The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1877-04-18
ANOTHER CALAMITY.

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Burning of the Southern Hotel at ST. Louis.
n At l:45,f a., m.,i on the morning Of
the 18th. the Southern Hotel at St.
Louis was discovered to be on fire.
From the best information at hand
the fire caught in the store
|fooms in the basement, and was seen
coming through the ground floor, just
north of the office. In ten minutes it
Hull assembled the elevators and rotun-
da and spread itself over the sixth
floor, and 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 description. W
Frantic men, women and children
ran through the halls, shrieking in the
most heart-rending manner, III their
wild and desperate efforts to escape.
The smoke was so dense some of the
halls that the gas jets were extinguish-
ed, which rendered egress, even to
those most familiar with the building,
a matter of great difficulty The fire
department was promptly on the spot,
and hundreds of people congregated at
the scene, ready and willing to render
any aid necessary. The density of the
smoke in the halls drove many of the
guests and boarders back to their
rooms and they rushed to the windows
as means of escape. Ladders were
raised as soon as possible and women
and children, with nothing on but their
night clothes, were thus taken from
the burning building.
Some tainted from fright, while
others sunk exhausted to the ground,
from nervous prostration. The lad
ders were generally too short to reach
to the fifth and sixth stories, but by
hosting some on the first story balcony
on the east side and second story bal
cony on the north side of the building
these fools 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 Il
window on the Walnut street front of
the hotel, became desperate at the
seeming delay in effecting his escape.
With nervous hands he tore sheets
from his bed into strips, tied them to-
gether, fastening this improvised rope
to the window-sill, and disregarding
the fact that it did not reach more
than twenty feet, he let himself down,
hand over hand. Men below saw his
position and turned away their haeds
to avoid witnessing the sickening
event that was inevitable. Finally he
reached the end of the strip and then.
for the first time, he seemed to realize
his position. He stopped, threw his
head back, revealing a CHASTITY face,
and swung slowly to and fro, swayed
by the breeze which the roaring flames
above created. ........-. e. =
His limbs swung around convulsive-
ly as though to catch upon something,
and then he let go and groans went up
from hundreds as he whirled round,
and finally fell upon the tagging, with
tbickening thud. He was carried to
a saloon across the street and died in
a few minutes. Two other men
jumped from fourth story windows,
one of who seemed not to be danger
ously hurt, while the other expired in
few moments. A woman in the
| Fifth street y front became panic
stricken and jumped out. She alight.
ed on her feet and was carried to the
St. James Hotel, still alive. Her hus.
band, who had been standing by her
side, then tore up their bedding and
let down the strip SO made out of the
window. TO this the tiremen attach.
! ed a rope which the man hauled up
making it fast to the window sill and
safely descended by it.
| "A man named j. E. Wilson jumped
from fourth story window and was
killed. Andrew Ensman and: Mrs.
Scott met their death in the same
way.
Mr.. Peter Blow, son of the former
Minister to Brazil, was sleeping in his
room on the sixth floor, and succeed
! ed, after strenuous exertiOns, in es-
Gaping with his life and a broken arm.
The building is six stories in height,
and Mr.. Blow thinks that the majority
of inmates of the two upper stories of
the building persisted. Two men, un'
recognized, were killed jumping from
the third story window, and a third
one was badly mangled. Five women
were rescued from the sixth story Oh
the Fifth street side by heroic efforts
of the firemen, who, after ascending
the patent ladder, succeeded in get.
ting rope to the half suffocated crea.
lures. fs...+ e.
Miss Kate Claxton the actress who
was acting when the Brooklyn theate1