The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-26
N|NETEEH LIVES LOST The Awful Result of a Phi|a- de|phia Fire Other Vic-
 tins May be Found.
A LOSS OF HALF A MILLION
fl GREAT FURNX7UR ESJd BLISH-
 MENT COMPLETELY Y c LIFTED.
Men and Women suffer Agoniztng Dcaths-Thousands of Spectators Un- able to Lift n Hand 10 Help Them Most of Those Killed Were at Work Origin of the Fire uMknOwn-stafe mont That 1t Was Due 10 an E1 piosion Denied.

| Denied.
 Philadelphia, Oct. 25.-Fourteen
 known dead. five unknown dead and a
 property loss amounting to upwards of
 s50o000 is the awful result of fire which occurred to- day in the business 1 section of the city. The number of in- | iured Is not known definitely. but fully
 a score of victims were treated at Var- | ous hospitals tonight. Police and fire
 men are delving into the ruins in search
 of bodies supposed to be buried beneath | the debris. for it is feared that others | besides the known dead may have lost | their lives in the flames. The buildings | destroyed were the eight-story struc- l ture 1219 and 1921 Market street. occu- pied by Hunt, Wilkinson & O., uphol-
 sterers and furniture dealers, and three
 story buildings occupied by small mer- chants. The big furniture building ex- tended back half block to Commerce street and was owned by Henry c. Lea. The list of known dead is as follows: Dorothy Kramer, Martha Baker, Mar
 garet Holden, Susan Gormley, Harry
 Fcuse H. A. Sparrow, Charles F. Spar
 row. Walter Stearly, 7. Armstrong, Mrs.
 Martha Banks (tu ored), Mrs. Mary
 Mitchell (colored), Margaret Grady
 Frederick Wilmington, Charles Landis.
 one unknown white woman and four
 unknown white men.
 It was at 1920 o'clock this morning that the flames broke forth in the build- ing occupied by Hunt, Wilkinson & Go. Thov were first seen shooting up the elevator shaft from the basement by an employe. The origin of the conflagra- ton is unknown It is said that an ex- plos1on of napntha or gasolene in the basement was the cause, but this is de- nied by Mir Wilkinson, who says there never Was sufficient quantity of eith- CT exploslve about the building to be responsible for to-day's terrible disas- ter It is also rumored that an elevator constructor at work in the basement permitted the flame of his lantern to communicate with some of the gaseous liuuid stored in the basement, and that this was the cause of the conf1agra- ton.
 Such a disastrous fire, attended with so great a loss of life in such a brief period was never before known in Phil adelphia Men and women died agoniz- ing deaths in the presence of thousands of spectators who were unable to lift a hand to their assistance.
 Seventy nine of the one hundred per sons in Hunt Wilkinson & Co.,. build ing when the fire started were employees and the remainder were customers and workmen who were engaged in putting the finishing touches on the new eighth floor. More than half of the firms enl- ploves were on the upper five floors, l and 1t was among these that the great est number were killed and injured. 1 With the exception possibly of the en- elneer. who is missing, all persons on | the first three floors got out of the building safely The members of the firm had their offices on the third floor, and only their familiarity with the ex- it's saved them from suffocation.
 Among those on the eighth floor who jumped and who were killed were H. A. Sparrow. an expert electrical contrac- tor and Charles E. Sparrow, his neph- ew and assistant A colored scrubwo- man also jumped from this floor and was crushed in the street
 Most of the loss will fall on Hunt, & Co., whose loss is estin1at ed at s2b0, ,000. Henry C. Lea's loss on the building is about S15000o. William F, Potts & Son suffered loss of se0,oo0, while other occupants of the Potts building and of surrounding property owners suffered losses aggregating s25, 1Oo