The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-16
ALL OF FAMILY DEAD IN FIRE.
Mr.. AND MRS. MASON, TWO CHIL-
DREN AND 4 SERVANT KILLED.
lie Was Young Lawyer and Son OF an
Ex-Police Commlssioner-All Dead He
fore the Firemen Came-Husband and
VIE Had Each Tried 10 Save Child

William r. Mason, son of eX-Police Com
missioner Joel w. Mason, n prosperous
1ung lawyer and a prominent member of
the Mount Morris Baptist Church, his entire
family and one servant girl lost their lives
in fire which started in his house, 1873
West l3oth street about o clock yesterday
morning.
Every person that was in the house was
either burned TO death or suffocated by
smoke. Not one escaped 20 give clue to
the origin OF the fire or tell anything that
happened. One servant girl, Annie Wells,
colored. was away from home over night and
knew nothing of what had happened until abe
reported for work yesterday morning
The dead are:
WILLIAM T MASON, aged IS
! CLAIRE HiddoNs MASON. aged H.
MARIA MASON. aged2.
HELEN ST. MASON. aged months
NELLIE DOYLE, servant. aged IS
The Mason house IA one of a row Of neat
brownstone front houses that line the north
side Of iS0th street between Ienox and
Seventh avenues II is about midway
IN the block. The house has three stories
/ and "a basement. Mr. and Mrs. Mason
! and the two children slept in the rear room
/ of the second floor The two servant girls
slept in the third floor rcar room,
/ few minutes after o'clock man
passing through the street saw smoke
! rolling along the roofs of the row of houses
and shouted Fire" Then he ran toward
Lenox avenue. where there is fire alarm
box. and on his way was overhauled by
Policeman David Mangam Of the West
i25th street station Mangam ran TO l.enox
nd fro alarm II
was then just l95
After doing this Mangam and the man
ran back through the block When they
reached 1873 they Jaw thick cloud Of smoke
lowering over the roof of that house.
although there was no light of fire in any
of the windows Mangam went into the
area and found the pHnes OF the basement
window so hot that he could hardly bear
his hand upon them
Then he ran up the stoop. battered at
the front doors with his club and tried to
smash them In by throwing his whole weight
against them He could not bulge them
and then smashed in the front parlor window
and broke his way through the projecting
ragged ends of broken glass into the room.
He could not stay there an instant, for
when air from the broken window swept
into the house flames leaped out in all di-
rectons. In addition to this the room
was 50 thick with smoke that nobody could
live In it Mangam could do nothing hut
scramble back to the stoop again. just
AZ he got there the fire apparatus from the
engine house In West l37th street began
TO arrive.
When the fremen smashed In the front
doors with their axes the hallway was so filed
with smoke and flames that they could not
enter until the entire interior Of the build
ing had been drenohed with water. It
was known that everybody in the house
must be unconscious or dead as not IA
sound had come from within. Capt
McHughes, Engine 50, and Battalion Chiefs
Short and Iangford began a search at the
earliest moment possible.
The first bodies found were those OF Mr.
Mason and the baby. Mr.. Mason was lying
on the floor 10 his nightclothes with the baby
close by his arms IA tn ough he had dropped
it as he fell in trying 10 reach the bedroom
door The bodies Of Mrs Mason and the
wo-year-old child Maria We're found ON
the landing near the top Of the stairs on the
third floor, The body Of the servant grl.
Nellie Doyle, was found near the door of
her room opening out into the hall
II is believed that Nr and Mrs Mason.
aroused from their sleep 10y the smoke
each caught upa child and made rush for
the third floor. hoping TO escape through
the scuttle to the roof There had been "a
stepladder standing under the scuttlc. but
because Of the frequent burglar raids in
Harlem it had been removed and was no
-. ~. tt b..
place however it could have been Of no
use to the inmates
1t il plain that Mr. Mason and the baby
were almost instantly overcome 10y the
smoke and that MIR Mason had barely
got out Of ted when he fell to the floor
unconscious Mrs. Mason and the other
child managed 10 survive until they got
TO the top Of the stairs and there they. too.
fell The servant girl had only got AS
far az the door Of her room when she was
overcome. The bodies of Mrs. Mason.
the oldest child and the servant girl were
80 shockingly burned when found a. ro
be all but beyond recognition.
It was about 2ij when the bodies were
discovered and by that time the entire
street was in au uproar. The Ma.ons
were VOL known and much liked by their
neighbors and as the full extent Of the
calamity spread a number of women ina the
streets and in the windows of nearby
houses became hysterical and filled the
air with their cries. Down a. 2I0 in the same
street. only about block away Jesse 4.
Higgons. brother Of Mrs Mason. and his
wife had been attending card party At The
home Of a Mr. Bennett Tho card party
broke up at 2lO in the morning. and NJ
and Mrs. Higgons, accompanied by a Mr.
Bogart, started toward their home. at
24i West l32d street They saw the fire
engines and the crowd and went up to have
a look at the fire Before they reached the
house they heard it, number and learned
that all its inmates We're dead
joel : Mason, a lawyer with an Office
at 3O2 Broadway, and brother OF the de-
ceased Mr.. Mason lives at ss5 Lexington
avenue near Sixty-ffth street He was
routed ont Of bed and informed Of what had
happened II was about o'clock in the morn
ing when he got 10 the scene. and the bodies
hy that time had been removed 10 the West
l25th street police station When Mr.
Mason reached the station he was so over
come that he was dissuaded from looking
at the remains With the consent Of Coro-
f...I J,