Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-11-10
in NEW YORK
Five Fires in One NeighbOrhood
Arouse People and woman
Dies of shock.

NEW YORK. Nov. 9-Ouo woman is
dead, a man In a hospital suffering from
severe burns, 1000 persons fed from their
homes In panic and thousands more passed
a sleepless night as a result Of a series
OF iucendiary fires ir the two blocks
bounded by sixtieth and sixty-hrst streets
and Columbus and West End avenues early
today Scores Of persons whose lives were
endangered by the conhagrltion were res
eued by 1remen. In all there were five
fires, every one Of them incendiary, be-
tween midnight and 3 o'clock this mo- g
ing. ~
Tho woman who lost her life W ~
Caroline Swain. 20 years old. w y q
adiolns one OF the buildings ~ Sas
fired She died OF heart faj' ~ )" cd by
fright. %,%
Adrian Tompkins. in Il with his
hands and feet severely b, ID as a result
Of climbing down redhot are escape. is in
a serious condition.
The rapidly succeeding fires. the crowds
Of evicted tenants and the terrifying rlt-
mors spread through the neighborhood.
with the constant appearance and reap
pearance OF the fire engines and the big
squads Of police. raised the people through
out the vicinity TO a high pitch Of excite
ment which did not lessen until daylight
brought a measure u assurance that the
incendiarism was stopped for a while The
excitement spread even to Broadway and
in the Marie Antoinette Ansonia. Empire
and other big hotelsl in the nelghborhood OF
Lincoln square the guests we're aroused by
the conhagratior. In st. Paul hotel. Sixty
first street and Columbus avenue; the
Hotel Hudson, at SiNty-second street. both
close TO the fires. an the guests were
aroused
All th- houses where the fires occurred
were fiat houses. Three Of them were
occupied by whites and two by negroes
Most of the tenants were already in bed
when the fire first broke out and escaped
to the streets in the scsntiest clothing.
The first fire was i'm "A fve-story tene-
ment house at los West Sixtioth street oc-
cupied by five families, all Of whom es-
capped The iremen We're still busy fighting
that fire when the second blaze began at
l37 West SiXtieth street, I'm a lot of rubbish
in the basement All the tenants escaped.
At the third fire. at 215 West Sixtieth
street. there were several narrow escapes
and daring rescues OF the tenants william
Murray. who lived on the third fioor cor
ried out five of his children, and James
Smith, a spectator. went into the house
and brought the sixth Murray child down
to the second floor window and jumped
with it in his arms to the sidewalks An
other spectator caught them both The
child was unhurt. An aged negro was car
ried out by other spectators.
An hour later the fourth fire was dis
covered a block north at 249 West Sixty
first street. It was quickly extinguished
The fifth and worst of the fires was dis
AZ
a. m. while the street was stin thronged
with frightened and excited people. There
were twenty apartments in the building
and the escape Of the occupants Of the
upper floors was cut Of by a blaze in the
lower hall The tsnants wep- so dazed that
they were in danger OF losing their lives
when policemen and flremen went up on the
FIRE escapes and brought them down.
Adrian Tompkins, who lived on the ton
floor fingered so long that he was pain
fully burned while climbing down the fire
escape.
In each case the hremeA quickly stopped
the progress of the flames. The loss was
about $4,000
Frank Norris OF Boston. a vaudeville per-
former, was arrested on suspicion Of set
ting the fires. The police allege that in
each Of the fires tenants reported that whep
they fled from their apartments Morris
was the first person they met.
When Morris. whose home is in Boston
was arraigned in police court Fire Marshal
Prial expressed the opinion that he was
mentally irresponsible and asked the magis-
trate to commit the boy to Bellevue hospl-
tai for five days for examination. The
magistrate, however. refused and held
Morris In 5000 bail for further examination
on Sunday.