The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1907-11-26
D|ErL|KE RATS IN
TENEMENT FIRE
TRAP
Disaster in Little Italy New
York City
W0MENAND CHILDREN PERISH
I'LL
Thirteen Unfortunates Found In
charred Heap Of Ruins by Firemen
-Suffocated by Smoke.

NEW 1ORh. NV. 80. Ah'i'N'
men, women and children were taken
out dead following a hallway hre III
an Italian tenement at 2121 Second
avenue at an early hour. They were
found by the firemen huddled together
in the front part of the fourth, or top,
floor. All of them had dropped while
making for the fire escapes. The doors
of the rooms had been left open In
the hurry of the tenants to escape.
The openings were so many flues
through which the flames went swirl
ing Breathing smoke and flames, the
thirteen went down one after another.
MANY of the dead were children. Most
of the bodies, covered with blankets
nv the firemen and carried forth into
the street. had been burned so that
they were almost unrecognHaDle. ms
made identification exceedingly dill
cult. but two keurs after the fire they
had all been identified. The victims
were:
Mrs. Catherine Barreca, twenty-nlne
wears old: Jennie Barreca, seven years
old: Mary, one year and six months
old; Giuseppe four years old; Pas-
ouale Cardinale. Giovanni Cardinale,
Nicolina Cardinale, twenty-eight years
old, wife of PasQuale Cardinale; an
uncle of the Cardlnales, whose first
name was Denato and age sixty years.
Denatos wife. Jluletle. fifty years old;
-Jiulette Cardinale. eleven years old;
Giudita Cardinale. four years old; Rose
Cardlnale, two years old, and Luigi
Cardinale, four years old.
The Cardinales were both grown men
and brothers. There were more chill
dren dead. the Identification of which
required time.
The origin of the fire has not yet
been determined. \ peculiar circum-
stance is that while the firemen were
busy with 1t another fire broke out in
a building on the opposite side of the
street, necesstating an extra alarm.
The fire in 2121 Second avenue took
the stairways. A large skylight 10
by 4 feet, the only means of furnish
ing light to the Railways, was not in
place. Through the opening left the
fire raced, leaping high above the roof.
Unable to get down the stairways at
the side Of the building. the tenants
on the upper floors fled toward the top
story. The way to an easy escape was
open for some of them, but they be-
came confused and instead Of going
to the rear balcony fire escapes ran to
the front of the building. All the
dead were heaped together in the Car
dinale rooms, where they had fallen
over one another A woman perished
with baby In her arms.
The tenement is in Little Italy, the
most crowded Latin quarter In the city.
It is at the northwest corner of One
Hundred and Ninth street and Second
avenue. On the ground floor Giuseppe
,Curdano owned and occupied the sa-
loon. He lived on the floor above with
his WIFE, his mother-in-law and four
children. Curdano kept his head about
him and saved his entire family
On the floor above the Curdanos lived
Rocco Barreca, his wife, four children
and his father-in-law. They were
caught in the fire trap, and the mother
and father carried the children to the
top door. Then the father managed
to get to the street. His wife and chill
dren tried to reach the fire escapes
and were seen at the windows, when
there came a burst of flames through
the room, and they sank down to
death.
When the house was entered by the
firemen the floors were searched up to
the top story. The firemen had seen
one woman and several children fall
back into the flames in one Of the
front rooms, and they knew that the
room contained dead, but they were
not prepared for the pile Of bodies
they came upon.
One woman lay above the body Of
her baby. When the flames bore her
down she had fallen with the child un-
der her and had died In an effort to
save its life.
All about this woman other victims
lay. The clothes of some of them had
been burned of, while others seemed
to have been suffocated or to have died
from inhaling flames.
II.