Martin Carrigan

MARTIN B. CARRIGAN was born in Pennsylvania in July of 1872, one of the 13 children of John and Ann Carrigan. His family came to Camden in 1888, first living at 420 Taylor Avenue. By 1890 the Carrigans were at 441 Washington Street. Martin Carrigan had gone to work by then, as an electrician. Martin Carrigan and his widowed mother were still at 441 Washington Street through the summer of 1900.

In Martin Carrigan’s time there was no such thing as Civil Service, all appointments were at the discretion of the party in power. A staunch Republican, he was rewarded on December 3, 1904 with an appointment to the Camden Fire Department.

In 1906 Martin Carrigan was living at 439 South 5th Street in South Camden. Other members of his family resided at 610 Henry Street. He married shortly after the 1906 City Directory was compiled. At the time of the 1910 Census, Martin and Anna Carrigan and step-son Walter E. Hall, then 13, lived at 610 Henry Street.

Politics in the years prior to World War II, and especially prior to World War I, was a full-contact pastime. In the aftermath of the 1911 election Martin Carrigan and others were indicted on election fraud charges. He served a four month long sentence in the Camden County jail in the spring and summer of 1912, then returned to the Fire Department.

The 1914 City Directory shows that Martin Carrigan and his wife Anna were living at 610 Henry Street. Stepson Walter was still at home in 1914, but had married and moved out by June of 1917, when he registered for the draft. By January of 1920 the Martin and Anna Carrigan had moved to 618 West Street.

Captain Martin Carrigan died in the line of duty of injuries sustained while fighting a fire on January 19, 1922. He left his widow Anna and a stepson. Anna Carrigan was still living at 618 West Street when the 1924 City Directory was compiled.

“Joseph Gail” was actually Joseph Daley.

Engine Company 2

Fire Captain May Die, Four Others Injured; Damage Is $200,000

Economy Store and Other Buildings Near Broadway Swept by Flames Early This Morning—Falling Debris Carries Men Through Roof And Into Cellar—Sleeping Inmates of Apartments Roused and Invalid Carried to Safety—Mayor Sees Rescues

Mayor Ellis has ordered an investigation to determine the cause of the $2000,000 fire which swept the properties at 427 and 429 Kaighn Avenue and caused injury to five firemen, one of whom may be fatally hurt.

The fire centered about the property occupied by the Economy Store, formerly Handle’s, and quickly spread to four adjoining buildings.

The fireman whose recovery is despaired of is Captain Martin B. Carrigan, of Engine Company No. 2, Fifth and Arch Streets. Carrigan, who lives at 618 West Street, is suffering from a fractured skull and severe burns and cuts of the face, legs, and body. He is unconscious at Cooper Hospital.

The firemen were injured when a wall, weakened by the intense heat, crumbled and crashed through a roof upon which they were standing, dragging them through the floor below, and into a cellar. Sensational rescues followed as police, firemen, and citizens with bare hands tore at the hot debris. The men were quickly extricated and carried to the street.

“We certainly shall investigate this fire,” the Mayor declared today. “Just what was the cause and who is to blame has not been determined but there will be a thorough investigation.”

“There have been too many of these fires during the past few weeks” continued the mayor. “Surely all of them did not just happen and I am sure there has been someone responsible in one or two of the fires.”

The conflagration was one of the most spectacular of a series of large fires that have visited the city in the past six weeks. The block in which it occurred—Kaighn Avenue between Broadway and Fourth Street is one of the most prominent business squares in Camden.

Flames shot 200 feet in the air, giving the sky a fiery hue and attracted attention for miles before the firemen brought it under control. The flame-lit sky was clearly seen in Philadelphia, Merchantville, East Camden, Gloucester and other communities.

More than a score of families living in the vicinity were forced to flee from their homes in scant attire when the fire threatened them. They were cared for by neighbors.

Fireman George Boone, 46 years old, of Engine Company No. 2, also is in a serious condition. He is suffering from burns of the right hand, right thigh and foot and probable internal injuries. Boone lives at 607 Mount Vernon Street.

The other injured firemen are:

John Voll, 22 years old, 509 Royden Street: both hands badly burned.

C.J. Andrus, aged 31 years, 570 Mount Vernon Street: burns of hands and legs.

Harold Lorang, 29 years old, 19 Hudson Street: burns of right hand and legs and sprained ankle.

Firemen Prove Heroes

Carrigan and Boone are in the hospital. The other firemen were discharged after their wounds were dressed. After being released from the hospital they returned to the scene of the fire and insisted upon continuing their duties. Chief Peter B. Carter, however, ordered them home.

Most of the loss was suffered by the Economy Store. A few charred walls remain of the large building. The interior was completely gutted. It was estimated today that the damage to that property will total $60,000 At least $50,000 damage, it was said, was done to the stock.

Morris Handle, local theatrical man, who owns the building, declared today that the property was insured for $30,000. “My loss will be quite heavy,” said Mr. Handle. “The insurance will not pay one-half the property damage.”

The adjoining building at 431 Kaighn Avenue is occupied by Dr. S.I. Yubas, optometrist, and L.R. Yubas, his father, a jeweler.

Invalid is Rescued

The rear and upper floors of the Yubas property were gutted and the stock sustained a heavy loss, due to water and smoke. The damage will total $40,000, Mr. Yubas estimated today.

Five persons who were asleep on the upper floors of the Yubas dwelling had narrow escapes. They were awakened by Samuel Goldstein, haberdasher, 417 Kaighn Avenue, who discovered the fire in the Economy Store and turned in the alarm. Mrs. L.R. Yubas, an invalid, was rescued with difficulty.

The property occupied by Mrs. Sadie Bodner, a widow, at 433 Kaighn Avenue, as a house furnishings store, was scorched and also damaged by water and smoke.

Adjoining the Economy Store on the west at 425 Kaighn Avenue is a vacant one-story structure, formerly occupy by the United Beef Company. Firemen were on the roof of that building when the west wall of the Economy Store collapsed. The wall tumbled down on the small roof and hurled the firemen through a hole in the roof, through the floor and then into the cellar.

Several Stores Damaged

Three policemen, Joseph Sparks, Thomas Cheeseman, and George Hill—and several spectators braved the fire and smoke to rescue the trapped firemen.

The property at 423 Kaighn Avenue, occupied by the Charles Jamison Department Store, was damaged in the rear and the stock ruined by water and smoke. The Kresge Five-and-Ten-Cent Store, at 519–531 Kaighn Avenue, was also damaged by water.

Louis Richelson, who owns the properties from 519 to 525 Kaighn Avenue, was unable to estimate his loss today.

Collapse of Wall

Hundreds of spectators, who were watching the fire from the opposite side of the street, shuddered as they saw a brick wall, weakened by the intense heat, totter and sway. Before the firemen on the smaller roof below could scurry to safety, it collapsed.

A groan escaped the crowd as they heard the cries of the entrapped firemen and the deafening thud of the bricks as they landed on the roof where the firemen were at work.

As the full weight of the bricks struck the roof, it caved in forming a gaping hole. The firemen were literally swept into the opening.

The bricks tumbled down, causing another hole in the floor between the first story and the cellar and dragging the imperiled firemen into the cellar with them.

Mayor Charles H. Ellis was among the spectators who witnessed the collapse of the wall. Other officials were Chief James H. Long, of the Water Department; Fire Chief Carter, Assistant Police Chief Edward S. Hyde, Captain Lewis Stehr of the Second Police District, and Street Commissioner Alfred L. Sayers.

Firemen Under Debris

Observing the peril of the trapped firemen, Policemen Sparks, Cheeseman and Hill, together with a dozen other spectators, rushed across the street to the vacant store. They rushed through the smoke and fire, leaped into the cellar and reached the struggling firemen.

Sparks, the first to leap into the cellar, reached Voll, who had been pinned beneath a pile of debris and was pleading to be rescued. The policeman feverishly extricated Voll from his precarious position and carried him out into the street to safety.

Policeman Cheeseman had accidentally fallen into the cellar and, though himself injured, groped about in the dark until he found Boone, whom he dragged outside.

Policeman Hill carried Carrigan out of the cellar in his arms.

The five firemen were carried to a waiting police ambulance and rushed to Cooper Hospital. Carrigan was unconscious. He had a slim fighting chance to recover.

Carrigan was promoted to a captaincy the first of the year. He is popular among his comrades and has the reputation of being a fearless fireman.

Mayor Praises Firemen

Mayor Ellis praised the work of the firemen and the bravery of the policemen who had risked their lives to effect the rescue.

“Never did I see such remarkable work” said the Mayor. “When I arrived at the scene, it looked as if the whole block was doomed. The flames were shooting upward and the whole sky seemed lit up. The firemen tackled their job with dispatch and courage. I was proud of them. They knew their business and showed it by confining it to a comparatively small area. The work of the police also was commendable.”

Mr. Goldstein discovered the fire shortly before midnight.

“I had just left my home at 417 Kaighn Avenue,” explained Mr. Goldstein, “intending to get a soda. As I passed the Economy Store I noticed strong odor of smoke. I peered into the glass doorway of the store. I immediately saw the place was afire.”

Rescues Sleeping Family

“Then I ran back to my store” continued Mr. Goldstein, “and I telephoned police headquarters. I went out again and returned to the scene. I remembered that the Yubas family were asleep on the second and third floors and rapped on the doors. Mr. Yubas came down in a bathrobe. He was not aware of the fire.”

The six persons asleep in the Yubas home were Dr. Yubas, Mr. And Mrs. L.R. Yubas, Bernard Helfand, Miss Bertha Cuden and Anna Recowitz, a domestic.

Mrs. Yubas, who is recovering from an illness, was too weak to make her way outside through the smoke. Assisted by her husband, Policemen Becker and Cheeseman and Constable John Cunningham, Mrs. Yubas was half carried downstairs, and out through the rear of the building to safety.

Blaze Had Big Start

“The fire had gained such rapid headway,” said Sergeant Thomas Cunningham, “that when the firemen arrived, smoke was actually issuing from cracks in the sidewalks and between the cobbles near the trolley tracks.”

The second and third floors of 419 to 423 Kaighn Avenue are occupied by private families as apartments. In the rear were number of frame dwellings. More than a score of families were obliged to leave their homes in scant attire when the firemen began playing hose upon their properties as a precaution against the fire spreading.

Mrs. Catherine Fox, 410 Sycamore Street, and Mrs. E. Chambers, 412 Sycamore Street, whose homes are in the rear of the Economy Store property, had removed part of the furniture to the street. Even after firemen assured them the danger of their homes catching on fire was over, the women and children could hardly be persuaded to return.

Crumbling walls and cracking of glass hampered the firemen in their work and made their task hazardous. The firemen were further handicapped by the big start the fire had gained. Despite this, they stuck dangerously close to the flames.

To play hose upon the fire to advantage, several firemen scaled the outside walls of adjoining properties and reached cornices, from which they directed streams of water.

High Wind Fanned Flames

A high wind gave them great difficulty. A number of times, when the firemen seemed to have the fire under control, the flames burst out afresh and compelled them to retreat. Then the reflection would light up the sky overhead.

Water Chief Long gave the firemen great service in maintaining the water at a high pressure to ensure facility in getting the streams to play upon the flames.

Kaighn Avenue, between Broadway and Fourth Street, was literally alive with residents and passers-by attracted by the flames. Included among the spectators were scores of persons who came from Philadelphia and distant points, in the belief the blaze was much more serious.

According to the estimate of the loss made today, the insurance on the property and stock damaged by the fire will not pay for one-half the loss sustained.

Chief Carter was determined to take no chances with the fire because of the high wind and the fire was attacked on all sides. While firemen were fighting the flames from Kaighn Avenue several companies of firemen had worked their way into the yard in the rear, from whence they played streams of hose.

An effort is being made today to determine the origin of the blaze.

Thomas Shannon, Engine Company 6, was a spectator when the wall crashed in. Hearing the cries of the buried men, he immediately dashed into the dirt. Six men, including Harry Seeley, formed a human chain and pulled four of the men from the heap of rubbish.

Someone had the presence of mind to turn off the nozzle of a hose, which was playing directly on the mound. When found, the water was trickling through to the pinned men.

Four fires in Camden’s business district within the past six weeks have destroyed or damaged a dozen retail stores, entailing losses fixed at $595,000.

They were:

Fatally Injured While Leading Men at Economy Store Blaze

NOTED FOR HIS BRAVERY

Elaborate Public Tribute to Dead Hero To Be Paid at Rites Monday

Captain Martin B. Carrigan, of Fire Engine Company No. 2, died at 6:25 o’clock this morning at Cooper Hospital. Death was caused by a fractured skull, aggravated by severe burns.

Carrigan was injured while fighting the fire that destroyed the Economy Store at 427–429 Kaighn Avenue early yesterday.

He had led his company to the roof of a building adjoining the burning structure. The collapse of a wall carried the six firemen into the cellar of the structure.

Responding to their calls several policemen, firemen and volunteers extricated the men from the burning debris. Carrigan was the last to be carried out and he was rushed to the hospital unconscious.

The funeral of the fire hero will take place on Monday morning at ten o’clock, from his late residence at 618 West Street. Burial will be private in Arlington Cemetery, in charge of F. Roedel & Son, undertakers. An elaborate tribute to the late fire captain is being arranged by the fire committee of city council. The body may be viewed after three o’clock Sunday afternoon.

Followed Hose to Safety.

Captain Carrigan was born in Camden, July, 1872, and has resided at 618 West Street for many years. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Hannah Carrigan, a stepson, Walter Hall, and his brother, Lewis Carrigan.

He was appointed to the fire department December 3, 1904, and first reported for duty on January 1, 1905, assigned to Engine Company No. 5. He distinguished himself by heroic conduct at the fire which consumed the old Sixth Regiment Armory, West and Mickle Streets, March 16, 1906.

Carrigan was one of a half dozen men who were trapped in the blazing armory. With the dense smoke making immediate escape imperative, the firemen dropped to their hands and knees, and made their way to the street safely by following a line of hose. Three firemen lost their lives in this fire.

Made Captain Last Year

As a result of his exemplary conduct and unflinching devotion to duty, Carrigan was appointed lieutenant in May 1915. He was attached to Engine Company No. 2, at Fifth and Arch Street. He was driver of the fire chief’s car for years prior to his promotion to lieutenant.

His bravery at the Baker-Flick fire, two months ago, stood out against the many exploits of Camden’s fire fighters. Carrigan, who was raised to the rank of Captain in May, 1921, led his men into the smoke-filled annex of the store and was forced to retire when he was partly overcome by smoke. Returning within a few minutes, he was in the thick of the fire again, so close that his eyelashes were singed.

He was finally pulled away from the blaze and led to the street. The smoke had almost blinded him and he was obliged to go to Cooper Hospital for treatment.

Captain Carrigan always made it a point to personally lead his men into every fire, remaining with them until the order was given to return to headquarters. He had the respect and confidence of every man under his command, and endeared himself with his generous acts of kindness. Unassuming and reluctant to speak of his work, he would dismiss complimentary remarks with the assurance “it’s all in a day’s work.”

Chief Peter B. Carter, in commenting today on the death of Captain Carrigan said: “No better was ever known to wear the uniform of a fireman. Captain Carrigan would never back from any danger, and was zealous in the performance of his duties.”

“He was a real leader, inspiring his men by the force of his own fearlessness. His comrades in the department will miss Captain Carrigan, the leader and man.”

Captain Schregler of the Detective Bureau designated several of his men to aid the underwriter’s agents in the investigation as to the origin of the fire.

Mayor Ellis ordered the investigation.

Lions Praise Firemen

Work of firemen in fighting the tremendous blaze at 427 Kaighn Avenue was highly commended by the Camden Lions Club yesterday at a meeting in Y.M.C.A.

A resolution commending Chief Carter and his men was prepared by Charles Sullivan, a member of the club.

Municipal Buildings and Police and Fire Stations Draped in Black

Camden today is paying tribute to a hero who died in the course of his duty.

City buildings, including police and fire stations, are draped in mourning over the death of Martin Carrigan, 49 years old, who died early yesterday in Cooper Hospital from injuries received in fighting the Kaighn Avenue fire Wednesday.

The fire, the origin of which is being investigated by the police, destroyed the Economy Department Stores, 427–429 Kaighn Avenue, and damaged four adjoining buildings.

Flags are flying at half-mast as a mark of tribute to Captain Carrigan. The firehouse at Fifth and Arch Streets, headquarters of Engine Company No. 2, of which Carrigan was captain, is buried in black bunting.

As a further tribute to Carrigan his comrades will attend his funeral in a body on Monday morning, at ten o’clock. Headed by Chief Peter B. Carter, all the firemen not on duty at the time will march from Headquarters at Fifth and Arch Streets to Carrigan’s home at 618 West Street.

Interment will be in Arlington Cemetery.

The body may be viewed Sunday afternoon at three o’clock.

Mayor Ellis, Frank S. Van Hart, president of City Council and members of the fire committee will head a platoon of firemen who will view the body Sunday afternoon. They will assemble at fire headquarters, Fifth and Arch Streets, at 2:30 o’clock, before marching to the late fire captain’s home.

Members of the fire committee paid special tribute to the dead fire fighter at their meeting last night. Captain Carrigan was characterized a mighty good man and an incomparable fireman.

The committee unanimously voted that the city pay the expense of the funeral.

Just before Camden firemen were planning to leave headquarters yesterday to march to the home of Captain Martin B. Carrigan, who lost his life in the falling roof at the Economy Store fire, they were summoned to a three alarm fire at the stables of Hugh A. Greenan, 1736 South 7th Street.

When Engine Companies No. 7 and 8 reached their fire houses this morning after the Carrigan funeral, an alarm was received from the drugstore of W.J. Grobiowski, 1250 Everett street.

The Grobowski fire had its origin in a pile of rubbish in the basement and was extinguished with a small loss.

Nearly All of City’s Apparatus At Fire That Destroys Building

Fire, believed to have started through the drying of animal hair, destroyed the frame building of Hugh A. Greenan, 1736 South 7th Street, shortly before noon yesterday. The loss is estimated at $3,000.

When Fire Chief Peter B. Carter arrived at the scene, the building was doomed. Fearing for the safety of adjoining buildings and homes, Chief Carter sounded a second and then a general alarm. nearly every piece of the city’s fire apparatus was on the scene of the fire.

A man who resides near the rear of the building saw smoke issuing from the center of the buildings at 11:15 o’clock. An investigation showed hair, used in the manufacture of a patent plaster for building purposes, was ablaze. Another neighbor ran to a nearby fire box and sounded the alarm.

Both men joined in rescuing six horses that were in the stable adjoining the fire. Frank Clements, Policeman Carl Quinton and Samuel Ward arrived on the scene and succeeded in saving harness, two wagons and an automobile before the flames spread to the stables.

Hugh A. Greenan, owner of the buildings and business, said his loss, amounting to approximately $32000, was partly covered by insurance.

Hundreds of persons returning home from church were attracted to the fire scene and viewed the work of the firemen from beyond the fire lines. No one was injured, although falling timber from the building constantly hampered the progress of the fire fighters.

Martin Carrigan was buried in an unmarked grave at Arlington Cemetery in Pennsauken NJ, in grave SS-436-1.

Friends and members of the Camden Fire Department raised money and furnished a headstone in September of 2019.