1942 — Jan 20, fire, Melvin Hall apartments and rooming house, Lynn, MA                —     13

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 7-6-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–14  AP. “15 Dead, 8 Missing in Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. 1-20-1942, p. 1.[1]

–13  AP. “Probe Lynn Fire Tragedy. Apartment Fatal Trap for 13.” Lowell Sun, MA. 1-21-42, 1.

–13  Conway, Bill and Diane Shephard.  The Great Fires of Lynn.  2006, 68.

–13  National Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).

Narrative Information

Jan 20, AP: “Lynn, Jan. 20 (AP) – Flames swept through a five-story apartment and rooming house today, sending fire from basement to roof top as if it were a huge brick furnace and leaving 14 dead and 21 in hospitals while firemen worked through smoking embers in search of eight persons still missing. The fire started in the basement and swept upward so quickly that dozens of tenants, many of them aged and infirm, were trapped on the top floors of the structure, Melvin hall, in the center of the city.

 

“Firemen found many clinging to high ledges as flames enveloped the building. Others had jumped and lay moaning and screaming on the ground. ‘I saw a number of persons come to the windows on the top floor and then fall back,’ said Police Sergt. William Gillespie.

 

“The fire was one of the most costly in loss of life in the modern history of Lynn, and one of the worst in New England since the early 1900’s….

 

“Harry Anderson, janitor of the building, discovered the fire at 1:45 a.m. in a coal bin. A half hour later a general alarm was turned in and apparatus was summoned from all nearby cities….”

 

Jan 21, AP: “Lynn, Jan 21 (AP) – Investigations spurred by Governor Saltonstall attempted today to learn the cause of yesterday’s apartment house fire that took 13 lives and to determine why the trapped victims were unable to find a path of escape. Mayor Albert Cole said he would demand a state inquiry into the lack of fire escapes on the 60-year-old, five-story brick structure, known as Melvin Hall, a downtown landmark.

 

“Cut off from the street by flames, some of the 78 occupants met death by fire and others died or were injured severely in leaps to the sidewalk.

 

“Still others, screaming as they clung to windows of the flame-swept structure, were saved only when they were carried down over firemen’s ladders or when they made precarious leaps into life nets.

 

“Twenty-two near victims of the fire still were in hospitals today, some of them in serious condition.

 

“the death toll was announced by Police Chief Edward D. Callahan after a day-long, exhaustive check-up. He said it was unlikely that any further victims remained in the charred ruins.

 

“Faced with a request from the governor for a speedy report on the tragedy, State Fire Marshal Stephen J. Garrity questioned fire and police officials on duty at the fire and planned today to interview the less seriously injured persons in Lynn hospital….” (Associated Press. “Probe Lynn Fire Tragedy. Apartment Fatal Trap for 13.” Lowell Sun, MA. 1-21-1942, p. 1.)

 

Named Fatalities

 

  1. Charles Berry. AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. 1-20-1942, p. 1.
  2. Charles Berry.      AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel. 1-20-1942, p.1.
  3. Mary Dextraze, 63. AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel. 1-20-1942, p.1.
  4. Edward La Flam, 60.     AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel. 1-20-1942, p.1.
  5. Winifred Johnson. AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel. 1-20-1942, p.1.
  6. Minie Olshansky, 58. AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel. 1-20-1942, p.1.
  7. Lawrence Taylor. AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel. 1-20-1942, p.1.
  8. Lawrence Taylor Jr., 3. AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel. 1-20-1942, p.1.
  9. Elsie Thornell, 66.     AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel. 1-20-1942, p.1.
  10. Howard Webster, 48     AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel. 1-20-1942, p.1.
  11. Maud Webster, 48. AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel. 1-20-1942, p.1.
  12. Unidentified man.     AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel. 1-20-1942, p.1.
  13. Unidentified woman AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel. 1-20-1942, p.1.
  14. 2nd unidentified woman AP. “15 Dead…Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel. 1-20-1942, p.1.

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “15 Dead, 8 Missing in Lynn Fire.” Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. 1-20-1942, p. 1. Accessed 7-6-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/fitchburg-sentinel-jan-20-1942-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Probe Lynn Fire Tragedy. Apartment Fatal Trap for 13.” Lowell Sun, MA. 1-21-1942, p. 1. Accessed 7-6-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lowell-sun-jan-21-1942-p-36/

 

Conway, Bill and Diane Shephard. The Great Fires of Lynn. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2006.

 

National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] The headline notes 15 deaths, but the text notes 14 and then lists 14 deaths, including three unidentified.