The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-04-01
LINDELL HOTEL BURNED
Largest Hotel in the World.
Loss %I.eoO,Ooo.
ilnsarsnce 8CompanIes 0 will
Lose about $5OO,OO0. 1
FIRE SEEN TwNETY.sEvEN MILES

ST. LOUIS, March 0i.-Ihe Llndeli
Hotel, the largest. building of its
kind on this continent, if not in the
world, was totally destroyed by fire
last night S There is good deal of
mystery about the origin. of the fire,
but the most reliable accounts say it.
broke. outoin one, of thee west front
rooms on the fifth story, about half
past eight O clock, but the alarm was
not sounded. until after nine o'clock.
At this time the fire was confined to
two rooms on the fifth floor, but ow-
ing to. thea extreme height of the
building and the difficulty in reaching
the locality with the hose, it gradu-
ally assembled till it broke through
the sixth and seventh stories,
and reached the roof, near the
northwest corner of the building.
From this point the fire rapidly 'ex-
tended underneath the roof across
the entire width of the hotel to the
East or Sixth Street front, and then
meyed rapidly ;doWDwards until the
whole structure was enyeloped in
flames Up te the time the fire spread
across the building it was the gener-
81 belief that the lower part of the
hotel could be. saved, but, as soon as
the flames reached the. elevators and
inner courts, up and through which
strong currents of air rushed, the fire
received. new and powerful Impetus,
and all hope of staying the devour-
ing element was lost. The efforts of
the firemen were not relaxed, how
ever, and fnll forge of the fire de-
partment put forth until 3 o'clock, at
which time the whole. inner wood
work was consumed, and considera-
BILE portion, Of the walls had fallen I
and, what was once the stateliest,
most imposing and handsomest hotel
in the country, was now mass of
crum bling, blackened ruins. ye
The building was owned by the es-
tate of Henry Ames & Co., Edgar
Ames being the representative of the
property Its original cost was a lit
ever 100000. and was bought by
Ames u Co. in December, 1863, two
months after it was opened, for $373,-
000HslThe insurance on the hotel
amounts to $4,000, $4,000 to $780,
600 of which was in Eastern compa-
IIies, mainly in New York, Brooklyn,
and Philadelphia. The. lessees were
Hatch, Weaver, Felt 81 Co., whose
loss on furniture, and stores is about
$300,000; insured for 100000 But
little of the furniture was sayeda -
There were about 400 guests in the
hotel, allarge humber of Whom con-
sisted of families boarding in the
house. e.TheHlatter Lost most of their
personal effects owing to the oonfus-
ion and excitementprevailin and the.
disbelief that the house would be de-
stroyed until. it was too late to re-
move them The loss from this
source will probably reach one hum
dred thousand dollars. The goods in
the stores underneath the hotel,
were almost totally destroyed, al
though there was abundant time to
save them The loss. is,y probably
$5GOQD. The total loss by the disas-S
ter will scarcely be less than 81, 500, :,
000 The list Of insurance companies
will be given when obtained.
~ The fire was seen at distance of
27 miles from the city. Mr.5Ames,
says he shall not rebuild the. .h otel, but
number of prominent citizens have
already taken the matter in hand,
and exertions will, be made to effect its
a.; H.. Cflktss3 l ~ fEttG ,g 3