The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1858-02-27
/ III E DISPATCH
sAiohpAr eei...Ir MORNING. ..... FEBRUARY n. 1855
Fearsal Calamity at Sc. Lonts.
Bsrnfng ef tie Rac.ac Ifotsi. Scenes, 1,c;>n,. =.

;, "".e Paolisncd briet notices by telegraph Of
n. burning OF the Pacific Hotel, at st. Louis. on
saturday morning last, and have given the names
"a 'he lost The 81. Louis papers of SUNDAY con.
publican says: i''
present not known with certainty Tha .'un . - =.
ing impression 10 that the flames frat brar gu
IN the rear Of the drug store of Dnmont n I oas
one uoor from the corner of Seventh street !. ms,
now, has not yet been ex xplained. The cIert 81
had only been three days in the estabij.hmaa,. "n9
VINO slept IN the back part. states that wban ~
was awakened by the glare Of light the wboio 80
Ihe western portion OF the buiiding was 10 names
ms was from half an hour to three Quarters ha.
fore the steam engines arrived. He had not nrar,
ously heard any alarm. There was half barreI ~
turpentine, barrel of oil, and some other com,
bnsfibles In that part Of the store, where report
says, the fire originated.
From the best information that we can gather.
there were about one hundred persons sles6ing in
the Hotel ut the time of the occurrence IL an.
pears that the entire building was enyeloped In
the raging element before scarcely any Of the
dodgers were awakened to the full eense of their
danger. And when the inmates were finally
aroused il was only to find all opportunities Of
egress closed to them for the staircase in front aud
behind were already gone, or 80 nearly that an
attempt TO escape by these means would be only
rushing into the arms of inevitable deash
The .cene that ensued battles any effort at des
cription. The rushing of men, women and chill
dren TO and fro to avoid the bisterng heat, and to
search for ways TO r ach the streets-the shrieks
Of the terror stricken and those bound to their
rooms by walls Of scorching fire-the shouts of
those who had been called TO the spot from the
surrounding Observation-Disclosures clambering over
swayiog and reeling josts--the falling floors with
their loads of heavy furniture and their dearer
burden of human lives-all this and more that
WAS intensely terrible and fear u is not given to
our pen to adequately describe.
The stairs gone, the roof and floors inch by inch
StxSs tI.al a a..
mentarily thicker and hotter, many sought to es-
cape the impending hazard of beiug burned to
death, through the scarcely less dangerous pros
pect of jumping TO the ground from the windows
Of those who endeayored to saro their lives in
this way, We saw six at the Sisters Hospital YES
terday. Mr.. III. Hubbard, who arrived in ST
Louis from Boston about eight weeks since was
| occupying, with his lady, a room on the third
| floor. Mrs. IL. was first aroused, and awakened
| her husband. Hardly had he come to be con-
| scous of the cause of the surrounding confusion
! before he saw his wife leap headlong out of the
window on Poplar street. Seeing no other visible
means of saving himself he followed her, and
| both fell, not far apart on the pavement Mrs
Ii. had one of her legs fractured in two plases 1t
is not expected she will survive. ,Ir. Hubbard
| had the ankle joint and hip of his left leg dis,
| placed, and received severe confusion on the
forehead lie is not thought to be in a danger
ous condition.
Miss IL Hunter endeavored to leave the build
| ing, after having been badly burnt, by jumping
from the second story. In the fall one of her legs
| was broken and her head severely cut She WAS
placed in a furniture car, TO be taken to the Sis
ter's Hospital, but before arriving there she was
| corpse.
James T. Geary, local reporter of the Leader, of
this city, in attempting to escape with his wife
| aud child, fell to the cellar. Besides receiving
| some bad burns on the tacs head and legs by some
! means his right foot was cut to the bone from
about the middle to the heel 1t is feared too that
| his lungs are injured from inhaing hot air. lie is
| th0upht he in a critical situatjon
| - Sharpe, night clerk at the hotel. was ay-
| fully burned in the face, head and extremities-
His hair is all singed of, and his face blackened
and blistered 1t is thought that he will recover.
though considerably disfgured
Elihu Hays has a broken thigl and is very
| much injured on the head. One Of his eyes is
burnt and swollen exceedingly, and he is other.
| wise hurt. When we saw him he was in mucb
| pain and laboriDg under coDcussion of the brain
| lio was unable to answer questions. As far as we
can ascertain from various sources he is stranger
in the city, from Wisconsin. There is little or no
| hope of his recovery.
Three men were seen 10 lump from the second
story of the back part of the building at the
time. Two of them got off without much injury
| The other was taken Oh plank to a fruit store on
Sixth street, below Poplar, where he died at about
| O'Clock. The latter we understand TO be L. Hart
Strong, a lawyer of this city.
| At Kings Hotel We found the family of Dr.
| White, whose escape was indeed miraculous The
Doctor himself leaped through the window of his
4 RI. =
aging his wife, three children and nurse, they too
followed his example, he breaking their fall, and
all reached terra tirma in safety, having only the
record of danger peIccptible i'll few skin deep
| wounds
| The dead bodies recovered as yet, from the ruins
] SO charred, backened and burnt that their near.
est relatives could not identify them by the ordi
| nary nAUds number six, which have been taken
charge OF by the coroner and placed temporarily in
| Rogers stable, on franklin avenue, between
| Fourth and Fifth. All these, or nearly ALL had
| their clothes on. Five of them were found on q,
piece Of floor IN the second story next the front
| the hotel They appeared to have been all sleep
ing in the same room, aud were literally roasted in
| their beds.
The wifi. and child of Joseph Jones' of Birch =
| Minstres, are among the wounded. They were let
| down out ofa window of the third story by Mr.
Jones, who enyeloped them in a sheet, having first
| thrown mattrass on to the balcony to break
| their fall. The sheet slipped, and mother and
child, the latter only eight or nine months old,
| striking the edge of the mattrass dropped to the
pavement and were dangerously injured.
BODIES FOUND AMONG THE RUINS.
| On one of the bodies SO severely burnt as to be
| wholly unrecognizable by features, height or
/ clothing, or any other common means of identifi-
cation, silver watch attached to a gold chain and
| small amount OF silver and gold were found in
the back part of the building. He was grasping a
| small yaise.
Four more bodies taken out of the ruins on
| Sunday. from among the bricks, ashes and other
rubbish All four were horribly mutilated. Legs.
arms aud hands were of, and in one case nothing
was left bearing trace of humanity except a spi
nal column, with few bleached bones lying around
| it. Another a mere trunk with a mart of tbe
| neck attached, around which was found n gold
chain and string of beads-the remains, doubt.
| less, of a woman.
STATEMENT OF MR.. sTRADgR
Mr. u. W. Strader one of the lessses of the hotel
| makes the following statement:
| have dog that has been in the habit of acting
as watch for ME during great number of wears
lie mas, "hen passengers have arrived at night, or
when any noise has been made in or about the
honse, always given the alarm. This morning he
| barked very loud. A little after he came TO the
door and continued his noise whereupon got mn
| and went to see what was the matter. The flame.
were then coming from the back entrance of the
| mouse, up IRON the drug store, think tried to
get TO the freplug, but seeing that the fire had
made too great headway for that to serve apy use
iui purpose, ran to the third floor and halooed
| through there as loud as / could MIR Davis. who
mas been sleeping with me, also came ND stairs and
assisted me to waken the people then. suppos
| ing must have awakened everybody, went
through the dining-room and got my children ont
through the window--whch broke throush-on
the baleeny.
suppose there must be between twenty and
tnirty ilyes lost. Miss Hunter was sleeping in
No IL, room adjoining the corner; she Jumped
out aud was Killed VIM. Torrance youpg man
was badly burned. George Crane a brother of
'l'ss oIahe' OF TINS city, was undoubtedly burned
"n" tcs DdNtB ana q boy Who was
with him were burned up. They silent in room No.
% f " ~ w.
mary f. Morris had, when about to escape, $500
IN money Her aunt called to her to save q child
Of Of ar. Lyons, whereupon she dropped the money.
ny family consisted of myself, wife, sister. in law
ana three children; oil were saved, but with the
oss of everything.
THE HoTEL.
me motel was comparatively new one. 1t was
erected 10 meet the necessities of persons travel
tha Dart Sc n~s ,Iaf rod
10 January, 1851, being owned by George b. Field,
VINO estimated its value at $40, ,o00 II was origi
naiiy leased to Dauiel W. strader he subsequently,
opened the place In the month of June, when Ja-
The building was three stories high. having a
mont on Seventh street Of over eighty feet. The
oasementswere nsed as liquor saloons the ground
door was divided of into stores.