Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-04-18
DESTRUCTION I
Or the Southern Hotel at
st. Louis.
Forty or Fifty Persons Burned
to Death
Or Killed BY Jumping from the
Upper Stories.

Or Killed BY Jumping from th'
Upper Stories.
The seething Flames Cause Ma
ny to Leap from Windows
Only to be Mashed to Jelly OF
the Pavement below.
The Immense Structure a Mass
Of Ruins in an Hour.
N''e c'astSn' s'o.: Msts: .sesps. spet''er M'rac'
ST. LOUIS, April ii, 1 As A. MA
fire has just broken out in the upper
stories of the Southern Hotel and tht
indications are that the whole struc
ture will burn. The guests are being
removed safely.
ST.. LOUIS, April 1.-THE Southern
Hotel, in this city, was DESTROYED by
fire at two O'Clock, this morning
About fifty lives lost. as near as can
be ascertaincd up to this time.
ST. LOUIS, April ll.-At :25. this
morning, the finest structure of the
kind in the city, was discovered to be
on fire. The Salvage Corps respond.
ed to the alarm before it was sound.
ed on the city bells. Before the en-.
gines arrived the entire upper
STORIES
were in flames. At two o'clock the
scenes in the immediate vicinity OF
the hotel were indescribable, the ex.
cltement being of the most intense
character. The upper stories were
crowded with
sHRIEKING MEN AND WOMEN,
whom it seemed impossible to save.
A few have been rescued by ladders
placed on the Fourth st. portico, but
on the other three sides of the build.
ing, bounded by Fifth, Walnut and
Elm, the longest ladder fall far short
of reaching the windows.
Mr.. Peter Blow, son of the former
minister to Brazil, was sleeping in
his room on the sixth floor and sue
cceded, after strenuous exertion, in
escaping with Ills life and broken
arm. The building is six stories in
height and Mr.. Blow thinks that a
majority of the two upper stories of
the building must have perished.
Two men, unrecognizcd, were killed
by jumping from the third story win
dows and third was badly mangled.
Five women were rescued from the
sixth story, on the Fourth street side,
by the heroic efforts of firemen, who
after ascending patent scaling lad
dcrs, succeeded in getting rope to
the half suff;ocated creatures. The
fire is said to have originated in the
store room.
ST.. LOUIS, April, 1.-THE most
frightful calamity that has ever be-
fallen st. Louis, took place at a very
early hour this morning, involving
the destruction of the Southern Hotel
by fire and the loss of large number
of lives. The exact number cannot
now be given, but it is feared some
40 or 50 perished, either by being
burned directly, or first smothered by
smoke and then consumed. From
the best information at hand, it seems
the fire caught in the store rooms in
the basement and was first seer
coming through the ground floor just
north of the Office, and in ten minutes
it had assembled the elevators and ro-
tunda and spread itself over the sixth
floor under the roof. This floor was
occupied entirely by employees, the
largest part Of whom were women.
The fire spread rapidly, filling every
room and hall with flames and
smoke, and the scene was ol
the most terrible descriptions
Frantic people ran through the halls
shrieking in the most hcart-rendins
manner, in their
WILD EFFORTS TO ESCAPE.
The smoke was so dense in some OF
the halls that the gas jets were extin-
guished, which rendered cgrcss even
to those most familiar with the build
ing matter of great difficulty.
The fire department was on the
spot promptly, and hundreds of peo-
pie congregated at the scene ready to
render any aid necessary.
The density of the smoke in the
halls drove many guests and board.
crs back into their rooms, and they
rushed to the windows as meaps OF
escape. Ladders were raised MS soon
as possible, and
WOMEN AND CHILDREN,
with nothing but their night-clothes
on, were thus taken from the burning
building. Some
TAINTED FROM FRIGHT,
and others sunk exhausted to the
ground from nervous prostration.
The ladders generally
WERE TOO SHORT
to reach to the fifth and sixth stories,
but by hosting some of them on the
first story balcony on the east side
and the second story balcony on the
north side of the building, those
floors were reached and all those al
the windows were rescued.
THE SKINNER FIRE ESCAPE
was also brought promptly into SER
vice, and was the means of saving
many lives. While this work was
going on, some
FRIGHTFUL SCENES
occurred. One man who had been
occupying window on Walnut St
front of the hotel, became desperate
at the seeming delay in effecting his
escape, and with nervous hands he
tore the sheets from his bed into
strips, tied them together, and fasten-
ing these to the window and disre-
garding the fact that it did nef reach
more than twenty feet, he let himself
down hand over hand. Tho men be-
low who saw his position turned
away their heads to avoid wit
Messing the sickcning event that was
Inevitable. Finally he reached the
end of the sheet and then for the first
time he seemed to realize his position
He stopped, threw his head back and
swung slowly to and fro, swayed by
the breeze which the roaring flames
above created, his limbs swung
around convulsively, as though to
catch upon something,
THEN HE LET GO
and groans went up from hundreds
as he whirlcd round and round and
finally struck on the stone tagging
with a sickening thud. He was car
ried to q saloon across the street and
and died in few moments. Two
other men
JUMPED FROM THE 4TH STORY WINDOW
one of whom seemed not to be dan.
gerously hurt, while the other OK.
pired In few moments.
WOMAN
in the fifth story window, on Fifth
street front, become panic stricken
and
JUMPED OUT.
She alighted on her feet and was car.
ried to the Saint James Hotel still
alive. Her husband, who had been
standing by her side, then tore mp the
bedding and let the strip so made out
Of the window. To this tho flremeu
attached rope, which the man hauled
up, making it fast to the window sill
and he safely descended by it.