Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-03-25
Caught in the Upper Part of Fish Building They Are
Roasted to Death Before Eyes of
Horrifed Crowd
BENzINE ExPLODEs ON FOURTH FLOOR
Flames Spread Suddenly that Few Employed Above Are
Able to Escape-FaCeS Seen at Window Till
Interior of Structure CollapSeS.

Chicago, March 25.-At 2:3o this
afternoon IL bodies had been recoV-
cred from the ruins of the Fish furni-
ture building. The Identified:
VERONICA MeGRATH.
MRS. HANNAH BURDEN.
Three bodies were found together in
corner Of the wreckage. Their po-
sition showed they had been in an at
tItude of prayer when death came.
Forty Make Escape.
Chicago, March 25.-Twelve persons
are reported dead in a fire which at
tackled the Fish Furniture company
building at 1906-190S Wabash avenue
here today. Forty employees escaped.
A girl who jumped from a third story
window died at hospital
The dead were trapped, it is said,
on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors
when an explosion of benzine on the
fourth floor wrapped the building in
flames.
Tried to Help Others.
One of the dead is said to have
been a man who perished in a des-
perate endeavor to rush up the stair
way to aid those imprisoned above.
Those believed to have been killed
were all women and girls. Ten of the
latter, it is said, were at work on the
sixth floor when the explosion oc-
Cured
The spread of the flames cut off
their escape at the stairways. They
then turned to the front of the build,
ing, smashing the glass in the win
dows.
Leaps to street.
The Mortified spectators in the street
below looking through the haze of
flames and smoke and spray of water
could see dimly the faces of girls
framed up in the windows above.
Suddenly one of the girls stepped to
the window ledge, her face a picture
of terror and screamed for help. The
turmoil below suddenly turned to
silence as the form poised and then
sprang to the street below.
Fell ON Awning.
She fell on an awning over the
front entrance of the store. where she
lay unconscious until DIR. Kinsley, |
crawling out on the canopy, lifted her
up She was taken to St Luke's hos |
pital but died soon afterwards. Later
it was learned the girls name was
Emma Lichtenstein. Soon after Miss |
Lichtenstein's desperate leap the crash |
of the floors falling was heard and the |
faces at the windows disappeared.
Started by Cigar Lighter.
Isaac Fish, secretary of the COM
pany. says the fire started when an
employe went into the finishing depart !
ment to get some alcohol for cigar
lighter The electric spark of the |
lighter, according to Fish, started the /
fire which quickly reached the cans !
of benzine nearby and explosions fol- |
lowed rapidly
Twenty-Five on Upper Floors.
Fish expressed the belief that all |
employees on the fourth floor escaped,
but could see no hope for those above.
There we're % on the fifth and sixth
floors and 1t is possible all are dead.
The financial loss is 100000.
Spectator Tells Experiences.
DR.. Kinsley graphically described
his experiences as follows: 81 was
near by when the fire started and
when 1 reached the scene the sight
fairly made my hair stand on end.
The floors of the building were mass
of flames and the smoke was rolling
out of the windows like great thunder
clouds. Like many others l was so
stricken by the sight of faces half re-
vealed in the sixth story windows l
could barely move
Tried to Climb Stairs.
Il tried to get up the front stair
ways but at the third floor a gust of
flames burnt me about the face and
hands, and the next thing l knew l
was back in the street again. Then
again the cries. of the girls trapped
in the upper story came to my ears.
Fire engines came crashing down the
streets. Then 1 saw one of the girls
throw up her hands and plunge out of
the window. Her body dashed against
the canopy over the front end of the
store. Scarcely knowing what 1 did
1 ran up the stairway to the first {
floor, crawled out OF the window and
carried her down the ladder which
a fireman had raised"
Had narrowing Experience.
Isaac Fish, secretary of the Fish
1urniture company, had a narrowing {
experience in the fire. He had ell {
tered the elevator when the explosion !
occurred. The elevator came to t