The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1877-05-03
What Manager Miles Saw at the st.
Louis Fire.

The Cincinnati Enquirer contains the
story of r. E. J. Miles, the theatrical
manager, who was in the Southern
Hotel at the time of the disastrous fire.
Mr.. Miles had some adventures in es-
Gaping from the hotel, being in the third
story; and when he reached the street
the first man he saw, in an upper window,
surrounded by flames, and shouting to
the firemen for God sake to throw water
on him, was Frank Goulay, the husband
of a woman whom he had helped to
save on his way through the hall. In a
few minutes the smoke and heat over
come Goulay he threw up his arms, bent
his head over his breast and then tum-
bled to the ground beneath, distance
of about seventy feet. Those who
reached him first said he was alive even
after he struck the sidewalk, but when Mr..
Miles reached his side, two minutes after
ward, he was quite dead. Mr.. Miles says
that the sight OF men clinging to win
dows, surrounded almost by flame in full
sight of the immense crowd that lined
the streets was one of the most heart
rending he ever witnessed. The crowd
would watch these unfortunates and
speculate upon the length of time they
would be atle to maintain their position.
At length they would be overcome and
topplc to the street and certain death.
There seemed to be no scaling-ladders in
the st. Louis Department, or If there
were any they were not taken from the
ladder-trucks. Had there been any at
the fire, Mr.. Miles is convinced that
every person in the windows could have
been rescued in safety.
One man went crazy in the building,
and appeared in the window on the par
lor floor attired in sheet which he had
wrapped around him like a toga. He
then harangued the crowd in an excited
manner. The firemen puta ladder up to
the window and went up after him. As
soon as they got near him he warned
them of, saying, Don't come near me !;
keep away keep away" and then darted
back into the room. BE next appeared
at another window, where he struck q
tragic attitude and repeated his TRADE.
He was finally rescued by good luck. A
New York drummer, who was drunk,
was the cause of considerable interest to
the crowd. He would shout to the crowd,
huiiy, Oiiib hio iouuci, Va ~ jun
down." "Don't jump, don't jumpl"
would be shouted back by a hundred
men. He was saved at last, and the first
words he uttered upon reaching the
ground were, Hurrah for st. Louis and
New York Come on boys, I want to
treat the whole Fire Department.
A prominent gambler who boarded at
the hotel was dealing faro-bank in a
house away from the hotel when the fire
was announced. He closed the bank and
put its "roll," about $1,000, in his
pocket, and went over into the hotel to
try tosave some Of his things. He was
lost in the flames.
A singular sight was to be seen as late
as eleven o'clock Wednesday morning in
an upper floor of the burned ruin. 1t was
bird-cage which was suspended from
a doorway, and contained live mock
ing-bird. The bird had survived the
smoke and flames of the awful night,
and an attempt was made to rescue it.
Before 1t could be reached, however, the
wall fell, and the bird was lost in the
debris.