Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1901 — Three Perish In Newspaper Fire. [ARTICLE]

Three Perish In Newspaper Fire.

Three lives were sacrificed, nearly a dozen men were injured, and many thousands of dollars’ damage was sustained as the result of a fire in the Boston Daily Advertiser and Record seven-story granite front building in Newpaper Row Friday night. The dead are: Craft, Judson, proofreader, of Cambridge. Luscombe, Walter, proofreader, of Salem. Richardson, James, Sr., proofreader, of Boston. The fire started in the pressroom, spread to the elevator well, and darted to the top of the building so rapidly that before the occupants of the two upper floors were aware that the building was on fire their rooms were filled with flames and smoke. In the editorial room on the sixth floor there were five men. All had to run for their lives. On the upper floor, occupied by the compos-ing-room, were eighteen compositors and proofreaders, whose situation was most critical. They rushed for the windows leading to the Are escapes, and all but three of them succeeded in gaining the roof of an adjoining building.