1891 — April 6, Fire, 3 tenement/store houses, NY St., Rochester, Beaver Co., PA            —       9

–9  Appletons’ Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of…Year 1891. 1892, 253.

–9  Tyrone Daily Herald, PA. “A Midnight Horror. Nine Lives Destroyed…” 4-7-1891, p. 1.

Narrative Information

“Rochester, Pa., April 7. – Nine persons met an awful fate here. The poor people were burned in their beds early yesterday morning. The scene of the horrible calamity was a block of houses on New York street, near Rochester avenue, in the business center of Rochester. The buildings burned were three small two-story frame houses. The first floors were occupied by stores. The second stories were occupied as tenements. The lire started in the house occupied by E. J. Keene, dealer in shoes, etc. It was about 12:20 in the morning that Tom McManus, flagman on the Cleveland and Pittsburg freight train No. 89, saw the fire. He ran to the building and secured a plank, by which means he climbed to the second story from a window of the middle house and looked in the window. He heard moans and struggles from the occupants, but the heat was so intense at that time that he could offer no assistance and was compelled to retreat.

Burned Like Tinder.

“From the time the fire was first discovered it was impossible for anyone to enter the buildings, as they were entirely enveloped in flames, such intense flames as only dry wooden buildings can

furnish. The buildings burned with fearful rapidity, being ruined or destroyed in less than thirty minutes after the fire was discovered. The destroyed building was a mere shell, and it is astonishing that any of the occupants escaped.  It was a large two-story frame structure. On the ground floor were three store rooms. The first was occupied by E. J. Keene as a shoe store and the family lived above the store. George Edward, a tea and coffee dealer, had possession of the second store, over which an Italian family and two boarders lived. Mrs. L. A. Hall had a millinery establishment in the third store, and with her husband and an assistant, occupied the rooms above.

“The origin of the fire is a mystery. It is supposed that the flames started in the rear of Keene’s store, but this is not certain, as the fire spread so rapidly that the entire building was enveloped before the occupants awakened. The scene was horrible beyond description. When the fire was discovered by several citizens the front of the building had been burned away, and the spectators could plainly see the frantic efforts of the victims to escape. The Italian girl, aged 17 years, rushed to a window and was about to jump to the ground, when her mother appeared and called her back. It is supposed the mother wanted assistance to save her baby. The girl returned to the window and jumped out, but the mother was not seen again. The girl escaped with slight injuries,

but was so shocked that she has not been able to speak since.

“All the bodies have been recovered, at least the number found corresponds with the list of persons thought to have been in the building at the time. All are so badly burned that it is impossible to recognize them. E. J. Keene and his son Walter, aged 11 years, were sleeping above the shoe store. Evidently they never awakened, as the two bodies were found directly under their bed room.

List of the Dead.

40. J. Keene, aged 40.

Walter Keene, his son, aged 9.

Baptisto Tecchio, aged 40.

Annie Tecchio, aged 35.

Yosef Tecchio, aged 13.

Rosa Tecchio, aged 8.

Annie Tecchio, aged 2.

Victorio Tecchio, aged 37, brother of Baptisto.

“All that is left of the buildings is a few feet of Mrs. Hall’s store, which adjoins the large brick building of the First National bank. Aside from this the structures were burned so completely as to leave only a mass of blackened embers. The heat of the flames was so intense as to crack the glass windows across New York street. It was with great difficulty that the flames were prevented from spreading. The three houses were owned by John S. Smith….”  (Tyrone Daily Herald, PA. “A Midnight Horror. Nine Lives Destroyed…” 4-7-1891, p. 1.)

Sources:

Appletons’ Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1891 (Vol. 16, new series). “Disasters in 1891.” NY: D. Appleton and Co., 1892. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=FUcoAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Tyrone Daily Herald, PA. “A Midnight Horror. Nine Lives Destroyed…” 4-7-1891, p. 1. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=139248759&sterm=rochester+fire