New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-10-07
Mattresses Trapped by Flames
That Destroy Dennett'S
Restaurant.
GIRLS DRAMATIC ESCAPE
Leaps for Rope Newsboy Drops
from Roof-Firemen Save
Man and Woman by
Use of Ladder.

two others, with a man employed as an
omnibus, had narrow escapes from the
same fate, when a fire occurred In Den
netts restaurant in Park Row yester-
day. 1t appeared that the women could
have been rescued except for mislead-
ing information which sent a policeman
TO the wrong place to find them and
the Fire Department on a like fruitless
search.
Mrs. Nellie Gilman. widow, head
waitress in the restaurant who lived at
No. sol 18th street, Brooklyn, and
Adelaide Preston, who lived at No. 40
9th street, Brooklyn, are dead Those
who were rescued are Nellie Lovett, Of
No. Liberty street, Brooklyn, and
John Gaffney, who lives at the owl
Hotel, in the Bowery Both of these
were overcome by smoke. but were re-
vived. Mamie Powers, of No. 16I Mon
roe street, Brooklyn. another waitress,
saved herself by a dramatic slide down
a rope from the fourth story of the
building.
Eight mattresses were due TO go TO
work at II 80 o'clock yesterday morn
ing. but only the four named had re-
ported They went at once to the
dressing room on the fourth floor to
change their street clothes for their
uniforms. 1t was while they were
upstairs that Frank Smith, the man
ager Of the restaurant discovered
the fire. 1t had started in a flue back
Of the kitchen, and already flames were
shooting up light and air shaft in the
rear of the building.
Mr.. Smith sent TONY" Mitchell a
baker, dashing up the stairs TO tell the
girls. Afterward the baker said they
did not appear to be frightened.
Patrolman Dougherty rushed in and
ordered the diners and mattresses on
the main floor out Of the building.
Gould Have Saved Girls"
Il could have saved the girls, too"
he said. IF Ia known where they were.
was told they were dressing in the
cellar"
When the firemen arrived q 35-foot
ladder was run up, but 1t was not long
enough, and Deputy Chief Binns. who
had been told the girls were at the
back of the house, hurried into Theatre
Alley leading fremen with ladders.
BY the time the fire fighters got into
the alley the white faced women ap-
peared at the front windows.
Don't jump! Don't jump" yelled
those in the crowd, while the wait
resses and the police in the street
waved encouragement to the trapped
persons
An extension ladder was then run up.
But in the mean time William Harri-
son, a newsboy, appeared atop the
building with a Fire Department rope
in his hand. He made one end fast and
swung the other out.
The big electric sign prevented the
rope from swinging close to the win
dows, but, seized with desperation, one
girl leaped out and caught it. and came
down like toy on a stick. She tainted
in heap on the sidewalk, but was re-
vived in a nearby drug store, where an
ambulance surgeon dressed her blis-
tered hands.
Firemen Swarm to Rescue.
The girls had fallen back from the
windows into the smoke before the fire.
men crossed the ledge. In a moment
one ladderman appeared with Miss
Preston. She was taken down and
rushed to st. Gregory's Hospital, but
died there while surgeons were working
over her.
In few minutes Miss Lovett was
handed out the window and passed
down the ladder. She was taken to the
hospital unconscious, but Will recover
The next taken out was Mrs. Gilman,
who was carried into the drug store,
where Patrolman Ennis tried for half
an hour TO revive her by artificial res
piration. IT was no use Gaffney was
lowered to the sidewalk by the firemen
and was taken to the Hudson Street
Hospital. He will recover.
I'VE could have saved those girls
lives if we had been told they were in
the front Of the building" said Deputy
Chief Binns last night. There never
was a chance to save them from the
alley. anyway, for flame and smoke
were boiling out on that side. When
we got into the room we couldn't find
them anywhere; and suddenly we
stumbled on them, all lying senseless
under a table, where they had tried to
Set away from the fire. The man was
under a desk"
one Of the fremen who helped bring
ott the girls was Chief Sherwood
Brockwel of the Raleigh, n. c.. de-
partment.' He is here on leave and at
tached to Engine 20, in Lafayette
street, in accordance with the Fire
Commissioners new policy of enter
tanning visiting chiefs and giving them
the benefit Of the departments work.
Another volunteer fireman was James
j. Powers. veteran of the old volun-
teer department, who donned a helmet
and coat for he time being.
Stephen Brodsky, a coffee man, and
Martha Mccormack, a scrub woman,
we're overcome by smoke in the build
ng. but suffered no i'll effects after am