Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-12-08
SEVEN LIVES
LOST IN FIRE
Blaze at Cornell University Even
Worse Than at First Reported
...Chapter House Ruined.

"AANh wac Il luiiOuH 4 uSluICs ha1
for many years known as the McGraw-
Fiske mansion.
The fraternity house burned was the
finest and most elaborate chapter lodge
in the Emitted States. Two bodies re-
main in the ruins.
1t was the worst fire in the history
of Cornell university and in the city OF
Ithaca.
There were thirty Cornell students
asleep in the building when the fire
started, about T. O'Clock in the morn
ing. The blaze gained such Roadway
before it was discovered that the es-
cape OF many of them by the stair
ways was cut off. Three students are
in the Cornell infirmary and the Ithaca
City hospital with serious burns or in
juries received by jumping from win
dows. Three of the dead were mem
befs of the Ithaca volunteer fire de-
partment, who We're crushed by a fall
ing wall.
The dead are:
William Holmes Nichols of Chicago,
student; burned to death; body is miss
ing.
Frederick w. Grelle of East Orange,
n. j., student; burned to death; body
is missing.
Oliver lie Roy Schmuck of Hanover,
Pa, student; died in the Cornell in
Urinary OF burns and other injuries.
James McCutcheon of Pittsburg, stu
dent; died in Cornell infirmary Of in
juries.
Esty J. Landon, forty-five years old,
foreman of the Empire State House
Furnishing company of Ithaca, mem
Der of volunteer fire department;
crushed by falling wall.
Alfred G. Robinson, thirty years old,
attorney of ithaca, member of volun'
teer fire department; crushed by fall
ing wall.
John Rumsey, twenty-seven years
old, son of Charles ]. Rumsey, hard
ware merchant of Ithaca, member of
volunteer fire department.; crushed by
falling wall.
The following students were injured;
Henry Milo Curry of Pittsburg, seri-
ously burned; in the Cornell intirmary,
Weiner Goetz of Milwaukee, Wis.
in the Ithaca City hospital; suffering
from serious burns and IA broken ankle.
Clarence A. Pope of East Orange,
n. j.; in the Cornell infirmary; very
seriously burned; may die.
The first man to be aroused was Fl.
S. De Camp of New York, who was
sleeping on the third floor. He shout
ed to awaken the other men on that
floor, which by this time was filled
with smoke, and then fed to the attic.
He climbed out of an attic window
and lowered himself to the ground by
chipping down the vines and ran to
the Phi Sigma Kappa lodge, a short
distance away. He awakened the men
there by shouting, and one of them ran
to the nearest fire box and sent in an
alarm.
The Ithaca fire department is made
up entirely of volunteers and most of
the apparatus is stationed at the foot
of a steep hill a mile from the site of
the burned building, which is on the
edge of the Cornell campus, at the top
of the slopeA
The alarm was given by the ringing
of the fire bell at the city hall, the
blowing of the whistle at the pumping
station near the inlet and also by the
ringing of the large bell in the tower
Of the university library.
The burning chapter house roared
like an inferno. The inner walls were
licked clean and the ceilings fell
throughout. while the walls cracked
apart in all directions.
The fire was so hot that the firemen
We're driven FROM the southeast side of
the building. They put up a herculean
fight, but the walls were so hot that
any attempt at rescue was impossible.
When the fire department arrived on
the scene-ofstl.e disaster the screams
of two men who appeared in the win
dows of the southeast tower, over the
main entrance. were heard.
For some reason the men hesitated
TO jump from their burning prison, and
while the firemen watched the scene,
almost paralyzed with horror, the tow
err collapsed and the men were buried
beneath the ruins.
Schmuch managed to make his es-
cape and had got out'of the house, but
when he saw that his roommate had
not got out also he ran back and W
the stairs to the third floor.
In his wild hunt for his roommate
he seemed to lose all sight Of danger
and was frightfully burned. At last
he found that his retreat was cut off
and that it would be impossible for
him to get out of the house through the
wall of fame that was mounting high
err and higher up the stairway. Al
though he had not found his roommate,
he decided that there was nothing else
for him to do but jump from the third
floor window.
He did so and was picked up uncon-
scious. Fellow students hurried him
off to the Cornell inf1rmary, where he
died at 8 O'Clock. He died of his burns.
although he had been severely injured
by jumping from the window.
The origin of the fire is absolutely
unknown. 1t started in the kitchen, IN
the basement of the chapter house.