The headline of the Brooklyn Daily Times from Monday, December 22, 1924 reads,"16 RESCUED, HERO COP OVERCOME IN SEVENTH AV. FIRE. Patrolman Heney Collapses After Turning in Alarm and Rousing Tenants. 7 CANARIES SMOTHERED. Family of Four Awakened by Fireman, Escape in Night Clothes by Ladder"
Three of the tenants rescued by Patrolman Joseph Heney were my great-great aunts and uncle; Gertrude Joyce-Sheridan (February 7, 1863 - April 21, 1934), George Joyce (November 30, 1854 - March 6, 1931), and Mary Isabelle Joyce (June 1, 1861 - January 24, 1940). They were three of my great-great grandmother, Agnes C. Joyce-Fay's four siblings.
In the image below I have highlighted where my family members' names appear.
The article reads as follows:
Sixteen persons were rescued during the cold early hours of today when fire in the basement of the three-story brick building at 89-90 seventh avenue sent clouds of heavy smoke billowing through the structure. Fireman Joseph Denato, of Truck 105, standing at the top of a thirty-foot ladder, awakened Gustav Burkhardt, his wife and two children when he smashed a window in their apartment with his axe. In their night clothes, except for coats. Mrs. Burkhardt, her husband and their children, Henry, 20 and Mildred, 16, went down the ladder to the street.
Previous to this, Patrolman Joseph Heney, after discovering the fire and sending an alarm, rushed through the hallways on the second and third floors, awakening occupants of apartments and helping them to the street those he aroused were James Seayth, his wife, and their sons, Kenneth, 17, and Alexander, 15, asleep on the third floor; Charles White, Mrs. White, their daughters, Catherine and Dorothea, and their son Charles, and the occupants of an opposite apartment, Mrs. Gertrude Sheridan, her brother, George Joyce, aged 70, and their sister Mary, 61.
Heney collapsed after every one was out, and was relieved from duty after having been restored by an ambulance surgeon.
Seven canaries were smothered in the Seayth apartment. Mrs. White brought out her pet canary, but when she slipped on the sidewalk, the bottom dropped from the cage and "Pete" fell into the freezing water from hose lines. Mrs. White kept him warm in her hands thereafter.
The women from the burning building were put into the heated taxicab of Louis Kirsch, of 424 Albany avenue, where they remained until arrangements were made to take them into neighbors' homes.
The fire was confined to the basement and the stationary store of Samuel Weiss. A third alarm was sent as a precautionary measure.
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The news was picked up in several other newspapers of the day. I have chosen to share this one because it has a photo of the officer who risked his life to save the tenants of that building, including my family.
There are not many descendants of my third great grandparents, John Aloysius Joyce (February 11, 1829 - September 30, 1910) and Mary Ann O'Neill-Joyce (about 1829 - January 11, 1911). They had 5 children, George, John (about 1857 - February 27, 1896), Mary, Gertrude, and Agnes (my great-great grandmother). Three of them were present at this fire. John had passed many years before this event. There are no records of George, John, or Mary ever marrying. Gertrude had no children. It was only my great-great grandmother who had any offspring; eight to be exact. Although George, Mary, and Gertrude were all considered elderly at the time, 70, 63, and 61 respectively, I cannot imagine what it would have been like for Agnes to lose all 3 of her living siblings at one time had Office Heney not saved them from the blaze.
Moved by this patrolman's efforts, I researched him a bit and reached out to a descendant of his that I found researching the family on Ancestry. I haven't heard back from Officer Heney's grandson yet but I hope he'll respond. It is not often one finds a photo of a relative in the newspapers, and certainly not one attached to such a heroic deed.
