New-York tribune., 1920-02-02
Seven Killed
I'm Tenement
Fire i'm Newark
Entire Family Lost When
Flames Cut Off Escape;
Mother Catches Babe
Tossed From a Window
Daring Leaps in Zero Cold
Watchman Rouses Tenants
by Shooting Out Pancs;
Owners Default Blamed

Seven persons were killed and one
suffered injuries that may be fatal in
fire which destroyed three story
frame tenement house at 37S Fifteenth
Avenue, Newark, yesterday. A baby
was thrown from second story win
dow to its mother, who had escaped
by jumping, and many persons jumped
from windows on that floor and the
top floor The dead are:
Mrs. Johanna Petty and her four
children, Mabel, eighteen years old; !;
George, thirteen; Ethel, ten, and Will
lam, eight; Mrs. Petty's brother, James
Chambers and Henry Meyer.
Frank Adasyk, fifteen years old,
broke his back jumping from third
story window and was taken to City
Hospital, as was Max Harzula The
latter is in a serious condition only
because he was i'll with pneumonia at
the time of the fire, and the shock and
exposure aggravated his illness He
aiso jumped from the third story, but
landed in net spread by frcmen
Watchman Shoots Self
Another patient in City Hospital is
anthony Tenore, night Waterman who
discovered the fire. Flames were burst
ing from the windows of stores on the
Ground floor of the building at the
time and Tenore decided that the
quickest way to arouse the tenants
was to put bullet through the win
3cv, 1oI l.,
ro!vcr and began shooting at the win
COWS. His last bullet, however. missed
IS mark and struck him in the left
land.
: Awakened by the fusilade. tenants
ran to the doors leading to the stair
ease. there being no fire escapes on
he house. Flames already were leap
ing up the stair we'll and the only re-
course of the trapped tenants was the
.vindows. 1t is only twelve or fifteen
eet from the second story windows to
:he ground and persons on that floor
escaped with bruised feet and gen.
oral shaking up.
One of the first to jump was Mrs.
Helen Trautmann, who occupied one
of the two apartments on the second
floor. AS soon as she had recovered
her equilibrium she screamed to her
husband, William, to throw their four
teen -monthsold child, William, to her.
He hesitated for moment with the
baby in his arms, but his wife. poised
Tor the catch, shrieked again, and he
tossed the child out.
Woman Catches Child
Mrs. Trautmann caught it fairly
The impact threw her to the frozen
ground, but although she rolled com
pletely over, she managed to protect
the baby from injury When she re-
gained her feet it was to see ner hus-
band dangling helplessly from the Win
dow, while the light of flames that had
eaten through the door of the apart
ment could be seen within.
After tossing the baby to safety he
had backed out of the window, intend
ing to hang by his hands from the
sill and drop. Before he had completed
the maneuver, however, the window
sash had come down with bang, catch
ing him across the back of the neck like
the knife of a guillotine. Luckily the
firemen got there and rescued him be-
fore the fire reached him.
Before the arrival of the firemen
tenants on the top floor were clustered
at their windows, and one of them,
the Adasyk boy, had jumped His evil
dent intention was to land in a snow
bank which, he thought, would break
his fall. He failed to clear projecting
porch roof, however, and crashed
through it, breaking his back
Entire Family Burned
AS soon as the firemcn arrived thew
spread life net, into which Harzula
the pneumonia patient, and other mem
bers of Henry Wolshiffer's household
on the third floor, leaped without in
jury to themselves. The windows of
the Petty family, the other occupants
of the third floor, remained closed and
empty, however.
the entire family was found dead,
some of them in bed and some close to
the hall door, to which they had crawle d
before being overcome by smoke. The
adjoining house, at 376 Fifteenth Ave
nue., was slightly damaged by the
flames, and its tenants were ordered
cut. as were those of row of frame
houses to the east. 1t was estimated
that nearly one hundred persons were
driven into the streets by the fire.
The records of the Building Depart
ment showed that the owner of the
house had been ordered three years
ago to put fire escape on the build
ing. There was no entry to show why
it had not been done.
Three Fires in New York
Three fires in New York city en-
gagged the attention of firemen in the
below-zero weather early yesterday.
One of the fires was in the four story
brownstone structure at 81 West
Twelfth Street and another in the five
story loft building at 44 Gold Street.
Famed by a stiff wind, the fire at
the Twelfth Street building had made
substantial headwav when the fl men
arrived. For nearly an hour they
divided their time between fighting the
flames and rescuing women who had
been trapped in apartments of the
building. Several spectacular rescucs
we're made. Fireman Charles Amato
ascended the front of the building in
humanity fashion and aided in the
rescue of several women on the fourt',
floor. Damage to the building WAS
estimated at $5,000
A three-alarm fire, which wrecked the
building st A Gold Street, threatened
to put all lower Manhattan in dark
ness because of an old tunnel which
poured thousands of gallons of water
from the burning building into the New
York Edison Company's sub station
across the street.
Pumped Water Out of Cellar
In addition to fighting the blaze the
firemen were compelled to pump out the
cellar Of the sub-station to prevent
damages to the big rotary converters
which supply current to all Edison con-
L u