, 1872-12-12
THE LAST HORROR.
Burning Of a Portion Of
the Fifth Avenue lilo.
tel, New York.
Eleven Servant Girls,
Unable to Escape,
Burned to
Death.
Two Persons Seriously Injured by
Jumping to a Neighbor-
ing Roof:
The Remains Of the Victims
Taken to the Morgue
for Identifi-
cation.
Heartrendinq Sights at the Recog-
The Stampede Among the Guests
---How the Fire Orig
mated.
The Hotel Damaged $l50,000.

Specfdk Dcspd tch to The Chicago Tribune.
NEW YORK, Dec. 1.-THE extent Of the calana-
ity at the Fifth Avenue Hotel fire last night
was not ascertained until this morning, and
many e1aggcrations have been anoat all day.
The facts, however, are horrible enough. Eleven
Of the scrubbing women employed in the hotel
we're burned to death, and ono acrub-woman and
one fireman were severely injured By falls.
This completes the casualty list. None Of the
guests we're injured, and none are missing,
though scattered around in adjacent hotels.
Tho origin of the fire has not been satistacto-
rily ascertained. It commenced in q part Of the
TWenty-third street wing, occupied by the 500
servants employed in tho hotel through
which wooden spiral stairway runs from top to
bottom, and also the laundry elevator. The
smoke was first detected by gentleman boarder
about retiring to bed, who informed the clerk.
The alarm was given, and when the employees Of
the house reached the upper stories, occupied
by the servants, the flames had gained furious
headway on the top floor where the spiral stair
case was ablazo. The servants in the fifth and
sixth stories wore reused with difficulty, and
escaped hurriedly in their night dresses. By
this time CONSERVATION bad spread among the
guests, nearly all Of whom vacated the prem
ises more or less pauic-stricken.
The sorub-women, occupying two rooms inthe
seventh tory, were completely cut off from es-
cape by the stairway. window opened on the
roof, few feet below, but it was barred up By
a strong iron grating, intended to prevent any
ingreas from the quarters of the late servants
It is said this grating could have been readily
Wrenched loose, but the women who perished
had doubtless lost all presence of mind, for their
roasted bodies were found huddled together in
in the centre Of the room.
There was an explosion Of steam pipe in one
the servants rooms, but this was tho result Of
the fire, and not the cause The fire originated
probably through the carelessness Of some Of
the female servants, and crept rapidly upward
between the lath part tition to the wooden cock
loft, covered with tarred roof, where the unfor-
tunate women persisted. It must have boen
burning some time before the nlar1n Was given.
The servants were paid Oft yesterday, and, pos
eibly, drunkenness WAS at the bottom Of the
calamity.
It was with the greatest difficulty that the
domestics wcro awakened. AS their rooms were
directly under the burning roof, many we're al
most titled with the smoke before they were
ged out. Their lamentations were pitiable in
the extreme, as they bewailed their loss Of
eve1yth ing worldly.
The cock-loft in which the girls we're burned
to death is considerably burned out, and the
whole Of the Twenty-third street end Of the
bedding, carpets, etc.,. are al ruined BY
water. Viewed from the outside, to-day, the
hotel looks the same as usual, the
walls not being injured. About 100 rooms for
number in the hotel, are damaged by water. The
ceilings in three upper stories must all come
down, also that of the dining room. Repairs
we're began to-day, and will be rapidly prose-
cuted.
The bodies Of the victims we're recovered
about o'clock this morning, and taken in am
at the Morgue, to-day, was truly heart-
rending. From o'clock until S constant
The bodies Of 'D the % anfoSt"nste @1sa xomen snea
who we're burned OF scalded to death in the fire.
trap attic. 1t is estimated that over twenty-five
thousand perBons viewed the charred remains,
most Of whom we're attracted by morbid curios-
and friends "ho had been employed in the hotel.
The police had great difficulty in restraining
women, thousands Of whom c1amored for admis-
Bion. When many Of them confronted the ter
i1ble sight, they began terrible weeping, pray
ing, and deported themselves extrayagantly. =.
Several we're led off in q fainting condition, and
one young woman, who was accompanied BY her
mother, fell III 8 fit and was removed by force.
The bodies we're ranged side by side in rough
pine cottins in the yard at the western end Of
the Morgue. Several among the deceased had
been burned almost to cinders, while others
had been literally roasted. In some INSTANCES
the flesh Was scalded from the bones.
The first body identified WAS that of Mary
Ann Pagan, Irish, aged rs, unmarried, o scrub
woman, who was first taken to Bellevue Hos
pital, last night, suffering from acalds and
burns.
The next identified was Mary McCabe. Irish.
aged 25. married. She had been employed at
the Fifth Avenue two months. and previously
at the Hoffman House for three years, Her
husband is in Ireland
A third body WAS first identified as that of
Mary Webb, laundress, but Mary was found to
be alive, and the body afterwards proved to be
that Of Mary Dewey, scrub woman, aged rs, q
native OF this State. She Was sca1ded to deafh,
Lizzie Moran, scrub woman, aged 20, single.
Irish, five years in this country, was identified
BY fenow-servant BY her peculiarly formed
feet. The bones OF this victim were in some
cases denuded Of flesh, and the body had evident
ly been roasted after death.
Kate Mcdonald, aged 26, Eng1Hh, four years
in this country, was identified by her brother,
8hose lamentations we're bitter.
The last one identified was Honora Ward, aged
%, SINGLE only three weeks in America. She
was horribly charred. Her limbs were all gone.
and she was only recognizable by her large size.
Five bodies, greatly disfgured BY fire, steam,
and smoke, have not been identified thus far,