Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1871-01-03
Burning of the spottswood Hotel.

f The following is graphic account OF the es-
cape Of Mr.. G. B. Luck, one of the proprie-
tors of the Spottswood Hotel, from the fifth
story of the Hotel which was consumed by fire
on Christmas morning:
my room was No. As, In the fifth story of
the hotel, In the northwest corner, fronting on
Main street. | retired about half past clock.
The first consciousness had of anything after
that was the cry of Rise up; fire, fire 7 and I
recognized the voice of Mr. De Lave, the .ra-
| peze actor, who roomed on the same floor with
bis family (Lila and Zoe). My wife, who was
awakened by the same cries, Immediately arose
and opened the chamber door. also got up
and rushed to my children room, which was
some distance from mine on the same floor, a
reused them and called them into my ROOM
| then told Mrs. Luck to dress herself and the
children, and get down as quick as possible to
| the street; that some one would take care of
| them, as | intended to remain behind to arouse
| everybody in the house that | possibly could.
| then started to find out the location of the
| fire, giving the alarm at every step. Upon
reaching the pantry [ found that the fire was
| in there and was raging furiously. Next L
went down to the Office to endeavor to save the
| hotel books and contents of the safe, which
consisted chiefly of the deposits of the guests
| L found no one there and the books gone. L
| tried the safe and found it locked
| q then proceeded back towards my room,
shouting and knocking at doors as went along.
| Upon arriving at my room Mrs. Luck was just
about leaving it, with the baby in her arms,
and the other children accompanying her. |
| told her that rs she knew the way down, she
could descend without me. [ was perfectly
| self possessed and calculated my time L knew
| that had not more than ten minutes to spare
before the fire would cut eff my escape. After
parting with Mrs. Luck | went again 10 every
room on that floor, and did all could to arouse
the sleepers. then went back to my room to
save some clothing anu other effects, which
did by bundliug them up and throwing them
aware of any smoke in that part of the house,
my door being closed; but on opening it pre-
paratoTy to leaving dense volume Of hot
smoke rushed in upon me-. just at this mo-
ment heard the voice OF Mrs. Kenningy, the
housekeeper. crying, Help mel help mel
help meP I started in the direction Of her
voice, and attempted to call her. in order to
make her come towards me, but opening nay
mouth to do so, found that | could not speak,
as the smoke was SO hot and thick that [ was
almost suffocated. | kept on towards where I
thought she was, intending to get her and take
her down the main stairway. L had previous
ly arranged my plan to descend by another
route. After repeated efforts to make head
way in the direction of Mrs. K. and failing in
them, | turned back towards the stairway, by
which had intended originally to escape. [
groped about In the passage, now thick and
black with SMOKE for moment without being
able to find the bonlsters, and the next thing
knew [ found myself about to re-enter my
room. Now, knowing where | was, | again
started out and succeeded in reaching the head
OF the stairway. Upon attempting to descend
found my way entirely blocked up with trunks
and other baggage, which [ suppose had been
left by others who had escaped and had at
tempted to save their effects, but were COM
PEELED to leave them. By this time the fire
had reached the stairway, and | concluded that
my escape was now entirely cut off, / gave
myself up for lost, and prepared to die by cast
ing myself upon my knees and commencing my
soul to my Maker. While in this position an
inspiration seemed to come over me, and the
remembrance of the helpless condition of nv
wife and little ones, caused reaction and gave
me strength to make one more effort to save
myself | arose from my kneeling posture and
rushed towards the burning stairs and threw
myself headlong, through smoke and flames,
over the pile Of baggage which blocked my
way. In my descent succeeded in catching
the burning banis:er, thereby saving myself |
from falling on my face. / then continued on |
my way, with my mouth and eyes closed, gui- |
ded only by the burning railing, until reached |
the second floor. Here | fell exhausted, but
this very exhaustion was the cause of my be-
ing Refrigerated, for upon falling to the floor,
| inhaled fresh air. the fire only burning over
my head, circling around from the west end
passage. After a slight pause [ arose and
started again, and followed the front passage
in an easterly direction, and descended to the
third or parlor floor Upon nearing the head
Of the last flight of stairs descending to the
street door (l.adies' entrance, was again
met by fire, this time bursting through the
door leading from the pantry passage, which [
rushed through, and reaching the steps I de-
seended to the street in hreathess condition
and almost completely exhausted Here, to
my great joy and Ielief, was met by my wife,
almost crazed with fear for my safety. She
had reached the street some minutes before
myself, since which time, seeing the fire ma