Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 August 1877 — Six Lives Lost by Fire in Cincinnati. [ARTICLE]

Six Lives Lost by Fire in Cincinnati.

A Cincinnati special of the 3d gives the following account of the recent disastrous conflagration in that city, by which six persons met with horrible deaths: A most disastrous fire, resulting in the death of six persons and severe injuries to several others, and a heavy loss of property, occurred in this city this morning. The victims were most of them young persons, three of the number girls, ranging in age from sixteen to twenty years. Two Were boys ot eighteen and twenty, just verging upon manhood, and one of them, at least, perhaps both, gave their lives in their endeavor to save those of their associates, the young girls and women ol the factory in which they were employed. 'rhe fire was in the cigar-box factory of Pelstrung & Co., corner of Eighth and Broadway. They employ, perhaps, thirty hands. The factory had just opened for the day, and a portion of the girls had ascended to their rooms on the third and fourth floors, when the engineer in the basement saw the fire in the adjoining room. How it originated is unknown. The flames spread with wonderful rapidity, owing to the fact that the building, was filled with the light, dry lumber for the boxes and the shavings and sawdust made in the work, and in a short time reached the upper floors. The ascent of the flames

was unfortunately by the stairway, thus cutting off the only avenue of escape. The unfortunate girls in the fourth story ran first Io one window, then to another, calling for aid. Two of them, more courageous than the rest, plunged down the staircare through the smoko and flame, and falling exhausted at the foot, were rescued. The others ran frantically from one window to another, shouting, begging for aid, until, overcome by the heat ana smoke, they fell back, and disappearing, perished in the flames. On thff*'ground outside a crowd was gathering, ana one young man of twenty, Frank Stordeur, forced his way into the building for the purpose of rescuing some of the girls. He wss never again seen alive. On the second floor, Henry Maaz, a boy of perhaps eighteen, was at work, and when the fire broke out, instead of saving himself, ran at once to the upper floors to warn his fellow-employes, ana ( .n tills act ot heroism lost his life. His body is still beneath the ruins. The Fire Department, of which Cincinnati is so proud, responded promptly, and did all in their power, yet was unable to save either the people in the building or the building itself. In fact, so sudden was the growth of the flame that, though the first company was on the ground before the alarm had ceased, the victimshad disappeared from the windows and the flames were bunking through the opening in every direction’on their arrival. The four who lost their lives in the building are horribly mutilated. In most cases trunks only remain, the legs and arms being either burned entirely off, or so nearly so that their removal, except in pieces, was impossible. The remains were only identified by pieces of their clothing, bits of jewelry, etc. After the fire had subsided, the bodies of the four victims were found in the cellar, immediately beneath the stairway, burned to a crisp, almost beyond recognition. The names of the victims are as follows: Josephine Bey, aged seventeen; Mary Nurre, aged twenty; Minnie Kubbe, aged sixteen; Frank Stordeur, aged twenty; Henry Maaz, aged sixteen; John Clanzenburg, aged forty-two. The people killed were mostly members of families in very moderate circumstances, and in some cases were the sole support of widowed mothers and helpless relatives.