Mrs. Bessie Levin stood at a third-floor window of her burning Baltimore home with her two-month-old baby in her arms, waiting for the firemen to reach her.
Smoke had poured through the house at 1013 Linden Avenue early that morning, waking members of the Levin family and forcing them toward windows, rooftops, and any possible escape. On the second floor, Miss Ethel Levin jumped eighteen feet to the pavement to avoid suffocation. Others crawled from a rear window onto the roof, while several remained trapped inside until help arrived.
Firemen raised ladders to the burning home and carried Mrs. Levin and her infant safely down to the street. One by one, the rest of the household was brought out alive.
Baltimore Firemen Rescue Mother and Baby From Flames
BALTIMORE, Maryland. — Leaning from a front window on the third floor of her burning home, at 1013 Linden Avenue, early today, Mrs. Bessie Levin held her two months’ old infant until the arrival of the firemen, who took her and the baby down a ladder to the street.
In an effort to escape suffocation in her bedroom on the second floor, Miss Ethel Levin jumped from the second floor front window to the pavement, 18 feet below, and was slightly injured. Four other members of the Levin family crawled out of a third story rear window to the roof, and were taken down to safety by the firemen.
Three others remained in the building until firemen arrived and assisted them to the street. The front portion of the first floor, where Julius Levin conducts a ladies’ tailoring establishment, was damaged to the extent of several hundred dollars, which, added to the stock and house furnishings destroyed by fire and water, will bring the loss up to about $2,000.
The odor of smoke, which came through a radiator in volumes, first awakened Samuel Levin, who, with Samuel Cohen, was asleep on the third floor, and he alarmed the inmates of the house.
Mrs. Bessie Levin, her husband, Charles, their two children, the two months’ infant, and Dorothy, were asleep in a room adjoining that of Samuel Levin and were awakened by his cries. Mrs. Levin grabbed the infant and ran to the front window, which she raised, and leaned forward with her child in her arms until a ladder was raised and they were taken down.
Source: The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. March 5, 1911.
