The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-17
Two DIE IN FIRE;
OTHERS jump OUT
Street Crowd Forms q Cushion
for Women to Land On
in Safety.
MAN AND BABE VICTIMS
Ranlshackle Park Row Building
Quickly Wrecked After
Blaze Starts.

Two persons, q man and baby, were
burned 70 death In q fire that swept up
through the old brick building at the
southeast corner Of Park Row and Roose-
welt street last night
The man was David Print. 40 years old.
a laborer. and the infant was the twenty
two months old son Of Mrs. Rosa Franco.
While a dozen other persons found
safety by jumping from the third story
Of the building Print was overcome before
he could reach q window and the child
was forgotten IN the panic.
A crowd of Park Row human hotsam
and tetsaan and boys OF rhe pelshborhood
bent their backs and punched themselves
together TO break the force Of the Jumps
snade by seven women from the third
floor Of the burning building. The jump
was more than thirty feet, but the women
were saved.
Only one needed a surgeons attentions,
but some of the men walked away with
bruised backs. with heads cut by nying
heels and arms strained by the impact
Most OF those who made up this human
life net said grufiy they had no names
when Information Was sought. Others
were willing to say Johnny di Martina
Patsy James. Bogo. Johnny Pasola, Kid
Limbino, Chinkie. the Wop; the Greek.
and such like. The addresses were: "oh.
around here
The building. which was pretty well
cleaned out by the fire, was an OLD three
story brick one, with a gable roof.
1t is a hundred years old or more. and
II burned like Pine knots. Three or
four men jumped and were saved by snow
hanks.
The ground floor of the old building.
which was not known as q tenement was
occupied by "'rhe Old Curiosity Shop" an
emporium Of odds and ends that had been
there many years: the second floor had
some small business firms and the third
floor and the attic were crowded with
Italians.
Several Mysterious Explosions.
The FIRE began in the ground door hall
on Roosevelt street. whers there wss an
exit and entrance to the building. the only
one the f,remen could md. Acting Fire
Chief Devauney said he did not know
what started IL. and as there were several
explosions during the course Of the fire he
regarded the fre with suspicion. The
Fire Marshal will receive the case to-day.
fhe first known Of II outside was when
the smoke gushed out of the windows and
the shrill scream OF "A woman stopped traf-
hc and cmptied the neighboring saloons
The fire had gone up the stairs, Sand there
wasn't a chance for any one to escape.
The first arrivals had hardly got there
when out OF a window OF the third floor
shot man feet foremost. lie had aimed
for Ave foot snowbank at the corner
and his aim was good. He disappeared
IN It. and was brought out gasping but
unhurt He is JUNO Perrin AZ years
old. a laborer. whose brother died IN the
fameA
There came a warning CRY, and CSC
ond man struck the bank safely: then u
third. both unhurt. Just then the problem
Of the women came up and all interest
In the jumping men was lost. II Is
Thought three or four moro were saved
by the snow.
The women were damned into the third
floor windows. about thirty feet from the
firemen to rescue them. but the fremen
could not get there. SO when a woman
climbed out of the window and hung
straight over the sidewalk which was
cleaned OF snow, there were cries from
the crowd calling upon her to wait. She
let go her hold. hurtled down and landed
stretched out on the backs of the men.
They caught her so easily she was not
hurt
Land ON Backs In Crowd.
Another woman climbed and let 90 at
once she fell and bounced OF the backs
hurt. Mrs Rosa Franco. mother OF the
missing child. Jumped from window.
She slid down the wall and was pinned
against the bricks with a man under
her. Her hip was severely bruised. The
other women came quickly. one after the
other, and each one found the bodies be-
meath her when she landed. 1t was al
most like clockwork after the third. The
women would appear. hang moment. q
roar would start from the crowd as she
she landed. Friends would grab her. and
she would be swallowed up IN the crowd
Of wailing women.
BY tho time the seven women had
Jumped the fremen were there. and the
high pressure pumps turned some OF the
East River into the building. The IRE
did not last long. but cleaned out every
thing except the wallis before II was
stopped. The damage TO the building was
put at $4,000,
Three sticks Of dynamite we're found
In the attic about six months ago. accord
Ing to the police. and they believed last
night the FIRE may have been Of incsudiary
ORIGIN. There was nothing to start
a Are In the narrow hall ordinarily. Dur.
ing the Are there were three loud ex.
ploslons from somewhere In the building.
Chief De Vanney said this might have
been dynamite or powder.
The building 10 said to b owned By