Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-04-18
The st. Louis Horror.

happily the hrst advces OF the great loss by
death at the burning Of the Southern Hotel at st.
Louis, last Wednesday morning, were over-esti-
mated and the total loss will probably not ex-
coed twenty although the number seriously in
jured Is very large The origin Of the fire Is not
yet fully determined. Itcaughtin the store-room
in the basement, and the flames rushed up through
the elevator setting the entire building on FIRE al
most simultaneously. It appears that a lot OF
combustible matter was kept in the store-room OF
the hotel in direct proximity to a large stock of
matches, and It may he shown vet that these had
something to do with the origin Of the fire The
engineer makes statements which lead to the be-
lief that there was great delay in alarming the
guests OF the house Of the danger approaching
them. II is supposed that the head waiter met
his death while rousing the inmates Of the burn
ing building, adding one TO the few instances OF
heroism connected with the catastrophe
The following Is list Of the guests of the hotel
known to have been killed Rev. A. r. Adams, OF
Stock Cross, Berkshire, England George Frank
Gonley, grand secretary of the Masonic fraternit,
| Of Missouri; Henry Hazen, of the auditors de-
partment of the Missouri Pacific railroad, for
mery from Newcastle, Penn; Mrs Stewart, wife
OF W. S Stewart Of the firm OF Derby & Day, OF
st. Louis; Andrew Z. Istnan, Of the firm oi
Feichman & Co., Of st. Louis Charles g. Teenan
sdmore Hayden, superintendent American ex-
| press stable.
There Is no positive knowledge that J. T.. Will
son, Bridget White, or Mr.. Clark and wife and
child are among the lost, but it is believed the
latter were killed. How many bodies there ma,
be in the ruins is conjectural Some think twent,
or twenty-fiv may be found, while others do not
believe any will be Persons who were through
various parts of the hotel just before the fooi
began to fall say it was clear of living people
Still there may have been number suffocated
and lying ON the floors or in the halls
The men and women were, with a few excep-
TONS in their night-cothes but they were only too
| glad to escape with their lives Some of the
women tainted some screamed as loud as they
could, while others waited patiently for their turn
at the ladder. Some Of them came down the lad
der themselves, but the most of them came down
in the arms of the stalwart fremen. When the
| porch was about half emptied of its load Of halt
clad people, another and then a third ladder was
run up alongside Of the first one, enabling the
terrified people to be taken down much faster.
| Many of the windows on the third, fourth, fifth
| and sixth floors were also filed with the more
unfortunate guests and employees of the hotel, all
waving sheets from the windows TO attract the
attention Of the crowd below, and some Of them
shrieking in a heartrending manner.
Mr.. George Grey Of DE Bars company, has
| shown that he can play the hero off the stage a.
| well on. lie rushed through the fire and
smoke, needless of himself and succeeded in saw
ing number Of ladies who were huddled in "A
group and utterly lost in the smoke, and who, but
for his efforts must have persisted. At Il corner
window young lady appeared with rope in
her hands, which she securely fastened to the
window and began her descent, coming first hand
over hand and then sliding until she reached the
ground in safety, The feat was one Of the most
thrilling, and the heroine, Miss Handy, was re-
ceived with the widest enthusiasm by the crowd,
and Immediately sent away in a carriage.
A most pathetic scene WAS witnessed By many
Of the spectators on the Fourth street side Just
As the danger appeared most imminent in the fifth
story window, upon background Of lurd flame
might be seen the profes of man and woman,
shaking hands and taking n last farewell OF each
other They had stood at the window and APP
pealed for aid until hope gave out and just when
| they felt the volumes of smoke overcoming them
and saw the flames apparently stretching toward
them with rapid strides-they fell into each
others arms, and were evidently prepared for
| the worst.
The body of a child supposed to be little
girl, was found in the ruins, distigured beyond
recognition. 1t lay in a small mattress, and ev
ienty fell from one of the upper stories
Peter Blow, son of the former minister to Bra
zil was sleeping in his room the sixth floor
ind escaped with Il broken arm DR., Gerlach
German consul, jumped from window and BROKE
leg p S Shackeiford Of New York, has bot
egs broken frankie Mcclellan is thought to b
ttally wounded. The experience of Kate ClaN
On, the actress with horrors of this sort may To-
aid to be quite enough to satisfy any ordinar
Indy She the stage Of the Brookl,
hetre AT the time Of the great disaster last tall
nd it will be remembered, displayed great cool
Tess She was of the guests of the Southern
too, and had the presence of mind to wrap he
face and head with wetted towels, after which
he walked and rolled down stairs and receveC
~ injuries barring few bruises She however
ost all her clothing and other property she ha'
With her She was playing in st Louis in TIL
same drama, The Two Orphans" that was OF
he stage when the Brooklyn theatre was burned
William Felix Munster said to be member 0
the English House Of Commons, who vas mar
ried at St Louis few months ago and was liz
ing at the hotel with his wife, became separated
from her, and under the impression that she wa,
killed he became intensely excited and evident,
lost his mental balance About six o'clock in tn,
morning he went to the room of u friend at til,
corner of Fourth and Olive streets and shot him
self Philip Gerald, a boarder, was found to b,
insane when taken out One man, who had beer
occupying window ON the Walnut street front o
the hotel became desperate at the seeming delay
in effecting his rescue, and with nervous hand
he tore the sheets from his bed into strips, tieC
them together fastened this improvised rope t.
the wndow-sil and, disregarding the fact that i
did not reach more than twenty feet lie let him
self down hand over hand. Men below who saw
his position turned away their faces to avoid wit
Messing the terrible fate that was inevitable Fl
nally he reached the end of the rope and theI
Cor the first time seemed to realize his position
lie stopped, threw his head back, revealed
ghastly face and swung slowly to and fro, swayeC
by the breeze which the flames created. His leg,
swung around convulsvely as though to catcl
upon something; then he let CO. and in the mids
of the groans from the hundreds of people below
he whirled round and round and finally struck oil
the stone tagging. He was carried to salooI
dSIosS tut stieeti anu III u lew
Two other men jumped from fourth-story win
dow, one of whom seemed not to be dangerous,
hurt but the other expired in a few minutes. 4
woman at a ffth-story window, on the Fiji
street front became panic-stricken, and jumped
out, but alighted on her feet, and was carried Il
the st. James hotel still alive. Her husband
who had been standing by her side, then tore VI
bedding and let the strip so made out of the win
dow. To this the tiremen attached rope, which
the man hauled up, making it fast to the window
SILL and safely descended by it.
The hotel was owned by Robert Campbell, and
kept by Breslin, Darling Co., from New York
The total loss is about three-quarters of million
and the insurance four hundred and thrty-twC
thousand dollars, considerable of which was il
Boston, Hartford and Rhode Island.
Hanover, n. 1.-THE term opened the 9th in
slant About two-thirds OF the students wer,
here the first day, and most all are here now
The campus WAS dry when we came and the liyel,
football may be seen bounding over it most o.
the time out of study hours. The weather Ia,
been hue and everything seems favorable for
pleasant term. The arrangement Of terms ha,
been changed again, for what reason is unknown