Evening star., 1928-10-22

flue over the fireplace and it was
necessary for the fireman to cut holes
in both the outside and inside walls
fined to one side of the house.
The blaze at the Smith home was
discovered shortly after l O'Clock this
morning by Edward Adams. colored,
i9 years old, 127 Sixteenth street
northeast, who was passing. When
flremen arrived, the front of the house
was in flames.
Met BY Flames.
Lieut.. f. j. Trainer of No. 8 Engine
Company, and Lieut.. r. E. Moreland
of No. Z Truck Company attempted to
reach the front stairway to investigate.
Flames frustrated them, so they went
through the basement and raised a
ladder to a rear window.
BY the time they gained entry, the
hallway upstairs was also in flames, so
they covered their faces and started a
a search.
In the second floor front room, Lieut..
Moreland found Mrs. Smith lying fully
clothed in a corner of the room. The
fire had not yet eaten its way into the
room, but the woman was unconscious
from the heat.
Moreland wrapped the woman in a
comfort and then called Trainer.
Together they started back to the lad
der, but found their way blocked. They
braved the burning stairway and
emerged uninjured. Mrs. Smith was
turned over to two other firemen, who
carried her to Casualty Hospital, across
the street.
An examination there revealed that
she had been burned from head to foot.
Her death is almost certain, it was said
by physicians.
Smith Is Quizzed.
While firemen were fighting the blaze
Policeman F. l.. Reinhardt of the ninth
precinct found Smith among the spec
tators in front of the house. When his
answers to questions did not satisfy
the officer Reinhardt took Smith into
custody
Questioned at the station house.
Smith is said to have told police that
he and his wife and another man, a
friend, had party earlier in the night
and that it had ended in a quarrel be-
tween his wife and the other man.
The friend left, Smith is quoted as
having said, and his wife went to bed.
Later he, too, went upstairs and was
reading a paper in his room when he
smelled smoke. Going back downstairs,
he found the davenport in the front
room in flames. so rushed back upstairs
to notify his wife and then ran to the
10 caoly occicfarnn TTVNnFN hi~
turn the flames had spread so rapidly
that he was unable to again enter the
house and did not know what had be-
come of his wife until he saw her car
ried from the building.
The alarm came in from a box at
Seventh and c streets northeast and
the flremen were delayed by having to
look for the fire. They did not reach
the building until the flames had en-
veloped the front room, stairway and
upper and lower Railways. The work
was directed by Battalion Chief j. H
VernStein.
Horse Dies in Fire.
A rumor was circulating among fire.
men today that a street car motorman
saw the house burning as the car
passed and that he ran his car for
several blocks before making an at
tempt to call the Fire Department
His excuse, it was said, was that he
could not locate fire alarm box any
sooner.
A horse belonging to James Gar
land, 120 M street southwest was
burned to death yesterday morning in
a fire which destroyed the sheds in
the rear of his home and the homes of
Buster Prince, 1l6 M street: Teresa
Miller, 118 M street; Katie Holmes, l22
M street. and William Robinson, l24
M street. Damage was estimated at
$500. The cause is unknown.