Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1877-04-11
TELE GRAPHIC.
An Awful Catastrophe In
st. Louis.
THE SOUTHERN HOTEL BURNED TO
the GROUND.
Frightful Loss of Human
Life.
FIFTY PERSONS SUPPOSED TO NAVE
BEEN BURNED.
TEaaIsLE scExEs OF AxouIsa
AID DEsPAiR-
Why Chamberlain Weakened In South
Carolina.
TEE SITUATION IN LorIsIANA
STILL UNCHANGED.
European War Probably Inevitable.
Why Chamberlain Weakened In South
Carolina.
TEE sIrUArIoN IN LorIsIANA
STILL UNCHANGED.
European War Probably Inevitable.
tsrsrAL pnrArcuss tn rHs 0oLp Hill
DAILY Nxval

fsrslAL DnrArcuss To rHH UoLp HI
DAILY Sxwal
4 vrsghsful Calamity In "a Louis.
ST. LOUIS. No.. April 1.-THE most
irightful calamity that has ever befallen
81. Louis took place at . very early hour
this morning. involving the destruction Of
the Southern Hotel by fire, and the loss Of
. large number Of lives. The exact mum.
Der cannot now DO given. bu II 10 feared
that ssme forty or fifty perished. either by
being burned directly. or first smothered
by smoke and then consumed. The IRE
caught In the store.rooms In the basement.
and Was first seen coming through the
ground door Just north Of the Office. In
ten minutes ID hal assembled the elevators
and rotunda, and spread itself over the
sixth floor under the roof. This floor was
occupied entirely by employees OF the ho-
tel. the largest part OF whom were women.
The fire spread rapidly. filling every room
and hall with flames aud smoke. and the
scene was OF the most terrible description.
Frantic men. women aud children ran
through tho halls. loudly shrieking In
the most h~eartrending manner In their
Wild and desperate efforts to escape. The
smoke wAs 20 dense In some OF the halls
that tho gas Jets were extinguished. which
rendered egrsss 10 those most familiar with
the building . matter Of great difficulty.
The density Of the smoke In the halls
drove many guests and boarders back into
their rooms. and they rushed to the win
dows - . means OF escape. Ladders were
raised A soon A. possible, and women and
children with nothing ON but their night
clothes uerc taken from the burning build.
ing. some tainted from fright. and others
sank exhausted to the ground from ner-
yous prostration. The ladders wero gen.
orally too abort 10 reach the fifth and sixth
stories. but by hosting some on the one
story balcony on the east side. and tho two
.tory balcony on the north side Of the
building. these fioors were reached,
anal AM those Al the windows rescued. The
| shinner tire-cscape wss brought into SER
| yics and r.s the mean, Of saving many
i've. While hi. work was going on
.oms fr;chtinI seene. occurred. one man,
mo hal b,en occnpyinx a window ON the
street-front Of the hotel, became desperate
Al the seeming delay In effecting his CO.
| cape. with nervous hands he tore the
| sheets from his bed into strips. tied them
| together, and fastening this improvised
-. a. A.. vin,iow iii. disrsgsrjinr
| The fact that II did not reach more than
twenty feet. lac LET himself down hand over
hsnJ. Tbs men below, seeing his position,
tnrned their heads 10 avoid witnessing
M. sichsnino eysnt that VA. inevitable.
FINALLY Ne reached the snd Of the sheet.
and then for the iirst time he seemed to re-
slize M. positiou. lie stopped, threw his
heal back revealing q CHASTITY face. and
swuns slowly 10 and fro, swayed by the
breeze which the roaring flames above ere
strd. Ills limbs swung around convul-
sively. a. though to catch around some-
thing, then he let 20, and groans went up
from hundreds a. he whirled round and
round and finally struck on the stone nag
cling. He disd In . few moments. Two
other men Jumped from the fourth story
windows. one OF whom seeneu nos 70 %
aanssro1s,y m WIN
woman in the fifth story became panic
STRICKEN and jumped ont; She aiighied
on net tset. ana WAS sarI'ed h.s.na
Who mi bscn Standing by her side then
,ors nm M, Kidding and let the strip so
Nd nut az ,be window. To thi. the fire
No. .,,s.hs.l a ,one which the man haulel |
s..,tto ,ha -inSo~ iii and
" In asea.SsJ ~ I, man named