The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-05-22
AZ.
TWO FAMILIES ARE. a
!. i: HOMELESS FROM FIRE

| ~"
Fierce Blaze In the italian Settle
ment on Belmont Street Destroys
e Dwelling Owned by Frank Wells
land Tenanted by Mrs. Ellen Hous-
ton and Joe Younalli--Tenants
Lose All-Eight Hundred Dollars
Insurance on House.
Fire Yesterday afternoon destroyed
tenement in the Italian settlement on
Belmont street, below Clark, leaving
two families bereft of the houses that
we're their shelter. The visitation is
doubly severe on one of the families,
as. the mother, Mrs. Ellen Houston and
her children, have no fathers support
to depend upon at present.
&.rhd dwelling. which was owned by
Frank Wells. the carpenter, was in
s,Ired for $500. The house he valued at
$1,000. s,n;,.,
There was no insurance on the etfectS
of the tenants Mrs. Houston and Joe
Younali, or Young as he is called. The
loss of these is complete. They are not
only without homes, dependent upon
none of the belongings, save the cloth
fns they wore. The flames made such
headway that in n few minutes the
house was a small-sized inferno. and
there was no chance to save anything.
Their flight to safety was the chief con-
ccrn of the two families. in which there
were several small children.
The origin of the fire is apparently a
M fnt
Young. say the blaze. commenced in the
cellar. under the part, Of the house oc-
cupied by Mrs Houston Mrs. Houston
says she has no knowledge of it's origin.
She was in the front -roo,n papering
when one of the Youngs broke in on her
with the alarming cry of fire. The
first knowledge. of, the fire was Il matter
of dispute -he tween thctW Waiaen. while the
flames were destroying their home, as
warm as The blaze Itself. The Younss
insisted in impressing on Mrs. Houston
that the blaze had its start in the Hous
ton cellar. Mrs Houston, however,
seemed to satisfy them towards the end
of the heated exchange that she knew
nothing of. the fires origin. and that 1t
was on6Sc ~ Are ssA ot,Ig 81 ttainilX who
warned lirr.aTsg IEat Sshe .ha1 10 hustle
-.
How ever.thes s 'iitsS:asstarfed; II developed
into lvssy-. an fore 1t. .Ntis- in pro-
gness n1;ss.,sfiinstlesx 7a-ha alarm was
sent in froNr R5px stS: elnss;9nt Street and
clark ave sus. tssss 80 'asld when the
Mitchell eTnsxssa " scene,
the houspsss syslsa iigr Il freshly kindled
furnace. T'he%%cc W'as too much for one
company to. conquer and the nearby
IL in ~ 4
alarm w;issS aicSto,'dIhgiy sent In. which
brought the columbias to the burning
house. BY the time the second stream
was on. flames We're leaping from every
part of the house. There was then no
hope of saving it the aim was to keep
the flames down SO as to preserve the
numerous closely built dwellings on
either side.
The fire:nen had much TO contend with
in uuenching the flames. The water
pressure was weak at first. owing to
the clogging of the fire hydrants, y
dose of mud and stones splitting out OF
the noZzles when the streams We're
turned on. The smoke rolled from the
house in clouds and blinded and choied
the men at the nozzles, while the heat
was fairly blstering. The house was Il
big-sized tenement and offered splendid
material ifor% IL fire that might get any
heudway on the fire companies.
There was no sa lvation for the house,
and after biirning fora couple of hours.
the taps for out We're .rung in by Chief
McNulty. who was one of the first on
the scene. and who directed the fremen.
The house WAS virtually destroyed,
though some Of the partitions remain.
1T will havc.to be REBUILT throughout.
No otheE dwelling was damaged
lIoweyeri IL was NECESSARY to keep
them fairly sonIled with water from
garden hoses: !. The: Destroyed house
stood in tfesr1ftst of the ITALIAN colony,
and if the flames spread ii is hard to
tell but what the. whole settlement
would have been wiped out.