Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-26
SLEEPING PEOPLE
ROUTED BY FLAMES
Early Morning Fire in the
Stafford Apartment
House.
BUILDING DAMAGE. 1000:
PERSONAL EFFECTS, $4,000
Many Occupants Reach Streets in
Night Apparel-Blaze Confined
to Upper Stories.

10 upper STORIES.
/ Occupants of sixteen apartments i'm the
/ Stafford. 11ts, E.anier place northwest
were routed from their beds this morning
/ about ; o'clock by fire Very few of
| them remained i'm their apartments long
| enough to don their street clothes. Care
| full estimates made when the excitement
i had subsided placed the damage to the
| building at $1,000 and the loss in per-
sonal belongings at s6.nn The blaze
was confined principally to the two upper
| floors
! The fire originated in the shaft of
the lift. Miss Margaret Saammons and
| Miss Lillian Pace, the latter Il public
school teacher, occupants OF an apart
| ment at the northwest corner of the
| fourth floor of the building. discovered
the blaze when 1t had made considerable
headway and shouted warning to 9TH
| er occupants of the building.
Miss Pace and Miss Sammons narrow
ly escaped being caught in the fire. it
was said today. one of them had be-
| come restless in the night. She believes
she was awakened by smoke and got
up to close door and it was then that t
the blaze attracted her attention. Warn
ings soon were heard throughout the
structure and occupants of the apart
ments became so excited. it is stated,
that tt was not for several minutes that
an alarm was sounded to summon the
engines
No. truck company and 81 engine
company. quartered only a few doors
from the apartment house responded
to the outcry for help, and then a
regular alarm was sent in. Four COM
panieS OF fremen were on hand
result of the first alarm and sipri-
ond alarm. Chief Wagner took charge
of the fire-fighting force.
Presents Threatening Aspect.
The fire was through the roof when
l got in sight" Chief Wagner stated,
| .'and l feared a holocaust
For short time it looked as If the
firemen would be unable to save the
building. but generous supply of
water enabled them to get it under
control before il progressed below the
third floor. Although the fire was con-
fined to the two top floors and roof.
the water damage below these points
was considerable.
Mrs. Tindall wife of DR.. William Tin
third floor. was one of the first on that
| floor to learn that the building was
ablaZe She called to her husband
that she could see bright light in
the sky and soon she announced there
was a fire in the neishborhood.
| Leaving her bed and going to the win
| dow. Mrs T.ndall discovered that the
b aZe was m the building. and was burn
| ing through the roof. She aided in notify
ing others of the danger, and after auicl,
preparation she and her husband made
| d hasty exit.
Hot Wall Leads to Discovery.
Chief Wagner felt one of the walls and
| found it so hot that he had fireman
chop hole in it. and found the wood
work was burning there at furious rate.
| Such partitions. the ch eff explained. ARE
! not fireproof." The firemen worked nearly
an hour before they succeeded in extin-
! gushing the blaze on roof and upper
/ floors, and another hours work was re.
auired To make it safe for the people Il
return TO their apartments.
/ Maj u. J. Leitch and Misses Pace and
| Sammons were the heaviest losers
Their apartments on the top floor were
burned out and the loss in each apart
ment is estimated at about $500. Sol
| l>ansburghs apartment on the same
floor was badly damaged by water.
Other losers include Robert Groom
base ball player. who was absent in
Philadelphia with the Nationals. Mrs
Lew Newmyer, Mrs. David Frank. DR.
| Tindall Miss X. Levy, Mrs. John
Brodie. Sol HerzoS, &. Il. Pierce. Sid
ney Kaufman, Isaac Newman and Will
liam r.. Reiss.
Julius Peyser. lawyer. who resi- des al
the OctaNia. hurried to the scene OF
the fire to look out for the safety oi
his mother. Mrs y. Peyser. He found
| she had left her apartment without diff
nculty. however. as had the others, and
there was no occasion for aid.
Originated in Dumb Waiter Shaft.
Fire Marshal Nicholson today made ar
! examination of the building.
He sa d the fire originated in the dumb
waiter shaft. He explained that tht
shaft is fireproof from the cellar to III,
| top of ii, and that the fire got out of il
| only when the top was reached. He sug
| gested that something thrown on tn,
| dumb waiter at one of the upper land
| iugs started the fire.