Evening star., 1946-01-28
Is Are Killed in Fires
Throughout Nation;
10 Die in Kansas Civ
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
Twenty-Five persons lost their
lives yesterday in fires throughout
the Nation.
Kansas City had the most serious,
with 10 persons killed and at least
four hurt in an apartment house
fire. Six of the dead were children.
In New York, three lives were
lost and one person was injured
when a Lower East Side tenement
burned. A residential fire in Har-
lem also took the life of 4-month-
old colored baby.
-Four died and IA were injured in
a hotel fire in st. Louis.
Three men died of suffocation at
Skowhegan, Me-, when fire con-
sumed the oxygen in a cabin in
which they were sleeping. The
blaze, believed started by cigarette,
had burned itself out when firemen
reached the scene.
Other Suffocation Deaths.
Two other suffocation deaths re-
suited in Chicago apartment hotel
fire and one person was injured.
The victims were women.
At Monroe, La, flames sweeping
through part of small hotel killed
one and injured six.
'Blazes at three other places left
heavy property damage with sew
eral reported hurt.
4 $2,000.000 fire swept through 10
buEness buildings in the heart of
Charleston, w. Va, and in which
four were injured. A business dis
trict fire at Columbia, Tenn. caused
an estimated damage of 100000.
In New York Harbor the 3.537-
ton cargo ship Jacob Luckenbach,
anchored mile south of the Statue
of Liberty, had a fire in its hold
which ragged more than an hour
before crew members and fireboats
brought it under control.
A 14-year-old boy died at Fort
Atkinson, Wis, when fire destroyed
a lakeside cottage. His 15-year-old
companion crossed lake ice while
barefooted in subzero temperature
to 60 for aid.
25 Carried Down Ladders.
The Kansas City fire, discovered
shortly before dawn yesterday, raced
through the % living units as more
than 10 scantily clad residents
fought their way through smoke and
flames in frantic effort to escape
into the frigid 18-degree tempera-
ture outside.
At least Is of them were carried
down ladders by firemen of II COM
panies who battled the flames.
Some leaped as far as 80 feet to
the ground and still others reached
the four fire escapes of the building,
an old residence with a large three
story addition which once served
as hospital. Cause of the fire has
not been determined.
The dead are Robert ODell, S. |
Mrs. Rena Hubbard, so, and her
daughter Shirley, 13; Mrs. Mildred
Rupe, 26, and her daughters, Loretta
Lucille, 2, and Doris Evelyn, 5; |
Charles Kraus, At, and Mrs. Alice
Watkins, %, and her children, Rob-
Vi al oCA; I, diiu holi dlllC L dI
Der. 3.
Clifford L. Watkins, a railroad
clerk was almost incoherent with |
grief as he told how he climbed out |
on a top-f1oor window ledge and,
calling for help, was assisted down |
hastily erected ladder before he
could make fireman understand |
his family was trapped. Firemen
then tried to reach the Watkins
apartment, but were turned back by
flames and smoke.
Child Playing With Match.
The New York tenement fire was
started by a 3-year-old boy playing
with a match, Fire Marshal Thomas
Brophy said.
The blaze destroyed the six STORY
building and damaged adjoining
structures
One of the victims was tentatively
identified as Mrs. Sadie Rosenberg,
so, but names of the others, man
and a woman, we're not immedi-
ately learned. Another woman re-
ceived burns.
A pet dog belonging to a family
residing on the second floor was
credited with sounding a warning
which enabled other tenants to es-
cape from the building. The dog
began barking when he saw smoke
curling under the door.