The Washington times., 1930-10-03
2STRUCTURES
SWEPT BY
FIRE
Early Morning confIagratlon
First Believed InCendiary;
Flames XIII Blind Woman
(corliaasI Pron, Pees .

(Cogtipaef From Page ~
scarcely touched by the fire. but
the third and fourth floors were
completely swept.
One theory advanced by police
as to the origin Of the blaze is
that fire built earlier In the
evening by the janitor spread over
q defective pipe to the gas met
ers, in the rear Of the basement
Of the Denver. The flames whip
ped BY q stiff breeze, quickly
spread through the Denver and
then to the Hillside.
Many resCues were made by fire
men, who carried women and
children to safety who had been
trapped in the two buildings when
the stairways were blocked by
smoke and flames.
The fire was confined for the
most part TO the rear top floors
OF the two apartment houses.
Many women, climbing down
tire escapes, were In hyEteria
when neighbors hurried them to-
shelter.
Victim Partly Deaf
Miss Cammack, who lost her
sight years ago and was partially
deaf, made e brave fight to
escape the flames, 1t is believed,
but had no chance to force her
way. to safety through the smoke.
Her body was found two hours
after the fire had been brought
under control, u
Numbers Of residents Of the
apartments waited about the en-
trance to the building all morning,
looking for articles Of clothing. sil-
verware and other belongings
which were still In the. building,
not knowing whether they had
been destroyed by the fire or not.
Most OF them had been taken
into the homes Of neighbors and
friends while many Of them, who
escaped with nothing. were clad in
borrowed coats.
ID Live In Place
Seventy men, women and chill
dren lived In the; so apartments
Of the Denver apartments and all
were forced to flee In their night
clothes. They made their escapes
by way Of the side and front fire
escapes as the stairway became
o. mass of flames 3 few minutes
after the fire started.
Residents said the blaze started
In the rear Of the first floor and
spread quickly up the back to
the top floor. Some unidentified
man ran through each OF The
fire floors and awakened the: oc..
cupantS.
every apartment in the Denver
with the exception Of those oc.
clpied by Earl Carson, owner Of
the building and his family on
the front second floor and that
Of the family Of Mr.. and Mrs.
j. B. Collins, located on the first
floor directly below the Carson
apartment was wrecked by fire
Or water.
Damage Unestimated
Carson today said he was un
able to estimate the damage
done. He said that he had fur.
nished half Of the apartments.
But slight damage was done to
the Hillside apartments which
joins Immediately the Denver on
the east. Sparks from the Denver
fire started q blaze in the apart
rnent Of Charles Martin, on the
top floor Of that building and
caused considerable damage be-
fore 1t was extingl1ished.
Several families, however, ran
from the hillside and others pre-
pared to move their furniture to
the street in the event the flames
spread seriously to that building.
= Those from the Denver sought
refuge In neighboring homes cspe-
cially ia that of Mr.. and Mrs. G..
W.. Mask, which adjoined on the
west the Denver. Mrs. Mask IRE
pared coffee and served gallons
Of it to the firernen and refugees.