Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-11-02
BIG FIRE KILLS MANY.
Flames Rage in a Philadelphia Fur
ufture Factory.

utture Factory.
A fire in which many persons lost their
lives and many more We're seriously and
perhaps fatally injured, occurred Friday
in the heart of the business section OF
Philadelphia. The nine-story building at
1219-1221 Market street, occupied by
Hunt, Wilkinson & Co, upholsterers and
furniture dealers, and two unoccupied
buildings at 1923 and 1925 Market street,
were destroyed Many other buildings
were damaged, and the loss is estimated
to be upward of 100000.
The fire started at 1870 o'clock. 1t Is
supposed to have been caused by an ex-
plosion of benZine or naphtha, which,
with other materials used in the manu-
facture 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
departments at the time.
Instantly there was wild rush for the
fire escapes, but owing to the highly in
hammable nature Of the material USED
by the firm, the blaze spread with re-
markable rapidity, dealing death to the
unfortunates as they made frantic but
unsuccessful efforts to escape. One wom-
an 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 either jumped
or fell from the fire escape and were Kill
ed. Five others who leaped from Win
dows were picked up living, but they died
on the way to the hospital. While the
fire escape was filed with the panic
stricken men and women the wall col
lapsed, and eight persons are known to
have been buried in the ruins. A few
minutes later the front wall fell inward.
When the fremen reached the rear of
the building, which faces on Commerce
street, a small thoroughfare, they found
the street literally piled up with victims
who had been carried down by the falling
wall. Stories conflict as to the number
Of persons killed. When the rear wall
Of the building fell a number of bodies
were lying in the small street in the rear
yariously estimated at from six to thirty,
and these were covered with hundreds of
tons of brick and twisted iron.
Eye witnesses say the flames spread
with remarkable rapidity. Employees who
started down the fire escape in the rear
Of the building before the flames were
visible from the street, were compelled
to jump before they had Travelled two
stories, because of the flames breaking
through the windows. Nets were spread
in the front and rear of the building and
some who jumped were saved in this
way. A woman jumped from one Of the
windows of the Market street front, but
the smoke blinded her and she missed the
net, striking the pavement and dying in
stantly. In the rear a young girl who
jumped from one Of the top stories caught
on the fire escape at the third story and
the flames, bursting from the window,
burned her body to a crisp in almost
minute.
Although the structure was freproof,
1t was filed from cellar to roof with
highly infammable material. In a few
minutes flames were bursting from every
window and it was impossible for the
fremen to assist those in the burning
building,