Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-06-21
F|REMEN INJURED
BY EXPLOSION At
WEST SIDE FIRE
Lives of Six Endangered in a
Lively Blaze at Eighth and
Madison Streets.
lNCENDIARY IS SUSPECTED

an explosion and the lives or famity
IT six. the youngest baby eight weeks
old. endangered by fire which gutted
poolroom AT the northwest corner Of
Eighth and Madison streets NJ 1.45
O'Clock this morning The circum
stances surrounding the fire point 10
iucendiarism and the police and in
surance agents are making a thorough
investigation.
Gilbert McGinnis Of $50 Madison
street who was returning home, saw
smoke creeping from the cracks 81
the windows and doors and sent in
the alarm from fire box No. 2S. at
Eighth and Madison streets. When
the WacCaCoe Fire co. arrived on the
scene. less than ten minutes later. the
entire pool room was filled with smoke
and flames We're eating through the
walls on all four sides.
The fretghters played streams Of
water on the flames from the street
through windows which they had hrok
en on the Eighth street side OF the
building. Forcing open the door with
m axe. Robert Collision and William
Dcnney. members Of the Weccacoe
company. started 10 play chemical
streams on the ppti0Otu anu 8HAttAAA
The work of first extinsuishing the
fire from the inside was greatly
hindered by thick smoke. In less than
ten minutes the blaze was under con
troi and Collision and Denney Were
extinguishing the scattered patches 81
flame They had reached a point
directly in front az small counter
when an explosion occurred in the rear
of the counter. breaking a large plate
glass window on the Madison street
side Of the building and bowling Colli-
son over. Several firemen carried him
10 the open sir and il took some
minutes to restore him to conscious
ness.
Cause Of Explosion a Mystery.
The explosion started the fire anew
and fresh streams of water We're
thrown in the room. The cause Of
the explosion could not be learned,
but when the smoke had cleared away
the remains Of what appeared 10 be
tan bucket was found under the
counter
Tbs family Of Charles Knots. con-
slslcg OF his wife and four children
.e-s asleep on the third floor of the
building and were unaware of theii
dagger lntE awakened BY the noise
Of the arriving fire engines. With
out dressing they started TO leave
their room into the hallway. Knots,
ssith a .wo- ye.4r-old boy in his arms,
leading the way, the mother, who is
in delicate condition was carrying
her i-nt-weeks-old baby and the two
:. =
followed.
Smoke had filled the stairway and
flames we're already eating the ban
mister on the first floor stairway
KNOTS. wno was in the lead, succeed
"a in reaching a point half way down
the top flight of stairs when he
stumbled and fell to the landing be-
low. The twO-year-old boy clung 10
~ father and both Here uninjursc,
1ita tbs exception Of slight bruises
Confueed BY cropping their way
blindly at the landing Of the 1rst
,tairway the family hesitated when
suddeni. the door al the foot of the
stairc leading 10 Eighth street, was
brohen down. a man dashed up the
stsirc and shouldering the two Older
BOYS led the family 10 the street.
The second floor is occupied by
the family Of the proprietor of the
poolroom, Frank Devalos Mrs. De
yalos and her children were in Phi
adelphia on visit and az DeValos
could not be located this morning, i
could not be learned how he escaped
Firemen and several police officers
said that q suspicious 0dor Of kero-
sene pegvaded the room all during the
ire. From the way in which the fire
Gained Roadway il seemed to have
started Al three different places. The
lolice m2de an investigation Of the
poolrooTn last night, but they refused
10 make public the result of thcir in
vestigation. II was rumored among
the crowd which gathered about the
burning building that a can Of kero-
sene and some oil soaked rags had
been found. The police were non
committal on this rumor.
This morning the doors and win
dows of the building were boarded up
il is understood. by order Of the in
surance companies. The loss was
estimated at $500, partly covered by
insurance.
School No. %, Thirtieth and Madi-
son streets. was slightly damaged by
fire last evening. Boys setting off
fire crackers in the porch pillars are
believed TO have caused the blaze.
TIE Brandywine Fire CO. extinguished
the blaze.