Suffocating Smoke Perils Occupants
Nine persons were rescued early this morning when smoke from a burning mattress filled the second-floor apartment of Albert Hohman at 1223 Washington Street and threatened the sleeping occupants with suffocation.
Mr. and Mrs. Hohman and their seven children were asleep in their apartment at the time.
Police carried the seven children to safety and aroused Mr. Hohman who was located after some difficulty in the suffocating smoke.
The fire was confined to the mattress and a chair but did considerable smoke damage. The origin of the fire was pot revealed but Hohman stated that he threw a cigarette he was smoking into the sink, before he went to bed.
Officers John Kelley, William Jankowski, Edson Scholz and Valentine Balutis removed the children to the Linden Street house of their grandmother, home of Mrs. Theresa Hohman.
Mrs. Hohman discovered the fire and sent the oldest boy to sound the alarm. Police, who were the first to arrive, found the apartment filled with smoke. They were unable to locate the center of the fire until Officer Balutia noticed flames in the mattress In one of the bedrooms. At that moment, Officer Jankowski, who had been searching for Hohman found him on the flaming bed partially overcome. Officer Kelley had previously led four of the children to the street and the others were escorted to safety by police.
Lalo Elias, the proprietor of the lunch room at the corner of Weld Avenue and Washington Street, who was doing some work at his establishment at the time of the fire, ran to the scene and aided police in rescuing the children.
Firemen, led by Chief Alonzo Earle, brought the fire quickly, under control.
The children, clothed only in night garments, were kept in the heated police cruising cars until they were brought to the home of their grandmother.