New-York tribune., 1901-10-26

| St. occupied by Hunt Wilkinson & Co. up-
! holsterers and furniture dealers, and three
! thlee-story buildings occupied by small mer-
| chants. The big furniture building extended
| back hale block to Commerce-st, and was
| owned by Henry c. Lea. The list Of known dead
is as follows:
| BAKER Martha
| GORMI,EY susan
| HEBDEN. Margaret.
| HOUSE Harry
| KRAMER, Dorothy
| lands. Charles
| SPARROW. H. A
| SPARROW. Charles f
| WITTINGTON. Frederick
to be Margaret Grady
wssn 4as unknown eooTtd woman supposed be named
Five unknown white men
Never in it's history has Philadelphia expert
enced fire which spread with such great .ra pid-
| ity. At 1920 o'clock this morning the blaze
| broke forth in the building occupied by Hunt
| Wilkinson & Co. and one hour later the fearful
| sacrifice of life had been made and the immense
loss of property had been accomplished.
! The origin Of the death dealing conflagration
| is unknown. 1t is said that an explosion of
| naphtha gasoene In the basement was the
| cause. but this is denied by Mr.. Wilkinson.
| who says there never a sufficient quantity
| OF either explosive about the building TO be
! responsible for to-day's terrible disaster. Ru-
NOR has ii. Also that elevator constructor at
work in the basement permitted the flame of
his lantern to communicate with some Of the
gaseous liquids stored in the basement. and
that this was the cause Of the confagration
MANY TRAGIC DEATHS
Such disastrous fire attended with so great
a loss OF life in such brief period was never
before known in this city. Men and women disd
a lingering. agonizng death in the presence of
thousands OF spectators who were unable TO lift
hand to their assistance. The rear Of Hunt
Wilkinson & Co.'S buildin~ is in Commerce-st
small thoroughfare. on H., fire escapes az
this end of the building two men and one woman
were slowly roasted to death. while the horror
stricken throng in the street belo-- turned sick
at the sight. In the front. in Market-st a
woman. driven 10 desperation leaped from
window on the top floor and was dashed to death
on the pavement. These are only few OF the
hesr-rend.ng scenes attending the connagration,
Firemen sag they men and women. una 5le
to reach the windows or fire escapes. burned 10
death in the interior OF the building. II this
be so. little nothing remains Of these victims.
and II is doubtful IL any portion OF their bodies
will be recovered.
Seventy mine Of the hundred persons in Hunt.
Wilkinson & Co.'S building when the fire started
were employees and 'he remainder were custom
ers and outside workmen. who were engaged in
putting the finishing touches on the new eighth
floor. More than half OF the firms employees
were the five upper floors and it among
these that the greatest number killed and
injured. With the possible exception OF the
gineer. who is missing all persons the first
three floors got out OF the building safely. The
members Of the firm had their offices the
third floor. and their familiarity with the exits
is all that saved them from sufoCation. Mr.
Wilkinson said the smoke came up the stairway
and the elevator shaft in such great volume
that he and Mr.. Hunt had much difficulty in
reaching the street. Most Of those killed were
at work the sixth floor. where women
engaged in sewing. They were at work in the
OF the building. close to the fire escapes
and became confused by the great quantity of
smoke that rushed UP through the building 1t
was reported that goods were stored against the
windows. which prevented the women from get
ting out on the fire escapes but this was posi-
lively denied by member of the firm.
On the seventh floor there were twenty up
holstereIs work. and. thanks the great
presence of mind of the foreman of the floor.
who is an official of the volunteer fire depart
ment at Mount Holly. y. J.. all escaped unhurt.
AS he learned Of the fire he marshalled
his men and led them through the thick smoke
down the stairway and safely into the street.
There were eleven employees and "A number OF
outside workmen on the eighth floor. ladder
reached from this floor to the roof. which would
have enabled those that floor TO reach the
roof of an adjoining eight story building. but in
the excitement this means OF escape was for
gotten. Several made the terrible leap to the
sidewalk and were crushed. while the others
ran the gantlet of smoke and fire down the rear
fire escapes
Among those on the eighth floor who Jumped
and were killed were II. A. Sparrow. an expert
electrical contractor, and Charles L. Sparrow.
his nephew and assistant. colored scrub
woman also jumped from this floor. and was
crushed in the street.
For hour the roaring flames threatened the
lives of every one who was compelled 10 work
at hghting the fire or protecting the surrounding
property, and every minute OF time threatend
many other thousands of dollars worth of prop
erty all sides of the principal building in
which the blaze started
II looked for a time IL the entire block
would become a prey TO the flames. but the fall
ing of the walls of the burning building pre-
vented the spread of the fire.
Adjoining the Hunt, Wilkinson & Co build
ing is eight story structure nearing compile
tion. When the walls of the blazing establish
r1ent collapsed the fremen secured better Op-
portunity OF playing upon the adjoining busi-
houses and thus prevented the flames from
attacking surrounding property.
BY noon the fire under control. and at . |
o'clock this afternoon a force OF men. ordered |
by the Department of Public Safety, began tine |
work of clearing away the debris for the pur |
pose of recovering the bodies of the victims |
buried in the ruins.
Small buildings in the rear of the furniture |
building and also to the west Of the burned |
were crushed by falling walls. The fronts /
of the the south side of Market-st. |
opposite the fire. were all more or less damaged !
along by the northwest wind. shot across the /
broad thoroughfare and for a time 1T looked as /
If the fire would spread to these buildings.
The loss tonight is estimated at half million /
dollars most OF which will fall on Hunt. Wilkin- /
sin & Co., whose loss is estimated at S2oO.OO.
Henry c. LEAFS loss the building is about /
loss of SEQ COO. while other occupants of the
Potts buildings and surrounding property own
ers suffered losses aggregating $4,000