Evening star., 1937-03-15
". F. A. Worker Dies of
Burns Received in K
Street House.
13 ROUTED FROM HOME
ON PROSPECT AVENUE
Frank Laughran, IS, Death Vic
tim, Found on Burning Divan.
3 Taken From Roof.

TO hospitals with burns and injuries
today as the aftermath of two spec
tacular fires in the Northwest section,
which routed more than 40 men,
women and children in their night
clothes early yesterday.
Thrilling rescues by fremen and
the sight of persons cLnging to win
dow ledges and leaping to the snow
covered ground lent note of hysteria
to the fires, one of which was started
by an exploding Oil heater and the
other by smoldering cigarette.
Fatality on X Street.
The fatality occurred at a four
story rooming house at 1926 K street.
where Frank Laughran, SIS, received
burns that resulted in his death sew
eral hours later in Emergency Hos
pltal. Thirty-two persons we're
driven out in the K street blaze.
The other fire was at 5000 Prospect
avenue, two-story residence, from
which 13 persons were routed.
With his hair burned off and his
pajamas reduced by flames to collar
and cuffs, Laughran staggered down
three flights of stairs after fighting
OF firemen and remoined conscious
until stretcher-bearers arrived.
Divan Found Burning.
Laughran was smoking a cigarette
and the divan on which he was sitting
in a fourth-foor reception room was
burning when he was seen by another
roomer about two hours before the
fire was discovered. The roomer had
put out the first fire and told
Laughran to go to bed, according to
police
Extension ladders were thrown up
to the roof of the K street house and
three other trapped fourth-foor
roomers were assisted through the
skylight of an adjoining house to
safety.
Oil Heater Explodes.
About am, nearly four hours be-
fore the K street fire, an oil heater
blew up in the hallway of the Prospect
avenue house, trapping Charles Will
liams, so, his wife Mary so, and their
9-year-old daughter, Esther, in their
room, and cutting off the escape of
other persons on the second floor.
Barefooted and scantly clad, Mr.. and
Mrs. Williams and Esther we're injured
as they fell to a back porch after
cllnging to window ledge. They
were taken to Emergency Hospital.
Unable to leave their room, joseph
Branzell, %, and his wife, Thelma, 20,
hung to wire-Slung flower pot out
side their second-floor room at the
Prospect avenue address until rescued.
Branzell was taken to Emergency with
burns about the face and arms, while
his wife was treated at GEORGETOWN for
back injuries.
Three Children Escape.
The quacks of four pet ducklings,
Kept in a box in the hallway, guided
three youngsters to a window from
which they escaped after they became
lost in the smoke at the Prospect
avenue fire. The children were Mat
thew Trotten, 8; Donald Pitts. II, and
Charles Williams, jr, IS. Firemen
saved Charles and Matthew and the
ducks, but Donald ran into complica-
tions when he escaped by himself.
Climbing from a window Donald
broke another window and entered
the adjacent home of Mrs. Rodman
Miller. The crash caused Mrs. Miller's
invalid sister, in bed with two broken
legs, to faint.
Three Others Rescued.
Others saved in the Prospect avenue
fire were Mrs. Jean Pitts, 43; Emile
McEntee, "a, and Francis Branzeu, 20,
cousin Of Joseph Branzell.
The three men who were trspped
on the roof of the K street house were
Patsy Pisano, "a; Philip Morone, 26,
and Darby Brim, 38. Pisano was hang
Ing to the edge of the roof when
Morone caught his arm and pulled him
back. Firemen scrambled up s0-foot
extension ladders to assist the three
to safety.
Mrs. Sarah H. Davis, landlady of
the K street rooming house, met
Laughran after he resisted the efforts
of f1remen to help him and walked
down from the fourth to the first floor,
the remnants of his pajamas still blaz-
ing.
Leading him into her living room,
Mrs. Davis said she beat out the flames
on the collar of his pajanaS.
He never said a word" Mrs. Davis
said, "but Just sat down on my sofa.
When stretcher was brought in, he
got up and sat on it and then COL
lapsed"
Water Thrown on Fire.
Laughran was smoking in the re-
ception room near his own fourth-floor
quarters when John Hite awoke at 6
am. and started out of the house to
go to work. Hite said he threw sew
eral glasses of water on the cushion
of divan, which was smoldering and
advised Laughran to go to his room.
David Free, AZ, another roomer, was
awakened two hours later by smoke
and saw Laughran on fire. Free said
he showered Laughran with water from
pitcher and then sounded the ROOM
ing house fire alarm. Mrs. Davis tele-
phoned the fire department.
Two-Alarm Blaze.
Another fire, in which no one was
injured, occurred early yesterday in q
cleaning and pressing shop at 213
Pennsylvania avenue southeast and
an upholstery firm at 211 Pennsyl-
vania avenue. Two alarms were
turned in before the blaze was brought
under control.
Meanwhile, another fire fatality
was reported, the victim being Agnes
Raymond, 81, colored, of 346 K street
southwest. She died in Gallinger
Hospital yesterday of burns received
February Is when her clothing caught
fire when she brushed against a stove