The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1905-03-22
NINETEEN PEOPLE DEAD
Flames Break Out in a Tenement While
200 Occupants Sleep.
IRON FIRE.ESCApES BLOCKED.
Son Of Former Chief Bonner Makes -Four
Rescue Trips Up Red.fiot Ladder and is
Himself Carried Down Uneonseious--Per
sons Carried Across Plank TO saieiy-Polee.
man Dwan's Heroisn.

New York Especially Nineteen per-
sous dead, two score injured, some so Sc
riously that they may die, and nearly
200 persons temporarily homeless, is in
brief the story OF New York's latest fire
horror.
The victims of the disaster in an
Allen-street tenement were typical East
Side people, and the scenes attending il
were in many ways peculiar TO that cos
mopolitan quarter. To apparently reck-
less displays OF hcrosm shown by fire.
men, policemen and volunteer rescuers
alone is due the fact that the list of dead
is not greater.
The fire had gained great headway be-
fore it became known to most of tho
tenants, and many of them were cut of
before they could make an attempt to
save themselves. Thrilling rescuers and
daring leaps for life marked the fire.
Scores were carried from the blazing
building. Firemen climbed the walls on
their scaling ladders, bravcd the flames
and reached the imperied tenants.
Nearly all the bodies taken from the
building were so badly burned as to be
almost unrecognizable.
Fire escapes in the rear of the tene-
ment-house, crowded with rubbish, were
largely responsible for so many deaths
and injuries among its population
which approached 200 souls.
The scenes about the building after
the fire was over and when the search
for the dead was begun were heartrend-
ing.
The fire started in the basement, occu-
pied by Isaac Davis, his wife and three
children. Davis had been out and, re-
turning to his home early in the morn
ing, went into his store on the same
floor just in time TO see kerosene lamp
in the rear explode. He awolte his wife
and both tried to put out the flaming
lamp, but without success, and then gave
all their attention to getting their chill
dren out of the burning building.
A policeman who heard the cry of
alarm rushed to the scere. and every
effort was made to rouse the sleeping
persons in the house
In the meantime the flames had spread
with startling rapidly, and when the
persons who had been asleep on the up
per floors awoke they found themselves
confronted by wall OF flames on nearly
every side. Wild scenes followed when
the panic-stricken people, fighting for
their lives, rushed to the fire escapes
only to find them Uttered with rubbish
of all descriptions and almost impassa-
ble
On some of the escapes the rubbish
was so closely packed that it became
impossible to pass certain points, and
men, women and children stood literally
roasting to death as the flames roared
through windows around them.
1t was found, also, that every fire es-
cape platform on the building had in it
a blind or square piece of board
which fits into the opening through
which the ladder passes in the grated
floor.
Another cause OF the terrible loss of
life was due, to negligence in failing to
keep the skylight door free and clear
1t was not only fastened tight, but also
frozen.
As the flames rushed up the stairs
some tenants dashed for the roof. They
found the door, which should have
swung easily open, fastened down. Un-
able to burst it open, and, wedged in by
the surging mass below, numbers were
burned to death.
1t was on the hame-swept fire escapes
that the finest displays of heroism were
shown. Scores of men, women and
children, driven from their rooms by the
flames which swept up through hall
ways and light shafts, covered high in
the air on the hot iron ladders and plat
forms, the flames swirlng around them
as they waited for help.
Through the flames and smoke, time
after time, the fremen rushed up to
their assistance, and every trip meant
life saved. From the fire escape, too
the men plunged in through windows
belching flames, to come forth mo-
ment later bearing an unconscious form
to some place of safety.
Many of the hremen and other res
cuers suffered severely, but they con-
tinued at the work until it was finished
or until they were incapacitated by their
injuries.
The desperate resourcefulness of some
mother in her efforts TO save the lives
of her children was shown when a bun
die was seen to fall from high window
in the burning building and light gently
upon a heap of snow In the centre OF
the bundle, wrapped around by several
thick blankets and comforts was found
a 4-year-old boy who suffered not at
all from his unusual experience. The
fate of the mother is not known.
After the fire was under control the
street was filled with half-dresscd weep
ing people, seeking for their relatives,
imploring the fremen and policemen
to go into the burning building and res
cue the loved ones whom they believed
perishng there
Fire Chief Edward F. Croker said
the loss of life was mainly> due to delay
in giving the alarm. Eight minutes, he
said, elapsed after the fire started be-
fore the alarm was sounded.