The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-12
SIX PERSONS
 LOSE LIVES Three Others Are. Badly
 Burned. BIG FIRE IN LENox. MASS. Propesty Loss Will Reach Three Hundred thousand Dollars. reur ssai.sss Bieeks. I've Dwellings, and Two Other Structures Were Destroyed - Started From Spontaneous Conbustien.
 

Lenox. Mass. April 1l.--Six persons Lost their lives three others badly burned and property loss of between S20o.0oo and t3oo.0o was caused by . Ire in the heart of the business sec tion of this town early today.
 Four business blocks, two dwellings and two other structures were destroy ed in section bounded by Franklin. Main. Housatonic and Church streets. the Clifford building from spontaneous combustion. The dead:
 Edward c. ventres. an electrician; Mrs. Edward c. ventress: Miss Leslie ventres. aged IF years: Miss Alice French. bookkeeper; Miss Isabel Cook, bookkeeper; Miss Mary Sparks. school teacher.
 The injured:
 Mrs. Catherine Root and her two sons. George and Arthur. severely burned.
 A fortunate shift of wind saved the public library and the fashionable Cur tis Hotel. In the hotel there were sew eral Easter parties from New York and Boston. a,
 The loss of life occurred in the Clif- ford building. where the blaze started. and resulted primarily from a series of explosions of paints. oils and dynamite, stored in the cellar of the James Clif- ford and Sons Company. hardware deal CTS.
 Fire is Discovered.
 The fire was discovered by George Root. who lived with his mother and brother in the upper story of the-Clif- ford block, a three-storyf building, shortly after o'clock this morning, Hastily calling his brother and mother, all ran down the stairs in their night clothes, shouting to the other occupants of the upper floors as they went. They found the front aocr in flames, but the men wrenehed it open and dashed through with their mother between them. All sustained bad burns.
 The Roots had barely crossed the street before there was a terrific ex- plosiop in the building behind them which shattered windows within e wide radius and caused the Are alarm to siiass Tn an instant the clifford h1aa1s wsss wrapped In hames Z Horace Perrtli and his wtfs. other oc- cupants of the top floor. aroused by the shouts of the Roots had got half way down the stairs when they saw the flames leaping tip to bar their exit. ' Three women were below them try ing to get out through the front door. He then rushed his wife through a long corridor to the back stairs. where he got out in safety. All the other occupants of the Clifford block lost their lives.
 The death of Miss Alice French was one of the pitifui tragedies of the morning. While the fire inl the elf ford block was at its height a woman was seen to climb out of fiame- filled room on to veranda on the second floor with her night clothing and her hair ablaze. Staggering to the railing the woman leaped to the sidewalk be- meath, landing in heap within live or six feet of the blsSing walls.
 While none of the beautiful summer residences that have made this town famous were threatened. many promi- nent New York and Boston society peo- pie were at the Curtis offtel. which was at one time threatened. They were prompt iQ their relief for tile uufor- tunates driven out into the chill air of the early morning.