The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-04-12

80 w AaAAS hNN8 wv hORb
body In nearly every room. Kate Claxton
jumped from au upper room and had both
legs broken.
SECOND DISPATCH,
A later dispatch says the hotel was full.
Many jumped from upper stories and were
killed. 1t is thought the loss of life will
not exceed fifty.
THIRD DISPATCH.
SIS LOUIS, April Ii.
The Southern hotel fire originated in the
upper stories about 1.45 o'clock this morn
ing. 1t is believed that fifty lives were
lost.
C~INCINNATT1, April II.
st. Louis specials say that before the en-
glnes arrived at the Southern hotel the en-
tire upper stories were in flames. At two
O'Clock the scene was indescribable. The
windows in the upper stories were crowded
with shriekiDg men and women, whom it
seemed impossible to save. A few had been
rescued by ladders placed on the Fourth
street portico, but on the other three sides
of the building the largest ladders tell far
short of reaching the windows. Peter
Blow, a son of the former minister to
Brazil, was sleeping in his room on the
sixth floor, and succeeded, after strenuous
exertions, in escaping with a broken arm.
The building Is six stories high, and Blow
thinks a majority of the inmates of the up.
per stories must have persisted. Two men,
u~nrecognized, were killed by Jumping from
the third story, and the third badly man.
gled. Five women we're rescued from the
sixth story by firemen, who, after ascend
ing patent ladders, succeeded in getting up
to the half sufrocated creatures. The fire
is said to have originated in q store room.
[FIFTH DISPATCH
ST. LOUIS, April IL.
The number of lives Lost cannot be
given, but it is feared forty or fifty perish
ed, either being burned or smothered. The
fire caught in the storeroom in the base
ment, and was first seen coming through
the ground floor just north of the office,
and in ten minutes it had ascended the Gle
vators and rotundi and spread itself over
the sixth floor, under the roof. This floor
was occupied entirely by employees, the
largest part women. Frantic men, women
and children ran through the halls Shrek
ing in a most heartrending manner in their
wild and desperate efforts to escape. The
smoke was go dense in some of the halls
that the gas jets were extinguished, which
rendered egress, even to those most
familiar with the building, difficult.
The density of the smoke drove many
guests hack into their rooms, and they
rushed TO the windows. Ladders were
raised as soon as possible, and women and
children, with nothing but their night
clothes on, were rescued. Some tainted
and others sunk exhausted to the ground.
The ladders generally were too short
to reach the fifth and sixth stories, but by
hosting some of them on the one-story
balcony on the east side, and the two-story
balcony on the north side, these floors were
reached and all at the windows rescued.
The fire escape saved many. While this
work was going on, some frightful scenes
occurred. One man who had been occu-
plying a window on the Walnut street front
became desperate at the delay. He tore
the sheets into strips, tied them together,
fastening this rope TO the window sill, and,
disregarding the fact that il did not reach
more than twenty feet, he let himself down
hand over hand. He reached the end of
the sheet and then seemed to realize his po-
sition. He swung slowly to and fro, sway
ed by the breeze, his limbs convulsively
striving 10 catch upon something; then he
let go, turned round and round, and finally
struck on the stone tagging with a sicken-
in. thud. He died soon after.
Other men jumped from the fourth story
windows. One seemed TO be not danger
ously hurt, while the other died. A woman
in the fifth story became panic stricken and
jumped out, alightiDg on her feet. She is
still alive. Her husband tore up bedding
and let it out of the window. To this the
firemen attached a rope which the man
hauled up, making it fast to the window
sill, safely descended by it. j. E. Wilson
jumped from a fourth story window and
was killed. Andrew Ensman and Mrs.
Scott met death in the fame way. The
mortality among the female help of the
hotel is feared to be great. There were 200
of them, all of whom lodged in the upper
story. The panic among them wss perfect
ly terrible, and a number jumped from the
upper windows. Among these known to
have been killed in this manner were
Bridget Mead, Mary Carey, Bridget White,
Ellen Reilly, and several others who were
carried away by friends.
ATE CLAYTON UNHURT-
Kate Claxton had a narrow escape, and
is unframed. Among those known to
have been saved are ii. Kretz of Texas,
Miss A. Mccoy of Altoona, Penn, Mrs.
Colt of Syracuse, w. b. Cogswell and
family and u. Kimball of Mine LaMott,
Mo. DIR. Gellact, German, jumped from a
window and broke a leg. His wife is un-
hurt. Charles Teeman lost his life in trying
to save others. Philip Gerold, n boarder,
was brought out alive, but crszed. Half an
hour after the fire was discovered the
entire roof was ablaze and the flames were
rapidly descending to the lower stories.
Half an hour later the floors and interior
walls began to fall, the roof fell in, and
there is now nothing left of the hotel ex-
cept the Walnut street front and parts of
the Fourth and Fifth street faces. The
loss on the building and contents will be
from $3.50, 900 to 1000, 900. Insurance I'M