The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1856-09-10

DksfRucTIoN or THE MOUNT YrRsoN HoTrL
At OArx 4AYy-Ths Philadelphia Ledger, ef
Monday. has the fdlbving In addition "a tho facts
We nave already pnblished about The burning Of
inc Mount Vernon Hotel 1t Cape NAV.
. Inc cool weather had depopulat,d IN. ho,., ~
~ ~ summer hoarders. and only fhe family NJ M
cs.n. GO consisting Of himself two sons, two daueh
They aepten the second floor. and the Ars huaas
ing ont In tho lower story, their eeress from the
ouhaing Was cut eff except by jumping from tina
windows Tho building was entirely of vood ana
was raised on piles driven into the sand. IJpon
"a: ground beneath the frst floorthe shasings and
strips which had accumulated while building had
been left The fire, It's believed, originated among
these shavings near the centre, and it took but .
snort time to spread over such infammable mate.
riala As composed the building.
The flames darted along the building from wall
to Wal, through the long saloon, over four hun.
dred feet long, and up the high towers till il pre-
sented one vast sheet of fire, that illuminated the
surrounding space for miles. There being no
efhcient means at hand to check such calamity,
the only thing left for the residents at Cape Is
land was to attempt the removal Of the furniture.
which as far ~ possible was done.
me wind blew blazing embers and light shin
giss to great distance; but fortunately no other
house on the Island was injured. By one o'clock
the building had been entirely consumed, with
nearly all its contents.
Mr. Philip Cain, sr his sons Andrew and Philip,
one 90 the other 16 years of age, his two daugh.
ters, Martha, aged IL, and Sarah, aged 13, with
Miss Aibertson, the houseke-per, aged 35 were
the only occupants at the time Of the disaster -
These were all consumed in the flames. The
charred remains of the elder Mr. Cain were found
after the fire, outside the line Of the piazza and it
is supposed that he jumped from the balcony, but
was 80 badly injured as to be unable to escape
the flames, and perished where he fell. Mr.. Philip
Cain. jr, leaped also from the balcony, but was SO
badly injured by the flames which he had to pass
through, that he died on Saturday afternoon of his
injuries. The other son, two daughters, and house-
keeper, persisted without any attempt at escape,
as far as known by the spectators. The remaining
survivors of the family are Mrs. Cain and several
children, residing at Vincentown. Miss Albertson,
the housekeeper, came from the same place.
The Philadelphia Bulletin, Of Monday evening,
says:
On Saturday morning the charred remains of
human being were found upon the ground in front
OF where the building had stood, and outside the
line of the piazza The Iody was in such q condi
ton that 1t was impossible to recognize it, but it
was subsequently ascertained that it was the body
of Anderson Cain. This fact was made evident
from the circumstance that = pocket knife, q bro
ken pencil, and some other articles (recognized by
Philip as belonging to his brother) were found ly
ing with the body. 1t is supposed that Anderson
had jumped from the piazza to escape the flames
and that he had been disabled by the fall and una
BILE to crawl away. There were no ashes found
near the body, and it is supposed that the latter
was roasted to q cinder by the intense heat of
the burning hotel
The bodies of Miss Albertson, Mr.. Cain, sr., and
the two daughters of the latter, were completely
burned up-no trace whatever having been found
of them.
OF the six persons who were In the building at
the time of the cenfagraton, all lost their lives
The apartments they occupied were in the front
range of rooms. in the second story, between the
centre tower of the front building and the right
hand corner.