The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1907-05-09
SEVEN LOSE
THEIR LIVES
--E
Fire in Kary4s City
Buikslg.
MANY + 4LLING REScUES
Was Occupied by Montgomery
Ward & c.. Offices:
Top Floor Was Devoted to Auditoriums
and studios And Fatalities Oc-
CURED There--Russian Count
ess Among Missing.

Kansas City, May Sire this after
noon destroyed the FIVE story Univer-
sity building at the northwest cor
ner of Locust and Ninth streets, caus-
ing property loss estimated at quar-
ter of a million dollars.
One life was lost. six persons are
missing and may be buried in the ruins
and fifteen persons were or less seri-
ously injured. The debris is still burn
ing tonight and cannot be searched
until tomorrow. The building was oc-
.cupied by Montgomery Ward and Com
pany as offices and by numerous ar
lists and musicians, who lost every
thing
The killed:
George de Mar. aged thirty-two, an
art Instructor.
Among the missing is Miss Maud
Wittenboro, piano teacher; last seen
at the window of her studio on the
fifth floor.
Injured:
Miss Alexandria Blumberg. a Rus
sian countess; skull fractured; may
die.
Maud speyer. fell from ladder; seri-
Gus.
Mrs. Eva S. Boyle. Sheridan. Mo-,
fell from LADDER, severe.
]. M. Kranichfield, fireman, leg
broken.
william Van Dusen, fireman, serious.
Peter Karagard. violin teacher, fell
from fire escape. serious.
The University building was built by
the Pepper estate of Philadelphia, for
the Young Mems Christian Association
and the corner stone was laid by Pres
ident Cleveland, during his first admin
istration.
Building Considered Unsafe.
The building was of brick. five sto-
ries high and extended one hundred
feet north on Locust street and half
block west on Ninth street. Because
of the unsafe condition of the building
IL was abandoned by the Young Mems
Christian Association ten years ago
Since then the first and second floors
have been occupied by MONTGOMERY
Ward and Company, who used 1t as Of
fices and employed two hundred clerks
mostly girls. 1t contains two small au-
ditoriums, one of which, on the third
floor. Is used by the Kansas City
Athenaeum. which was holding a ses-
sion when the fire started today, half
a hundred prominent women being in
attendance. The third, fourth and fifth
floors were occupied by artists and
musicians and some of the upper rooms
were used as living apartments.
There Is one elevator in the building.
adjoining stairway, the only means
of exit. The fire started a few minutes
before o'clock in the basement, in
quantity of Irvine in the Montgomery
Ward store room, close to the elevator.
Ten minutes after the fire broke out,
the flames began shooting up the ele-
vator shaft. and escape, save by the fire
escapes, was shut OF.
Frantic Appeals for Aid.
smoke. and ten minutes later, when
the first fire apparatus arrived on the
scene, people crowded almost every
window, appealing for help, while
scores of others, mostly women and
girls filled the fire escapes. and were
climbing wildly to the ground.
George de Mare, 80 years of age. art
instructor In the Central High School
and a portrait painter. jumped from
his studio window on the fifth floor and
was picked up dead.
Miss Alexandria Blumberg, a Russian
countess, who came to America two
years ago, had a studio on the fifth
floor, was overcome by smoke and car
ried from her room by a fireman, who
started down a ladder with her. The
firemen below, in their excitement,
turned stream of water on them.
knocking them from the ladder. Miss
Blumberg was picked up unconscious,
sugering from a fractured skull, and
may die.
The fireman was painfully injured.
There were many thrilling escapes.
Miss Helen Burns, who had a studio
on the fourth floor, stood at a window
calling for help while flames played
within a few feet of her. A ladder
failed to reach the fourth story, and
fireman stretched out an iron rod and
urged her to climb down it. The wo-
man slid down the rod to the ladder
and was landed safely on the ground.