantly.
Ten Families Occupied the Flats
and Many Were at Dinner-Escnpe
of Many Was Cut Off-Some Died in
Attempting to Escape.
New York June 21-Fourteen people
are believed to have been killed and
number injured to-day as the result of
a fire following an explosion among a
quantity of fireworks in the store OF
Abraham NJ. Rittenburg, at Paterson, n.
j. The store was on the ground floor of
tenement building The cause of the
explosion is not known. and the property
loss will not exceed $4,000.
The killed were:
Mrs. Lucinda Adamson.
Mrs Charles williams, burned trying to
rescue husband.
Charles Williams. cripple.
Harold Rittenburg, IS months old, son
of the keeper of the fireworks store.
Henry Elsasser. weeks old.
Those missing and almost certainly dead
are
Mrs. Bert Bamber.
Charles Bamber, 6 months old, child OF
above.
Mrs. Andrew Elvin was in the house and
has not been seen since explosion.
Mrs. Mary Elsasser.
Joseph Elvin, weeks old, child OF Mrs.
Andrew Elvin.
Mrs. - Burns, not seen since explo-
sion, and known to have been in the
house.
Clarence Burns. years old. son OF
above.
Mrs. Ann Fenteman, not seen since ex-
plosion, and known to have been in
house.
Mrs. Annie Lannigan, seen to enter her
apartments a few minutes before explo
sion.
Two nephews of Mrs. Lannigan were
with her when she entered her rooms.
Their names have not yet been ascer-
tanned
The injured:
j. Jessup. bruised about the head and
body and burned about head.
Mrs. J. Jessup, bruised and burned about
body
l. Bamber. head and face burned.
George Soder. head severely cut
Nicholas Hillman cut on head.
Fireman Edward slingland, injured by
wall
Mr.. and Mrs. John McGlone. burned
about faces and bodies.
A number of people received minor in
juries, but went to their homes.
Many Caught In Death Trap.
The explosion occurred shortly after
noon and many Of the occupants OF the
building were at dinner. The building in
which the explosion occurred was a
frame tenement, four stories high, with
stores on the ground floor. The middle
store was occupied by Rittenburg. Ten
families occupied the fats in the build
ing
So great was the force OF the explosion
that a boy playing in the street half a
block away was lifted from his feet and
hurled against an iron fence. One of his
legs was broken. A trolley car was di-
rectly in front of the building when the
explosion occurred. The burst Of flame
blown out into the street scorched the
sides of the car and singed the hair of
the passengers.
number of those who were on the
upper floors of the building when the ex-
and then burned to death or found es-
cape cut off and were suffocated. After
the first explosion there were series of
smaller ones and then came a second big
explosion, which was muffied and dead
ened and probably occurred in the cellar
Horrible Incident.
Every window seemed TO be emitting
flame within minute after the first ex-
plosion. A woman, with her clothing on
fire. leaped out of one OF the windows
and fell 40 the yard below. Her dead
body was dragged out OF reach OF the
flames but the flesh was roasted and
dropping from the bones. She later proved
to be Mrs. Williams.
Mrs. williams husband was a cripple.
His wife is supposed to have remained
longer than she could with safety in an
effort to save him. He was found burned
20 a crisp on his bed. Some of the occu-
pants of the rooms dropped from the
windows and were bruised; others hung
from the windows until the firemen came
and twenty persons were taken down In
this way through the fire and smoke by
the firemen, while others dropped into
life nets.
Daniel Dooley, who was in the yard
when the explosion took place, saw the
two Rittenburg children in the rear room
and rushed into the flames for them. lie
got one OF them and carried it out, and
tried TO go back for the other but the
other room was then one mass Of fire
and he was too late He was badly scorch-
ed in rescuing the first child.
Building Fell on Firemen.
While the rescues we're going on the
firemen we're fighting the flames. Capt.
Allen led with a hose line In an effort TO
keep the fire from the upper floors where
II was said many were pinned in. The
men had hardly taken their positions and
begun on the sidewalk to throw water
into the upper floors, when without any
warning, the whole upper part OF the
building above them sagged outward and
fell. The captain and two OF his men we're
buried under the blazing debris. One OF
the men IL badly hurt. The building In
which the explosion occurred was entirely
destroyed.
Rittenburg will probably be arrested
pending an Investigation.
In the debris was found the head OF a
man or 4 woman. The hair Is burned of
and the features unrecognizable. The re-
niainder OF the body has not been found.
Tho bodies taken out thus far are al
most unrecognizabie and are burned and
torn by the fire ana the collapse OF the