Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-10-26
NINETEEN PERSONS DEAD
Nineteen Persons Perish in the Fire
at Philadelphia and Many are
Injured.
Blaze Started in a Building Filled
with Inhammable Material and
Spread Rapidly.
Employees are Caught in a Trap and
are Compelled to Jump from
Windows or Perish.

Philadelphia, Oct. ga fire in
which, the police say, nineteen per-
sons lost their lives, many more were
seriously and perhaps fatally injured,
occurred during the day in the heart
of the business section of the city.
The 9-story building at 1919 and 1921
Market street, occupied by Hunt, Will
kinson & Co., upholsterers and furni-
ture dealers, and two unoccupied build
ings at 1928 and 1925 Market street
were destroyed. Many other buildings
were damaged and the loss is said to
be upwards of S500,000.
The fire started at 1890 o'clock. It
is supposed to have been started by
an explosion Of benzine and naptha,
which, with other materials used in
the manufacture of furniture, was
stored in the cellar. The flames shot
up the elevator shaft and in less than
five minutes every one of the nine
floors of the structure was ablaZe.
There were 800 employees, men and
women, at work in the different de-
partments at the time. Those on the
second floor were the first to See the
flames. Instantly there was a wild
rush for the fire escapes, but owing to
the highly inf1ammable nature of the
material used by the firm, the blaze
spread with remarkable ranidity deal
ing death to the unfortunaIes as they
made frantic, but unsuccessful effort
to escape. One woman leaped from
one of the top floors into Market street
and was instantly killed.
Another was roasted to death as she
was descending the fire escape in the
rear of the building. Two others
Jumped or Fell From the Fire Escape
and were killed. Five others who leap
ed from windows were picked up liv-
ing, but they died on the way to the
hospital.
While the fire escape was filed with
the wall collapsed and eight persons
are known to have been buried in the
ruins. A little later the front wall
fell inward and it is not known wheth-
er any bodies are under it. If such
is the case the persons were probably
burned to death before the wall col
lapsed.
When the firemen reached the rear
of the building, which faces On Com
mercial street, a small thoroughfare,
they found the street literally piled
up with victims who had been carried
down by the falling wall. These were
hastily conveyed to the nearest hos
pitals.
A new S-story building at 1917 Mar
ket street, as yet unoccupied, prevent
ed the spread of the flames to the
eastward, in which direction they were
blown by the wind. Otherwise the
city would have witnessed probably
the greatest confagration in its his
tory.
Several business houses on the
south side Of Market street were badly
scorched but not seriously damaged
The rapid spreading of the fire is
said to be due to the fact that much
naptha, varnish, excelsior and other
highly infammable material was used
by the firm.
The largest retail stores of the city
are located in the neighborhood of the
fire and there was great excitement
in all of these places. Until the walls
Of Hunt, Wilkinson & Co.'s establish
ment fell it seemed certain that no
power could stop the spread Of the
Hamas