The true northerner., 1877-04-20
THE ST. LOUIS HORROR.
Particulars of the Burning of the Southern
Hotel-Appalling Loss of Life.

AnOtner lrlgntlul chlaHllIy llhs Occttrrtu
At an early hour on the morning of the
18th inst, the Southern Hotel, the lar
gest hostelrie in the city of st. Louis,
caught fire, and in an incredibly short
space of time the building was reduced
to mass of ruins. The destruction OF
the hotel was attended with
sad loss of life. The exact number
of people burned, as in the case of
the recent Brooklyn and Ashtabula dis
asters, will probably never be known
exactly. From the st. Louis pa
pers we CLEAN the following particu-
! lars of the awful disaster 1t seems the
fire caught in the store-room in the base
ment, and was first seen coming through
the ground floor, just north of the office,
and in ten minutes it had assembled the
elevators and rotunda, and spread itself
over the sixth floor under the
roof. This floor was occupied entirely
by employees of the hotel, the largest
part of whom were women. The fire
spread rapidly, filling every room and
hall with flames and smoke, and the
scene was of the most terrible descrip-
ton. Frantic men, women and chill
dren ran through the halls, shrieking in
wild and desperate efforts to escape.
The smoke was so dense in some OF the
halls that the gas-jets were extin-
guished, which rendered egress even to
those most familiar with the building
a matter of great difficulty.
The fire department was on the spot
promptly, and hundreds of people con-
gregated at the scene, ready and will
ing to render any aid necessary.
The density of the smoke in the
halls drove many guests and boarders
back into their rooms, and they rushed
to the windows as n means of escape
Ladders were raised as 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 sank ex-
hausted to the ground from nervous
prostration. The ladders generally were
too short TO reach to the fifth and sixth
stories, but by hoisting some of them on
the one STORY balcony, on the north side
of the building, these floors were reached
and all those at the windows rescued.
The Skinner fire-escape was also
brought promptly into service, and
was the means of saving many lives.
While this work was going on some
frightful scenes occurred. One man,
who had been occupying n window on
the Walnut street front of the hotel, be-
came desperate at the seeming delay in
effecting his escape. With nervous
hands he tore the sheets from his bed
into strips, tied them together, and, fas-
tening this improvised rope to the win
dow-sill, and, disregarding the fact that
it did not reach more than twenty feet,
he let himself down hand over hand.
The men below who saw his position
turned away their heads to avoid witness
ing the sickening event that was newt
able. 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, reveal
ing ghastly face, 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
whirled round and round. and finally
struck on the stone tagging with sick
ening thud. He was carried to a saloon
across the street, and died in a few mo-
ments. Two other men jumped from
the fourth-story windows, one of whom
seemed not to be dangerously hurt,
while the other expired in few mo-
ments.
4 woman in the fifth-stOry window on
/ the Fifth street front became panic
stricken and jumped out. She alighted
on her feet and was carried TO the st.
James Hotel still alive. Her husband,
who had been standing by her side, then
tore up the bedding, and let the strip, so
made, out of the window To this fire
men attached a rope which the man
hauled up, making it fast to the window
sill, and safely descended by it.
A man named J. f. Wilson jumped
from a fourth-story window and was
killed. Andrew Ensmen and Mrs. Scott
met their death in the same way. The
mortality among the female help of the
hotel is feared to be great. There were
some 200 of them, all of whom were
lodged in the upper story of the build
ing. The panic among them was terri
BILE, and a number of them jumped from
the upper windows on the Elm street or
rear side of the house. Miss Kate Clax-
ton, the actress, had another narrow es-
cape, and is unharmed. Charles Teenan
lost his life in attempting to save others.
Philip Gerold boarder at the hotel,
was brought out alive, but entirely
bereft of his reason.
At quarter past 2, or about half an
hour after the fire was discovered, the
entire roof was ablaze, and the flames
were rapidly descending to the lower
stories. A half hour later, the floors
and interior walls began to fall. The
roof fell in, and there is now nothing
left of one of the finest hotels in the
country, except the Walnut street front,
and parts of the Fourth and Fifth street
faces. The loss on the building and
contents will is $780, 600 to 81, 100000.
Incidents Of the Disaster-ThriIling Scenes
and Hairbreadth Escapes.
Within five minutes after the alarm of
fire the halls were filled with dense
smoke, and while the regular boarders,
accustomed to the passages, plunged
boldly down stairs, and were saved with
only one or two exceptions, the transient
guests shut their doors and could only
he removed nv the ladders at tba Win,