New-York tribune., 1920-01-21
4 Die i'm Fire:
Death Plunge
Thrills Throne
Flames at Is Maiden Lane
Trap Workers, Who Per-
ish OH Upper Floors OF
Are Killed by Falling

Three men were burned to death, one
was killed by fall and two others
were so seriously injured that it is
believed they will not recover, in a fire
which late yesterday afternoon swept
the tive-story building ct 18 Maiden
Lane. Three fircmen were hurt in fight
ing the blaze, which for time threat
cncd to spread to adjoining structures
All Of the dead and injured are be-
lieved to have been employed by Morris
Kaplan, diamond merchant. who oc-
cupied the top floor of the building.
They were unable to reach the fire es-
cape, and the stairway had been con-
sumed by flames.
The dead are Benz jamin Stambler, 32
Elm Street, New Brighton, Staten ISL
end; Emanuel Lambert, twenty eight
years old, 376 Van Sicklen Street,
Brooklyn; L. w. Girdansky, SO West
148th Street.. Manhattan, and Harry
Stambler, 32 Elm Street, New Brighton,
Staten Island. Benjamin and Harry
Stambler were brothers.
The seriously injured are George
Tarrant, seventy-one years old, 1856
Madison Street, Brooklyn, and John
Langhouser! thirty years old, 1174 ia
maica Avenue, Woodhaven, L. I.
Three fremen, Charles Holmes, Truck
No. 10; Thomas Daily, Engine No. g.,
and William Bush, Engine No. 81, were
injured slightly.
Crowd Sees Rescue Effort Fail
Onlookers we're thrilled by sensa-
tional attempt at rescue made by Fire
man Holmes. One of the victims ap-
pcared at window on the top floor
and cried for help. He was frantically
beating at the flames which framed his
body. Holmes fought his way up the
fire escape past the fourth floor and
when he neared the window his uni
form was burning in several places
AS he reached for the trapped man
flames burst from the window and the
victim dropped back out of sight
Holmes was forced to retreat, while
his brother tiremen played stream of
water on his burning clothes. He was
given medical attention, reclothed and
sent to his home.
AS the tiremen arrived man, with
all other means of escape cut off and
apparently half suffocated climbed out
of second-story window, clung to the
sill for moment, and then dropped.
The body struck the cornce of the
building and landed in the street.
The man died in the Broad Street
Hospital an hour later. where the body
was identified as that of Emanuel
Lambert, an employee Of Kaplan's.
The body Of Girdaasky was identified
by his brother, DR.. Max Girdansky, 233
East Broadway. Mrs. Girdansky col
lapsed on hearing Of her husbands
death. She said she and her daughter
had arranged celebration for last
night, it being the twentieth anniver-
sary Of her marriage, and friends and
who formerly worked in the building
at 18 Maiden Lane, was visiting there
at the time Of the fire
When the flames had been suf-
hciently subdued to permit entrance
into the building Chief kenlon lee
two companies up the fire escape te
the top floor, where five bodies wers
found. Two of the men were alive
three were almost unrecognizable be
cause of burns. DR.. Harry Fox, o.
the Broad Street Hospital, braved the
smoke in making his way to the fifth
floor, where he gave hypodermc in
| jections to the two unconscious men
who were carried down the fire escap,
to the street and taken to q hospital.
After the fire was under control ,
derrick was erected from n window OF
the fifth floor and the bodies wrapped
in tarpaulln, were lowered to the stree
on rope They were taken to the Ole
Slip police station, where they wer,
identified. The body of Harry STAN
bier, the fourth victim, was not fount
until the ruins were thoroughly search
ed later on.
The fire, which it is estimated cause,
a damage of 100000 to the building
was first noticed by Herman Goldsteir
303 Bradford Street, East New York
an errand boy in Kaplan's employ H
told the tiremen he saw the blaze unde
the stairway on the second floor as h
was returning from an errand, an
after shouting an alarm escaped to tn
street. The boy said the stairwa
was u mass of flames at that time, an
it was necessary for the persons caugh
on the upper floors to depart by tn
fire escape Some failed to reach tn
window, and it was the bodies Of thes
men that the fireman found two hour
after the first alarm had been given.
The cause of the fire has not bee
determined Fire Marshal Thomas .
:-.l. Il %AoA ~: tv@1vo