Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1890 — GENERAL TRACY’S LOSS. [ARTICLE]

GENERAL TRACY’S LOSS.

HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER PERISH IN A FIRE. A Terrible Bereavement Through the Horning of His Magnificent Washington Home—The Secretary Himself Badly Injured by the Smoke Washington in Mourning. A Washington dispatch of the 4th inst. says: The residence of Secretary of the Navy Tracy was destroyed by fire Monday morning, and during the excitement that followed the breaking ont of the blaze Mrs. Tracy, her daughter Mary, and a French maid, Josephine Morrell, lost their lives, the Secretary himself was almost overcome by smoke, and several others had narrow escapes from death. The residence of the Secretary was a fine three-story structure of brick and stone and stood on I street, near Seventeenth. A letter carrier on his customary rounds passed the house in the morning a few m nutes befor.e 7 o clock. He left a package, and observing nothing unusual continued up the street. Happening to glance back ten minutes later he noticed that the house was enveloped in flames. Within five minutes the firemen were there. Before ladders could be raised to the front, two ladies appeared in the second-story windows and in spite of the warnings not to jump they leaped to the grass. The ladies proved to be Mrs. Wilmerding, the married daughter of the Secretary, and her daughter. Miss Wilmerding. Mbs. Wilmerding broke one of her wrists and was bruised. Her daughter was burned quite severely, but not otherwise injured. At the rear of the house a woman, presumably one of the servants, had climbed out upon the mansard roof from a third story window. She waved a blanket to keep the smoke and flames away from her, and behaved with great coolness. She was brought down a ladder. In tne meantime Fire Chief Parris arrived, and learning that there were people still in the house he left the fire extinguishing apparatus to his subordinates and dashed into the house, followed by Howard Wright, who drives the chief’s wagon. The chief told the story-to your correspondent as follows: “I paid no attention to the fire when I heard there were people in the house. I felt my way through the smoke to the second floor and found a man in bed in a room. I tried to pick him up, but he was almost to heavy. I managed to drag him into a back room where there was more air, and then I broke the window out and called to a fireman in the alley to run up a ladder. “Then we took the man out and it proved to be the Secretary. I couldn’t move him any further, for I was exhausted and full up to the neck with smoke. Then I went back into the smoke again and found a young lady— Miss Mary Tracy they tell me it was—and as I caught hold of her wrists to lift her up the flesh came off her burned hands. I got her out, but she was deadThat exhausted me. I could do no more. ” E. S. Rheem, whose house on Seventeenth street runs back to the rear of the Secretary’s house, gives a graphic account of the terrible death of Mrs. Tracy. “I heard terrible screams.” said Mr. Rheem, “about 7:15 o’clock this morning, and jumped from bed and ran to the window. Mrs. Tracy was hanging by her hands from the sill of a window on the second floor. She was screaming, and almost i mmediately /iropp>ed to the ground.” Mrs. Tracy, still alive, was brought in by two firemen, and was placed on a sofa in a neighbor’s house. Here she lingered for about an hour. fully conscious, and apparently suffering but little. It was a little after 8 ©•’clock when she spit up a little blood, hardly enough to be termed a hemorrhage, closed her eyes, and, without a moan ceased to breathe. The unconscious Secretary, while these sad scenes were occurring, was borne to the residence of Judge Bancroft Davis, in an adjacent block. Ex-Surgeon-Gen-eral Wales and Drs. Karr and May attehded him. Under their ministrations he regained consciousness,, and in a feeble voice said: “How is my wife?” “I don’t know,” replied' Dr. Kar.r. “I haven’t seen her.” “Then, for God’s sake-, don't think of me, he murmured, and elapsed into unconsciousness. The doctors think that he is not fatally injured. Mrs. Wilwi-rding. who leaped from the second-story window, sustained slight injuries; one. of her wrists was broken, while her young daughter escaped with a slight contusion of the knee. The cause of the fire is unknown, but it probably originated in the furnaceroom, and it is thought it smoldered a long time and thoroughly filled every room in the house with smoke and gas. Secretary Tracy’s house, which was newly and magnificently furnished, was totally destroyed. The loss is estimated at $15,000. Soon after noon the President broke the ne\vs to Secretary Tracy of the death of his wife and daughter. Although the greatest caution was observed the effect of the blow was terrible and the Secretary almost succumbed. Ho rallied, however, and soon composed himself. He expressed the wish that he might also die. Secretary Tracy is now reported to be improving and his physicians believe him to be out of all danger. He continues drowsy, with frequent waking moments. When he converses with those around him he controls himself excellently, but tears of anguish over the loss of his wife and daughter cannot be restrained.

There has been nothing here since Garfield’s assassination that has caused so much sorrow as this calamity. All society doings for the week, including the President's state dinner, have been postponed. The trip of the President and cabinet,to New York Jo attend the ••centenary of the organization of the Supreme court of the United States has been abandoned.