The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-01-01
EIGHT LIVES LOST IN
TENEMENT BLAZE
Fire Escapes damned and
Ladders Couldn't
Be Lowered.
100 IN GREAT DANGER
Stairway Went Quickly, Leav-
ing the Hall a Well
Of Flame.
100 IN GREAT DANGER

Five men and three women were burned
to death and eight others were hurt In
fre early yesterday morning at %
Monroe street The inside Of Ave story
tenement fronting on the marrow alley
called Pelham street was wrecked.
Flames swallowed the staircases. and the
100 persons In the tenement, driven to the
fire escapes. were 30 closely packed that
the firemen found no place to rest their
ladders to save them.
Fifty men. women and children so
filled the second floor fire escape that
they could not lower the short ladder
that would have let them get to the side
walk. Others on the fire escapes above
tried to lower themselves on to the Shout
ders Of those below.
The Dead.
COHEN. SAMUEL. o. years old.
y kx AIN ssHk Berry. t.: -
k AAeekzAS' e HS.afi i i
TE IssERg I pr.si q
Cohen. a tailor. boarded with Mrs.
kaplan, a widow. and her two sons. Gus
sic MaSsin returned for something she
had forgot and fell into a pit Of flame be-
tween the stairs. Wesberg and his wife.
Cohen Golden and the Kaplans all met
death by suffocation on the top floor.
Many others on the nth floor escaped
easily By going to the roof.
The Isjsred.
EN1IN. SAMUEL. . years old: torn RICH,
'1 tSsEps f. 81 s hip By S :%.ss
HoeCowrTZ. YETTA. Is: body and left foot
N Viz xsSs sfss'p %, :G SYss burn.
v nSnMsc c sHsAH ?G is S S.ns torn
The wounded were all sent to Gouver.
nsuf Hospital. The are may have been
anoendiary. Fire Chief Kenlon. who char
ectsrtsed II as one OF the most ranicky
and dangerous he recalled. thinks sonie-
one Get It The Fire Marshal will make
an investigation.
Daniel Ellison, chauffeur. who lived
with his parents on the second floor, got
homo at about o'clock in the morning
and wrote n letter. He went out to mail
II and returned at 3. Everything was all
right then. Just before o'clock smoke
awoke Ellison and he had little more than
time to carry his father and mother out
The fire was seen from the outside by
Policeman O'Neil OF the Madison street
station OH nxed post at Pike and Non
roe streets. Il block away. O'Neii sen: IN
an alarm. blew his whistle. pounded for
help and running to the tenement. opened
the hall door. The smoke almost chok ed
him. He couldn't get upstairs because
where the stairs should be was Il well
of fire. He stepped back. still blowing
his whistle. and looked up to see tn. hope
less huddle on the fire escape above him
and other huddles on the outlets Of floors
further up.
ONeil couldn't g,t anyone to leave the
firot fire escape so as to make room to
drop the ground ladder. Policeman Muir
ray came running up and O'Neil stood on
Ina nlOulNs.S wrench the ladder free
Scorched on Fire, Escapes.
Flames darted out OF the windows and
scorched the shoulders OF the crowd on
the platforms. Some Of those only "a
story above ground jumped and were
slightly hurt. The nremen arrived and
raised long ladders on which they were
able to get the others down.
O'Neil and other policemen, after clear
ing the second floor fire escape platform.
went up to the third story and there found
"A whole family in such terror that 1t had
made no effort to escape 4 ninteen- year
old girl, Augusta Maxim. helped the po-
licemen carry to the ladders her mother
and father and several brothers and Sis
terN. Her sister. Gussie Mazzin. was
killed returning for trinket she had
forgot.
Tho search Of the house. started almost
before tire fire WAS under control. revealed
seven dead on tho top floor. Isador " els
berg, a nephew Of the Wiesbergs who
were found suffocatet in bed. escaped by
the roof lie told the police that his
aunt had worn about her neck n channels
bag containing Jewels worth $4,000. The
bag was not found.
The IRE loss IL estimated at Ss5, 900
The bodies Of the dead were taken first
to the Madison street police station and
there thousands Of the East Side gathered
SObbinH and wailinR,