The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-02-02
arrived How they escaped is mys-
terry to the firemen.

terry to the firemen.
Mother Saves of Her 9.
One of the heroines was Mrs. Mary
Schoskey. She was sleeping with her
six small children about her, on the
third floor, when the outer wall coll
lapsed, following the explosion. She
gathered her little group about her.
With the youngest, months old, in
her arms, and the rest clinging to her
skirts, she fought her way thru the
she could drop them to the ground.
John, years old, was lost in the
darkness, and. policemen had to forci-
bly, restrain the frantic mother from
rushing to certain death in search of
him.
The rear >porches of the building
were blown away by the explosion and
this avenue of escape cut off.
According to Morris Feldman. a
janitor. in each of the twelve families
there were approximately eight per-
sons. Only one entrance was left open
for their escape. he said. This was
clogged shortly afterwards by flames.
Crowd Give Overcoats to Victims
One girl, nineteen and boy of
about fourteen, were taken from the
building unconscious and almost max
ed. They were wrapped in blankets
and hurried to the county hospital
Police and fashionably dressed men
who had gathered, regardless of the
biting cold, whipped off their over
coats and covered the forms of those
who w~re rescued practically nude.
Saloons were turned into refuge sta
lions. One policeman came stagger-
ing into an already crowded saloon
with three small children wrapped in
his big overcoat. He had found them
huddIed, crying and shivering in the
lee of a nearby building.
The streets Immediately after the
49, ION n We
was a veritable babel. Excited pedes-
trians frenzied mothers and crying
children called to each other in a half
dozen tongues. Police and flremen
experienced great difficulty in throw
ing lines around the danger zone.
Practically all who escaped were bare
footed and the pavement, covered
with ice and broken glass, made their
plight more pitiable.
Gas Main in Cellar Burst.
Following an investigation by
wrecking crew from the gas company,
it was believed that gas main when
extended thru the cellar of the wreck
ed tenement had burst, filling the
basement with gas which exploded
when somone went to investigate.
In the building across the street
from the wrecked structure, IRE fol-
lowed the explosion and the occupants
fled in their night clothing to the rear
porches. These collapsed, precipltat-
ing them to the ground, causing pain
full injuries
Calvin F. Davis, switchman, SAID
the explosion felt like an earthquake.
FLAMES shot up from the side of
the building almost Immediately the
rumble of the explosion had died
away he said Then suddenly a
blue flame leaped high in the air and
the whole building crumpled up and
| collapsed"
Describes Scene of Horror.
with four other switchmen, I ran
to the place and we caught three
children thrown over the railing of a
second story porch and a fourth
struck me on the head and knocked
me down. The place was in darkness
except for the light of the burning
/ gas. When we had saved all VINO
were visible, our attention was at
tracted to piles of broken brick and
plaster. some Of which moved and
ally a foot. These we dug OUT
! Davis and his companions succeed
| ed in extricating fifteen persons from
the wreckage. When the police and
firemen arrived they were caring for
! more than a dozen children who had
been separated from their parents.
Hull House a Refuge.
| Those driven from their homes
| found refuge at Hull house settlement,
| hospitals, the police stations and sur
rounding homes. In one little grocery
store there was a scene typical of
many others. The place was crowded
with excited men and women crying
and talking excitedly in Yiddish.
Among them was Mrs. John Ian
cowsl<i. She wore a night gown, a
! shawl, one slipper and one boot.
| She had brought her six children
safely out of the burning building, had
lost them again and was making fran
tic appeals to her neighbors to find
them. The oldest, she said, was ten
years of age.
! Persons who were upon the scene
early asserted that they saw women
with hair and clothing ablaze carrying
or dragging their young into the street
historical and screaming. An incident
disclosed by the coming of daylight
was that of a 7-year-old boy, Stanley
Stilowicz. found freezing to death.
! The explosion shut off the gas and
electric lights in the district and in the
! darkness the child, clad only in a
union suit, ran into a secluded nook
where, benumbed with cold, he fell
| asleep.
$4,000 Fire in Yates Center.