Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-10-25
FIRE CAUGHT MANY
 PEOPLE UNAWARES A Number Are Dead in the Ruins Of a Fire in Kansas City This
 Morning FOUR BODIES TAKEN OUT Bremen Rescued Inmates From Top Floor of Building With Great
 Difficulty.

Kansas City, Mo, Oct 25.-In the ruins of the Chamber of Commerce building in Kansas City, Kan, burned early to-day, there are anywhere from half dozen to thirty bodies, accord ing to estimates given out this morn ing by firemen who had worked at the scene all night. On the other hand, Assistant Fire Chief Lind at 8 o'clock insisted that the dead would not reach over six.
 At 8 o'clock the body of D. R. Young, laborer. was recovered. Young had lived on the fourth floor with his family. The fate of his fam fly is not known. The actual loss of life will not be known until a thor ough search of the ruins can be made, probably not then. as some of the firemen assert that many bodies must have been burned to ashes. The building used as a tenement house and containing 100 rooms, held. as near as can be learned, between 200 and 300 persons at the time the fire broke out at 12:30, whose names are unknown. The only person who knows the actual number of occu- pants of the building is the janitor, who is missing and believed to be under the mass of debris that Is piled high inside the bare walls of the de- stroyed structure. It was the cus- tom for many of the transients, who came mostly from the nearby rail- road yards. not to register, and thus all trace of them is lost for the time being. Only a thorough search of the ruins, that may take days. and an exact accounting of the missing, will finally reveal the extent of the ca trastrophe.
 At s o'clock the known dead num- bered four. Several persons are missing and close to fifty others are known to have been injured. Of the injured. scattered among half a dozen hospitals and at private homes, twenty-five were more or less seri-' ous hurt. Two or three of these at least will die.
 The dead so far as positively known are:
 D. R. Young, laborer.
 John Lynch, driver of sand wagon.
 Infant child of John A. Sparks.
 Lynch, with the Sparks baby in his arms, jumped from the second story, but fell into the ruins and both per- ished.
 Among the seriously injured are:
 Robert Burton. stone mason.
 Unknown baby, fatally; dropped from second floor to policeman, who failed to catch 1t.
 Mir and Mrs John A. Sparks, se- verely burned.
 Arthur Childers, policeman, run over by hose wagon; may die.
 J. II. Branham, wagon maker; Jumped from fourth story; both legs fractured.
 w. J. Merely. Missouri Pacific fire. man. fractured thigh and scalp wounds.
 Thomas Connor, blacksmith. se- verely burned.
 E. o. Erhart, fireman at Fowler's packing house. hands burned by sliding on rope.
 E.. P. McAuley. Missouri Pacific fireman. cut about body by falling glass.
 Frank Otterman, railway mail clerk, cut and bruised.
 Mrs J. H. Rose. hands burned by sliding on rope from fourth floor.
 Patrick Hurley. railroad laborer, hip broken.
 Charles Carlin. engineer of the Nelson Morris Packing Co. was sick with typhoid fever on the third floor and is missing.
 Fred Taft. the negro janitor. is missing. He alone had a list of the | tenants and could tell who are miss- | ing.
 Mrs Frances Pergueck. who lived | on the third floor. reports her hus- band and baby missing.
 Mrs NJ. NJ. Brigman and her two | Amos. aged IS. and Leota, aged 12.
 Patrick Mcclure. who lived on the | third floor and had no occupation.
 The three upper floors of the build ing. which stood at the corner of Park and Central streets. fin the Riv- erview district. were occupied as a tenement and contained 100 rooms. many families living there. as we'll as single lodgers. The fire broke out on the ground floor and before the inmates were awakened all avenues of escape through the building were cut of. The flremen took most of the iodgers out with ladders and en- tering the smoke filled halls and rooms. carried out thirty helpless people.
 Eight families lived on the fourth floor. ten on the third. eight on the second. There were many children In these families Bremen assisted most of the inmates to safety, and he harf-clad refugees hurried away To shelter. so that when an attempt was made later to learn if all the families had escaped 1t was difficult Io obtain authentic information
 The exact number of dead will not be known until search is made in the ruins In the confusion some per sous have been reported missing vho ire probably safe: on the other hand, 'ome may have perished of whom 1o report has been made.
 The houee vas much patronfzed by 'si'rozd trsinmen-
 The building vac owned by Alder nAn waifsr A Bunk~ of KAna.at |
 s-.z..-