Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1877-04-21
CALAMITY AT ST. LOUIS.
Destruction Of the Southern Hotel by Fire
and Loss Of Over Twenty Lives.

at l O'Clock on the morning OF the llth,
and which quickly called out the entire
Fire Department of the city, was the
quiet prelude to the greatest disaster
st. Louis has yet sustained, the extent
of which may not be fully discovered for
several days. Nearly upon the tenth
anniversary Of the burning of the mag
nificent Lindell Hotel, the splendid
Southern Hotel has been swept away
more suddenly and by yet more fright
full conflagratien. The burning of the
Lindell was disastrous because of the
immense destruction of property; the
burning of the Southern was yet more
disastrous because of the melancholy loss
of human life and fearful circumstances
under which so many were hurried into
eternity. No confagration in st. Louis
has yet been attended with so great a loss
of life, unless We may except the de-
struction of the old Pacific Hotel, before
the War, when many were killed by the
flames and by madly leaping from win
dows in their effort to escape the flames.
At the Lindell confagration the fire
burned for two hours in the upper stO-
ries, giving time for the saving of life
Southern Hotel the flames spread so
rapidly after they were discovered in the
center of the building, making crater
Of the elevator, seizing upon the stair
cases, and filling all the halls and pass
age-ways with fire and smoke, that al
most the entire interior of the building
was in state of confagration in an in
credibly short space of time, cutting off
from many all chance IF escape, and
putting the salvation of property utterly
out of the question.
At this conflagratioR, no words could
picture the horror of the terrible awak-
ening of the many inmates of the vast
earavansary when they were startled
from the deepest and sweetest sleep Of
night, some by the alarm in the halls
and at their doors, and others by the
glare of the light and the actual invasion
Of their rooms by the flames, to find
themselves
CONFRONTED WITH DEATH
in its most horrible form. Even before
the lids sealed by sleep could fairly I'M
close-before the slumbering senses
could be aroused to a comprehension of
the nature of the calamity and the ex-
tent of the danger-the instinct of self
preservation forced the affrighted VIC
Tins out of their beds and into the halls,
blindly and wildly rushing hither and
thither--anywhere, anywhere, out of
1ames-seeking escape by the involun-
tary action of their muscles, as much as
by the exercise of intelligence
There could be no thought of saving
property, however valuable. There was
no time to consider apparel or appear
ance. A few hurried on this or that ar
ticle of clothing, but many issued forth
from their rooms in their night clothing,
INTENT ONLY UPON ESCAPE,
in any attire and by any avenue. All
thoughts and feelings were swallowed
up by the overwhelming desire for life,
and fears and shames which would have
been carefully considered an hour be-
fore were overpowered and swept away
by the appalling presence of the most
painful OF deaths. Many soon discOy-
cred, to their horror, that all avenues of
escape had been cut off and rushed from
contact with the flames to look on death
in another shape at the windows, whence
they gazed from dizzy heights upon the
surging crowd below, anxious but often
unable to assist them. Then ensued a
long series of
TERRIBLE AND TRAGIC SCENES,
some of which will never be recorded
of despairing dashes to the roofs and
pavements below-of forms flung head
long through the murky air to drop at
last with such sickening thuds as sent
shudders through the streets full of peo-
ple-of solemn and final farewells by
those who clasped hands for the last |