Waterbury Democrat., 1901-03-16
SUFFOCATED BY SMOKE.
Fire Gutted Building of Boston Daily
 Advertiser.

Advertiser.
 Boston. March 16-Three men em- ployed ill the composing room of the Boston Daily Advertiser were suffo- cated by fire which gutted the build ing at 24S Washington street between 9 and 10 o'clock last night. Another man was injured seriously by Jumping. The dead are Walter Luscomb. con- positor. 90, married:. Judson Crafts, proofreader, 5, married, and James E. Richardson, proofreader. 5S, widower
 The fire was discovered by the Janl- tor of the building as he descended ln the elevator. Reaching the first floor he looked down the well and was driv- en back by a sheet of flame, and sec ond later the engineer dashed up from the basement shouting 'Fire.' The pressroom, stereotype room. engine room and mailing room are all i'll the basement. The engineer was the only person there at the time. and he says the fire started near the form eleVa- tor in the preSSrOOm.
 In seconds time the flames rushed up the passenger elevator well. around which the stairway winds. cutting off the escape by that way. Of the twen- ty-two men at work on the sixth and seventh floors, only two men got down the stairway: Russell Hathaway. Jr, assistant night editor. and q Dr Bell, visiting him. Frank Blair. night man. aging editor. and S. I. Tonjoroff, night editor. tried the stairway, but were driven back. They took to the fire es cape on the south side of the building.
 The machine operators and makeup men did not have time to get their clothing from the lockers. The men made their way down the fire escape and dropped to the roof of the build ing next door, a distance of twelve feet. William Hayball, a compositor, had leg broken i'll jumping, and sev- eral others were severely cut. A sky light leading into the upper floor of the building they were on was raised and the compositors came down to the street.
 It was supposed that everyone was safely out of the composing room, but when the firemen got the flames un- der control the bodies of three men were found lying close to the window opening on the fire escape. Crafts and Richardson had their arms around each others necks and as they worked together it is supposed one tried to car ry the other to safety.
 Boston, March 16.-The work of clearing away the debris of last nights hre in the building of the Morning Advertiser, in which three lives were lost, was begun promptly to-day. The interior of the building is ruined. such parts as were not reached by the flames being flooded with water and blackened by smoke.
 An inspection of the ruins shows that last nights estimate of the loss, SloO,oOO, was nearly correct. Hon w. l.. Barrett, proprietor of the Adver- tiser, said to-day that nothing had come to light to make an material change in these figures. One of the principal items in the list of damages was the destruction of three linotype machines. The presses, which were | in the basement, were not badly dam aged.
 The offer of the facilities of the Daily Globe, made to MT Barrett, while the fire was in progress last night, by General c. H. Taylor, which was accepted for the Morning Adyer- tiser. also will be taken advantage of by the Evening Record, the afternoon edition of the Advertiser. The morn ing paper appeared in four-page form to-day, devoting nearly q page to the story Of the fire, with realistic ac- counts of individual escapes by mem bers of it's staff.
 The loss of lives in the fire has awakened universal expressions of sor- row among the compositors and proof readers of the newspapers here. A special meeting of the Herald com posing room chapel was held at 3 o'clock this morning and appropriate resolutions were adopted.