Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-11-12
S5O.OOO FIRE IN
rARTMENT HOUSE,
18TH AND MARkEI
Waverlv Building Badly Damaged
by an Exciting Blaze ms
Morning.
FIREMEN HAD HARD Job

4 fire. starting shortly after 10 o'clock
this m,riuug. guttcl tn" entire rear p,'i' pie
If the NnNcrlv apartments "'.i'n
and Market streets, utneu tl'' '"sc
If tn. buildlug, together with 'ic l"'"
ture Oi the nineteen iainih'S "''"l''i
Tho bnildipg. and for a time thTratcuSn 70
,l,s,roy the whole structure. y" F.tkS
Hon, rcNt door Was IN darg"r tut mar"
ao,k an ih, part of IN" hIcmcn saved u
N Nnmsn and children nan out INTO 'iie
str..t IN th cold morning AR iurhlturS
.as hurled tn the streets and pane SptC'"
thronph thr entire building when the hre
vas hS,nVcrcd The Joss - expected 70
each so lpO Tho apartment IS owhcu
bv Ilarrv Orenstcln
Ipht au enmpaW responded hci"rc
thc hr vas hu9llN Vii pll>hed
Nlth : strong castcrly wind blowing
tho flames Wcrr lifted practically 70 thc
fourth fn,r. Wh,r,' the shaft IS enclosed
The entire ntcror ~ the building : ~
wood ,nd after burning rs way through
The air -hlt' tho flames quickly spread -
,hc traup work surrounding the ro"i
I,rer.su hal great dltlicultN IN cutting
,bc,r A,4 tbraue md the creator damage
Uas,.,nf.ti.l tutlc third amt fourth iioors
In thc .parfmcut occupied 10y Mrs Mac
Williams ou 'h, third floor. three inches
~ water flooded the two small rooms
gbat sf,ontanctus combustion Was the
direct csuse for The trr IS The "Pn'on 81
he inspectors \nothcr investigation viii
10 made a. ascertain the actual condition
e The fire c~tapos
The Er-t alarm brought Nnt tho Rran-
1vWinc. Ed,I~ndcncr Reliance and l'"la-
ware rumnary- gnd III, Water Witch
Fan,c and Washington companies rc-
srordcd q III, second alarm
voutN ~ FA>l,
Ib, htc va. discovered ht Nlr, y J.
Aa,cl,tn. tcuaut nho saw smoke
t,ourinp trotu th, arShalt ~ the hallway
u th, tan fnor She notified ~" other
ta,u aml'lc. uc,upylug The floor and they
ttu.ftci - make thcir escape hN WAY ~
thr hu e>onpc- lWo 'i the women w'r'
rarfyng hahi,, IL thcu arms When they
,s,rhel fh,. br~, landing 81 size fire escape
lheN found the catches riStcd i0 such ar
,Ntenf that they rould not ~ opened
Tho women managed d get around tho
lending and continued Ou ~ nc second
,hlrh WVs m thc same condition. lhcN
finally r.arhed thr ground. The two won
81 wtth the children N ihctr arms were
eomplctrlN exhausted They were carried
into the ofhcc 81 the PlttshurR oi Go.
The other occupants ui the building
m.dc th,if WAY e. the ~'rCCt through the
halls some AZ tho women rIshed to the
streets clad IN Old hastily gathered wraps.
One man ran INTO the Flks home clad
aulN u 4 pair 8. ,alamaS and hastiN
aeuilir,d coat Women holding small price-
- articles which probably came 20 hand
hrs, .te, a about nu the utsidc. shlverlnG
Ia tbr cold A. suou IS Z became apparent
that the 6rr was under control and that
dQnRpT tff
tenants ~ The apartment were hurried u
thVu
CAUSE oF THT FIRT.
Following the fire. a thorough in
ve.tteatIon of the building was madc b,
Bnldlng Inspector Preston and j as
sstants winch. IA the inspector oplmon
revealed the cause for the FIRE AZ the foo
n the iron STAIRWAY. WHICH leads INTO IN
basement. only small space separate
the stairway and the air shaft, and Il wa
betvcen tins space that paper rUbbsl
and rag- had been piled, he sand VIII
damn rags and paper 2 combustion wa
quickly formed and famed by drai
through AN opeu cellar window drect
above the shaft tho flames gained rapl'
headwaN and were an easy prey 70 IN
wooden shaft
CAHFn roR pY ELks
A. thc tlk~ Home the uniOrtunat
neichhor> were made IS comfortable a
possible ThcV were provided with ho
eofTet one woman. holding a small chill
m her arms. rocked back and forth IN
esusolabc moaning and Say ing, Il Jus
vrote my son IA BROOKLYN that ! wouldn
need 10 move an, more
A. soon ~ the firc was eXtIn CuIshed IN
ocr1pants were allowed 10 enter the bulld
tnc .n Al effort 10 save what goods the,
might The contests oi the first and secon'
floor, escaped with only slight damae
from water. bat the third and fourth floor
were badly flooded None OF the goods ol
the fourth floor was insured. as iaI n couit
be learned
The following families occupied III
floor Paul Elicit. wife and chIld, \. J
Nvdelette and wife. Mr. C'harleS :. Aver
and hnitv and Nlr and Alrs. David LORD
Other families occupying the huIldr
Ver, Pierce X Crompton. " llliam X
swine. Dr Arthur Hail. Mrs J g. Ennis
mo carried her cIghl-monthS-oid grand
spp to the street from the third floor, Her
- Savillc. II ] shelton, Archie OTen
sten l.. C,ott~cucar. + NJ Matthew
and families bv the names Of McWIlllam
and Roberts
The Waverly Apartment was completes
IA 1917. il was assessed last year Il
ss1 0Oo
carea