The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-05-04
TENEMENT HOUSE BURNED
AFTER BLACK HAND THREAT
Bodies OF the Dead Taken Out
by Police.
MOTHERS HURL BABIES OUT
BlackmaiIers Demand $1,000 From
Rich Grocer Under Pain of Death
Victim Gave the Letters to the
Police-The Fire Followed.

Victim Gave the Letters to the
Police-The Fire Followed.
whom five were children under eight
years old, were killed, and fourteen
we're injured, some of them fatally,
in an incendiary fire that trapped
twenty families in the tenement at
40. 81 Spring street, between Mott
Ind Mulberry, and partly destroyed
The building.
The blaze was started by black
nailers who had demanded $1,000
from one of the tenants Of the house
aouse and had been refused and the
police notified Kerosene oil had
been distributed throughout the
building and ignited.
The people in the tenement be-
came panic stricken when they found
escape cut off and the flames gaining
Roadway upward through the house.
The dead are Luigi Bellevia, seven
years old; Stepena Bellevia, three
years old, brother of Luigi; Anna De
Bonis, seven years old; Antoinette
De Bonis, five years old, sister of
Anna; Frank De Bonis, two years
Did, brother of Anna; Consettina Pic
CHINA, twenty years old; Dominick
Puzzelli, twenty-five years old; Mat
leo Vippiana, thirty-two years old.
The injured are: Lorenzo AMIGO,
ourns about the body, will die; Clio
yanni De Banzia, burns about head
and body; Marie Bellevia, burned
about head and body, will probably
die; Marie Puchito, burned about
legs and head; Giuseppe Juttelli
twelve years old, burned about legs
and body; Antoinette Carriora, four
badly burned about the head and
body, will probably die; Nellie Car
riora, fourteen, burned about hands
arms and face; Calota Carriora.
burned about body; - Carriora
eight months, burned about body
will probably die; Prospero De Do.
liza, burned about face and hands:
Mrs. Marie Soseta, burned about
body; Mrs. Jamina Stav, burned
about face, will lost left eye; Carme.
liza Carriora, fractured skull, will
probably die; Salvador Carriora, in
ternal injuries and fractured skull.
When the firemen and police ar
rived men and women were hanging
from the fire escapes, the flames hav-
ing driven them from the windows
and they were ready to drop.
The flames were bursting from the
windows all about them and blister.
ing their hands.
Mothers, maddened by the flames
began to throw babies from windows
Four were hurled to their deaths be-
fore the firemen and police could get
to work.
Policeman Brosmer stood on the
pavement and caught five children
and they escaped injury.
Firemen and policemen went VI
the ladders to the struggling masses
On the fire escapes. Men were fight
ing to get down through the man.
holes, and in many cases blocked
them entirely The police were com,
PEELED to use their clubs in order tt
rescue the women.
Sergeant Reardon and Policeman
Carbonell, of the Mulberry street
station, got around to the rear of the
house and worked their way up the
fire escapes. They. rescued Mrs. Lena
Latusa and her daughter Ella from
the third floor.
On the third floor Policeman
White, who is to receive the Depart
ment Medal this year for bravery
found Maria Sarton, sixty years old
unconscious, and carried her dowr
the escape to the first floor, where he
turned her over to other policemen
George Gentle, his wife, Charlotte
and their daughter, Nellie, fourteen
years old, were also found overcome
by smoke. The policeman carried then
down one by one to the first floor
where he dropped them to other po
licemen from the Mulberry street sta
ton Returning again, the brave
policeman went into the rooms on the
fourth floor and there found Maria
Bacceri She was overcome, and
again White went down the escapes
to the street, where the woman was
taken in charge by ambulance sur
geons.
After about an hours fight, the
names were gotten under control suf
iciently to allow the firemen to make
q search of the rooms. On the fourth
floor, in front rooms, we're found the
three De Bonis children. They had
been suffocated by the smoke AL.
we're huddled together. In the rear
rooms were found the bodies of Puz.
zelli and Piccinna, and on the third
floor the f1remen found the body OF
little Stepena Belleyia, whose moth.
or had been badly burned and who
had been taken to St. Vincent's Hos
pital. The body of Vippiana, badly
burned, was found on the second
floor near the stairway, and the boys
body near by.
Giuseppe Bruck, who keeps a gro,
Gerry store on the ground floor, and
is reputed to be wealthy, said he had
received several blackmailing letters
previous to the fire, They demanded
from $1,000 to $4,000 under pain OF
death. Here is one:
New York. April 26.
&c. Bruck, 81 Spring street;
"Our society demands $1,000 oil
death. Bring 1t to Mott street to-
day. BLACK HAND.
The letter also bore rudely drawn
skull