New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-26
SIX FAMILIES In PERIL.
oHOI4ND HOUSE PANIC.
Uzoman Severely Burned an Blaze
Opposite HoteI-Mang Rescues.


A fire which practically destroyed the four
story structure opposite the Holland House,
3oth-st. and 5th-aye. broke out about o'clock
this morning Six families living ii escaped.
although one woman was severely burned. All
of them will lose most of their valuables.
The International Sleeping Car Company
cupies the ground floor. On the second is the
office of the Midland Railway Of London. On the
third and fourth floors are apartments. Almost 81
multaneousy with its discovery. the fire seemed
to burst through the roof, and swirling fun
mel of flame leaped out Like huge torch. 1t LIT
up the sky and buildings round about until the
latter became as plain as in daylight.
The glare shone the front of the Holland
House, revealing It as through under the rays
of searchlight Panic seized those guests first
aroused by the shining of the bright light
through their windows. and their excited cries
soon reused the others. Pandemonium reigned
in the hotel corridors as the frightened guests
issued from their rooms and fed fearfully down
the stairs to the lobby and office. Few stopped
to don clothing and men in pajamas and women
over their shoulders in a trice were asking the
hotel employees if there was danger of the fire
spreading to the hotel.
With the first burst of fame an alarm had
been sounded and as soon as the fremen arrived
second and third alarms were sent in. The
fremen found men and women at the windows
about to jump from the third and fourth stories
and spread their safety nets. at the same time
calling those in the burning building not to
jump, that ladders would soon reach them. This
advice prevailed, and the fremen and policemen,
who were on the scene with equal quickness,
were able to rescue those in peril by the of
ladders.
Policeman Wagner one of the first to
make rescue. Mounting ladder, he took
Mrs Margaret Grasse. who lived the fourth
floor with her husband and two children, from
the window, from which she crying for
help, and bore her to the ground. Finding that
she was badly brunei he hurried to the Holland
House with her. There oil was applied to her
burns and every remedy available used to as
suage the pain, but she still screamed if
rings!" Those attending her thought she meant
that she had left valuable jewelry in her rooms.
and it was not until her husband arrived that
her meaning was grasped. He understood that
she meant that rings her fingers had become
so heated by the flames that scorched her flesh
that they were still burning her.
One of the tenants of the flaming house was
George Hamilton, who is nearly 20 years old,
He rescued by flremen just as he was about
to jump from the third floor. They induced him
to slide down q rope to the ground. He
said that he awolSe to find his room aflame He
thought the fire had started in the basement and
had followed the elevator shaft to the roof.
Louis Dyke, the janitor, his wife and five chill
dren, lived in the basement They got to the
Office of the Midland Railway Company, the
second floor but were being stifed by the smoke
when Max Bernstein, guest at the Hotel st.
Adams smashed in big plat glass window and
by means of ladder rescued them.
The Holland House guests were treasured af-
ter while. All the families burned out of
their homes were cared for there and provided
with clothing, for they wore only their night
clothes.