Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-04-20
The burning or the Southern Hotel
at 80. Louis.
PARTICULARS OF THE DISASTER.

PARTICULARS OF THE DISASTER.
The origin Of the FIRE which destroyed
the great Southern hotel al st. Louis
wednesday morning, nth inst, is shroud-
ed In mystery, further than that IL began
in what was known as the store-room. This
apartment was In the cellar, directly under
the Office, about eighty feet from the wal
nut street line, and In 1t was stored a mis-
cellanoous collection of supplies. A few
minutes past one o'clock the fire annunci-
stor in the Office gave the alarm to the clerk
on duty, Mr.. q. w. Ford, Jr. The annun-
ciator is self-scting, and operates through
atmospheric influences. Mr.. Ford at once
dispatched word to Mr.. Shepherd, one of
the proprletors of the hotel, who hastily
dressed himself and made his way 10 the
office. When he reached there the flames
had spread from the storeroom 10 the ele-
vator opening, and had III ounted TO the
roof The elevator opening was the trap
that destroyed the Southern, for up 1t the
flames made flue, through which they
spread TO all quarters, In less time than is
required TO tell the story. Could the FIRE
have been confined 10 the lower floors, il
might readily have been extngushed.
Taking ia the situation at a glance, Mr..
Shepherd turned on an alarm through the
district telegraph box, in the Office, at 1:23
o'clock, and seven minutes later the first
alarm was given from the Court House.
Before the engines arrived the entire upper
stories we're in flames. The fire. after
making its way upward through the eeva-
tor opening and spreading in all directions,
began descending, burning out floor after
floor, until the interior of the immense
structure, covering almost an entire square,
was mass of smoking ruins heaped in tho
cellar. The walls, with the exception OF
section on Fourth street, the greater por-
ton of the Elm street front aud some of the
interior walls remain standing. The Elm
street wall Ia falling crushed in an adjacent
restaurant and oyster depot, while side
wall in topping over broke in the roof of
saloon on Finh street.
The great hotel of between 600 and 700
rooms was full of guests. At . o'clock the
scenes in the immediate vicinity of the ho-
tel were Undesirable. The excitement
was intense. The windows IN the upper
stories were crowded with shrieking m,
and women, whom it seemed impossible to
| save. A few were rescued by ladders plac-
| ed on the Fourth street portico, but on the
| other three sides of The building, bounded
| by Finh, Walnut and Elm streets, the long
| est ladder fell far short of reaching the
| windows. The building was six stories
high, the upper story being occupied by
the female servants of the hotel, some 200
| in number. The panic among them was
To-
| from the upper windows on Elm street, on
The rear side Of the house. The fire spread
rapidly, filling every room and the halls
with flames and smoke, and the scene was
| of the most horrible description. Frantic
men, women and children ran through the
| halls, shrieking in the most heartrending
manner in their wild and desperate efforts
| to escape. The smoke was so dense in
some OF the halls that the gas jets were ex-
| tinguished, which rendered egress even to
those most familiar with the building a
matter Of great difficulty. Thousands of
| people congregated at the scene, ready aud
| willing TO render any aid necessary. The
| density of the smoke in the halls drove
many guests aud boarders back into their
rooms, and they rushed TO the windows as
a means OF escape. Ladders were raised as
| soon as possible, and women and children
with nothing on but night clothes were
| then taken from the burning building
| Some tainted from fright and others sank
exhausted TO the ground from nervous
prostration. The ladders generally were
| too short to reach TO the fifth and sixth
| stories, but by resting some Of them on the
one-story balcony on the east side and the
two-story balcony on the north side OF the
building, these floors were reached and all
those at the windows rescued. A fire.
escape was the means of saving many lives.
Painful scenes are reported of persons, in
| panic of fear and desperation, jumping 10
the pavements from the windows of the
upper stories, and being thus manglsd or
instantly killed.
HOW THE INMATES OF THE BUILDING
WE'RE RESCUED.
Tho north or Walnut street side of the
| hotel was the first to receive the attention
of the fremen, as there tho flames were
making The fiercest encroaehment, but in
the mean time the eastern windows and
porch werO filled with groups OF frantic
men and women, wildly calling for help.
| Finally ladder was elevated to the porch,
and one by one tine occupants of it were as
| sisted down. The men and women were,
with a few exceptions, in their night
clothes, but they were only too glad to es-
cape with their lives. Some the women
tainted, some screamed as loud as they
| could, while others waited patiently for
| their turn at the ladder. Some of them
| came down the ladder themselves, but the
| most of them came down in the arms of
the stalwart firemep. Many OF the win
dows on the third. fourth, fiflh, and sixth
| floors were also filled with the more mn
fortunate guests and employees of the hotel,
| all waving sheets from the windows to at
| tract the attention of the crowd below, and
some of them sbrieking in heartrending
manner. One man in the filh story made
| a rope of his bed clothes and tried TO save
himself by sliding down, but unfortunately
he lost his hold just after leaving his win
dow, and fell TO the ground. He was pick
ed up and carried into a saloon, where he
died shortly amer two O'Clock.
After all the people on the porch had
been taken down, the firemen turned their
attention 20 those who were piteously cry
ing for help at the upper windows. One
fthe ladders was pulled up on to The porch,
but after considerable time spent in irving