Evening star., 1940-01-03
Al Least 18 Die
In Minneapolis
Apartment Fire
Dead May Total 20;
Four Killed in Leaps:
Mercury Below Zero
(Picture on Page Az

18 and possibly 20 persons lost their
lives today when an early morning
fire ravaged the Marlborough Apart
ment Hotel
Morgue Keeper John Anderson
said at 10 am, four hours after
the fire was discovered. that II
bodies had been brought to the
morgue and that he had just had
call to send the morgue ambulance
to the apartment for at least /
more
One victim, identified as Mrs.
Mabel Brown, "a, died in General
Hospital of fractured skull She
had jumped from third-foor win
dow with her husband He is in a
serious condition.
Mr.. Anderson said three victims
had been identified as Otto FRANKIE,
about 25: his sister, 16, and his
mother, about So
Woman Dies in Lean.
The only other body identified
even tentatively was that of Flor
ence Hesse, 30 who jumped to her
death out of a third-foor window.
Otto Knaack, 40, janitor at the
apartment, described an explosion
which accompanied the start of the
fire. The blast occurred, he said,
shortly before 6 am. just as he
opened the door of the boiler room.
When l opened the door some
thing tossed me back into the area
way in the basement" he said. All
the windows in the boiler room were
blown out then" Flames swept
through the building almost instan-
taneously. Mr.. Knaack added, and
he had to jump out of a window
after rousing his family.
Firemen, who fought the blaze in
Sub-zero weather. were still search
ing for bodies four hours after the
alarm was sounded.
-Four victims were killed as they
jumped from top windows in the
three-story brick building. Others
were trapped in blazing Railways,
or dashed to death when the floors
burned through and fell.
The number of injured was ten
tauVely set at upwards of 25.
Source of Fire Unknown.
No one knew how the fire started.
Some residents said they were
Wakened shortly before 6 am. by
the sound of an explosion, but its
source was not Immediately discov-
cred.
Most of the occupants awoke to
ind the 85-apartment building al
ready an inferno, smoke and flames
blocking halls and stairways
How the blaze spread so quickly
through the 45-year-old structure
puzzled firemen as they poked about
through the wreckage in search of
more bodies.
The building is in three sections.
and flremen said the fire appeared
to start simultaneously in all three.
Hearses Serve as Ambulances.
Every available piece of fire ap-
paratus in the city was sent to the
blaze, and ambulances from all Min
neapoliS hospitals were called out.
AS the search for the dead con-
| tinued the morgue ambulances
were unable to take care of all the
victims, and hearses were used.
A caretaker said 100 to 125 persons
lived in the building.
Two firemen were injured, ont
suffering a possible broken bach
when he fell through the roof, ths
other suffering undetermined in
juries.
Dick Daniels professional boxer,
suffered leg injuries and possible in
ternal injuries sustained when he
| jumped from the window of his
third-floor apartment.
One woman, hysterical from
fright, was seriously injured when
she Writhed out of fireman's grasp
as he carried her down an ice coated
ladder from the third floor.
The intense cold seriously ham,
pered firefghters. Hoses froze to
the ground, ice glazed the apparatus,
and water from the hoses froze al
most as soon as it touched the
building.
All Exits Block Early.
John Carlen, caretaker of an
apartment house across the street,
was one of the first to report the
fire. He said one of the three main
entrances was already a mass of
flames when he noticed the fire, and
ali nine doors leading out of the
triple building were checked with
flames by the time firemen arrived.
The fire was the most disastrous
here since the Pillsbury mill fire
of 1873, when 18 persons died.
Edward Holm, 20, who lives near
by and was one of the first to ar
rive after the fire broke out, de-
scribed scene of terror and con-
fusion as occupants groped blindly
through smoke filled Railways.
Il ran to the second and third
floors knocking on doors and shout
ing warnings. There seemed to be
no response on the third floor, and
flames were raging. When I re-
turned to the second floor, at least
six or eight people in night clothes
were screaming and trying to find
their way out.
Il grabbed some and led them to
the front doorway. Two policemen
came in then and led some more out.
"A man whose feet were burned
so badly they were bleeding fell at
my feet. I carried him across the
street, and when I returned a mo-
ment later, the doorway was blocked
by flames and entrance was i'm
possible
Those Trapped Burst Glass.
Harold Martin, another resident
of the neighborhood, said he fe0x
an elderly man lying, badly injured,
on the ground beside the building,
wailing, Quit throwing glass at me-"
Occupants of the building above him
were kicking the glass out of win
dows SO they could escape.
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