Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-02
FATAL STAIRWAY FIRE
Kills Three and Injuries Thir-
teen in New York.
TENEMENT HOUSE BLAZE
Authorities Suspect That It Was In
cendiary.
INJURED PILED IN HEAPS
Man Dies Trying to Guide His Wife
and Baby to Safety-Might
Have Escaped.
Special Dispatcb-to The Star.

| Special Dspatch-to The Star.
! NEW YORK. April "a stairway fire
was responsible for the killing of three
and serious injury 10 thirteen persons at
| ~ Hester street this morning. Many
jumped from the fire escapes into the
rear yard where broken limbs az more
serious injuries were their portion. One
falling body followed another with erue-
some regularity in the first few minutes
of the panic. The victims lay scattered
all about when the tiremen making their
| way over the fences of adjoining yards,
| arrived on the scene
A number jumped from the front of the
building also. but an awning over
store on the ground floor broke their fall.
SO that they rolled off into the street and
were unhurt. barring a few bruises. How
many landed on the awning is not known,
! But the surgeons were only called upon
| to treat one man there.
| The fire looked queer to Battalion
Chief Brogan. and he asked Fire Mar
shall DeMalignon to inquire into it. The
! fire marshal made an investigation and
reported hack that if there had been any
thing wrong the flames had destroyed the
| traces
List of the Dead.
| The dead, all of whom persisted in the
rear of the fifth or top floor, west side of
the building, are:
! Berl Weinstein. twent y-five years old,
! cloak operator.
Hannah Weinstein. twenty-five years
old. wife of Rerl.
morris Weinstein. one year old their
| son.
One fireman and one policeman are in
| the list of injured
| The tive-story tenement stands in one
Of the most congested neighborhoods of
| the east side. where rear tenements ell
bow those in front and the population of
| the block is numbered in, the thousands
Sixteen families Occupied ~ Hester street
Weinstein. the cloak operator was q
| thrifty Jew from Russia. His home was
near Odessa. Four years ago he married.
| i'm Russia. the woman whom he stood by
| this morning and persisted with. About
Z. year ago their union was blessed with the
| boy, Morris. With them lived Weinsteins
| brother, Wolf. a boy of sixteen years. The
| boys story and the circumstances under
| which the firemen found the three bodies
! showed how they died.
Family Wiped Out.
| Wolf Weinstein said that they were all
asleep AT 1.D o CLOCK when Mrs, Weln-
| stein smelled smoke, She swoke the 9TH
er members of the family, and boy-like.
Wolf ran to the rear of the fire escape
| where he got down to safety The family
| might have escaped had it not been for
the excitement of Berl Weinstein. Berl
threw open the door to the hallway. He
retreAted before the rush of fire. but for
got to close the door. The smoke rolled
| in. the Ntire following close after 1t is
supposed that Mrs. Weinstein saw death
| near and. crazed with fear. sprang into
bed. where she covered her little son
Morris up in the bed clothing. Wenstein
| evidently went to the bed and tried to
! get them to follow him to the fire es-
cape. In That position they died. The
| crew of truck found Mrs. Wenstein
| and Norris dead in bed. the fathers body
| stretched out alongside the bed
| The Yard at the back of the building
| suggested a battlefield when the amb,-
| lance surgeons arrived. 1t was covered
with Helpless men and women who had
jumped from the fire escapes and were SO
injured that they could not go farther
Most of the injured were sent to- hos
!, pital. The damage to the building will
| not exceed 5000.