Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-06-27
FIREWORKS EXPLODED,
An Appalling Catastrophe at
Paterson, n. j.
TENEMENT HOUSE ABLAZE
Ten Families Occupied Rooms i'm the
Building Victims Were
Either Cremated or rSuffocated-Ffre-
men Injured by Falling Wall.

| New York, June 22.-Fourteen peo-
pie are believed to have been killed
and a number injured as the result
of fire following an explosion
among "A quantity of fireworks in the
store of Abraham NJ. Rittenburg, at
Paterson, n. j., on Friday. The
cause of the explosion is not known
and the property loss will not eX-
ceed 900. The killed were:
Mrs. Lucinda Adamson.
Mrs Charles Williams, burned try
ing to rescue husband.
| Charles Williams, a cripple.
Harold Rittenburg, Is months old,
son of the keeper of the fireworks
store; Henry Elsasser, six weeks old.
Mrs Bert Bamber.
Mrs. Annie Lannigan.
Joseph Elvin, , weeks old, child of
Mrs. Andrew Elvin.
Those missing and certainly dead
are:
Charles Bamber, 6 months, child of
above.
Mrs. Andrew Elvin was in the
house and has not been seen since the
explosion.
Mrs. Mary Elsasser.
|
explosion and known to have been in
the house.
Clarence Burns, weeks old, son of
above.
Mrs Ann Fenterman, not seen since
| explosion and known to have been in
| the house.
Two nephews of Mrs. Lannigan
| were with her when she entered her
! rooms.
The explosion occurred shortly
after noon and many of the occu-
| pants of the building were out at dim
ner The building in which the eX-
| plosion occurred was a frame tene-
| ment, four stories high, with stores
on the ground floor. The middle
store was occupied by Rittenberg.
Ten families occupied flats in the
building. SO great was the force of
the explosion tnat boy playing in
the street nalf a block away was lift
ed from his feet and hurled against
an iron fence. One of his legs was
broken. \ trolley car was directly
in front of the building when the eN-
plosion occurred. The burst of
flame blown out into the street
scorched the sides of the car and
singed the hair of the passengers.
\ number of those who were on
the upper floors of the building when
the explosion took place were either
stunned and then burned to death. or
found escape cut off and were sutfo-
Gated. After the first explosion there
was a series of smaller ones and
then came second big explosion
which was mufiied and probably oc-
Cured in the cellar. Every window
seemed to he emitting flames within
minute after the first explosion. A
woman. her clothing on fire, leaped
out of one of the windows and fell to
the ward below. Her dead body was
rarged out of reach of the flames,
but the flesh was roasted and dropped
from the bones. She proved to be
Mrs. Williams.
Mrs. Williams husband was a Grip
pie. His wife is supposed to have
remained longer than she could with
safety in an effort to save him. He
was found burned to a crisp on his
bed.
Some of the occupants of the
rooms dropped from the windows and
were bruised. Others hung from the
windows until the firemen came and
20 persons were taken down in this
way through the fire and smoke by
the firemen. while others dropped
into life nets.
Daniel Dooley, who was in the yard
when the explosion took place, saw
the two Rittenberg children in the
rear room and rushed into the flames
for them. He got one of them and
carried it out and tried to go back
for the other, but the room was one
mass of fire and he was too late. He
was badly scorched in rescuing the
first child.
While the rescues were going on
the fremen were fighting the flames.
Capt. Allen led with hose line in
an effort to keep the fire from the
upper floors, where it was said many
were pinned in. The men had hard
ly taken their positions and begun on
the sidewalk to throw water into the
upper floors when. without any warm
ing. the whole upper part of the
building above them sagged outward
and fell. The captain and two of
his men were buried under the blaz-
inc. debris One of the men is badly
hurt The building is entirely de-
stroyed.
Rittcnber" was arrested pending an
investigation. In the debris was
found the head of man or woman.
The hair is burned off and the fea-
lures unrecognizable. The remainder
of the body has not been found The
bodies taken out thus far are al
most unrccognizablc and are burned
and torn by the fire and the collapse
rf finn bpl.c nf thp bni11inp
AssasSInated.
Yokohama. June 22.-Hoshi Toru,
who was minister of communca tion
in the last Ito cabinet was stabbed
yesterday at Il meeting of the city
assembly and died shortly after