The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-04-12
ANOTHER HORROR.
Burning of the Southern Hotel
i'm st. Louis.
FIFTY LIVES SUPPOSED TO
BE LOST.
Details of the Fearful
Catastrophe.

in this city was destroyed by fire at two o'clock
this morning. About fifty lives were lost as
nearly as can be ascertained up to this time.
The fire was very nearly extinguished at ten
o'clock. The hotel was full of guests All
stores in the vicinity are filled with the dead
and wounded. A large number Jumped from
the fourth, fifth and sixth story windows and
were crushed to DEATH
Peter Blow, son of the former minister to
Brazil, was sleeping on the sixth floor, and
of the inmates Of the fifth and sixth stories
persisted.
Five women were rescued from the sixth
story on the Fourth street side by the firemen,
who placed the ir ladders on the Fourth street
portico, but on the other three sides of the
building the longest ladders fell far short of
reaching the windows.
The Scene at the Fire.
The exact number of lives lost cannot now be
| given, but it is feared that some forty or nifty
persons persisted, either by being burned direct
ly or first smothered by smoke and then con-
sumed. From the best information, 1t seems
that the fire caught in StoreroOm ID the Dase-
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
rolunda, and spread itself over the sixth floor
under the roof. This floor was occupied eXclu-
sively by employees of the hotel, the largest
part of whom were women.
The fire spread rapidly, filling every room
with flames and smoke, and the scene was of
the most horrible description Frantic men.
women and children ran through the halls
shriekipg in 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 extinguished, which rendered
| egress even to those familiar with the building
| matter of great difficulty
1 rba Gro VANITY MOS no MT,
/ ly 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 guests and 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 sunk 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.
While this was going on some frightful scenes
occurred. One man who had been occupying a
| window on the Walnut street front of the
hotel became desperate at the seeming delay in
| effecting his escape, and with nervous hands he
tore the sheets from his bed into strips and
tied them together. Fastening this improvlsed
| rope to the window sill and dsregardirg the
fact that it did not reach more than twenty
| feet, he let himself down hand over hand.
Men below who saw his position turned away
their heads to avoid witnessing the sickening
event that was inevitable. Finally he reached
tn end of the sheet and then for the first time
he seemed to realize disposition. He stopped
threw his head back, revealing CHASTITY coun.
tenance, and swung slowly to and fro swayed
4 hu tho hrpQzn whinh tho rOaripo Homos ahnvc
created. His limbs swung around convulsiyely
l 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 sickeping thud. He
| was carried to a saloon across the street and
| died in few moments.
| Some Of the Victims.
The names of no eastern people appear
among the killed or wounded.
Two men jumped from the fourth story win.
dow, one of whom seemed not dangerously
hunt, while the other expired in few mo-
ments.
| woman in the fifth story window on the
Fifth street front jumped out. She alighted
on her feet, and was carried to the ST. James
Hotel, still alive. Her husband, who was
standing by her side, then tore up the bedding
and let the strip solmade out of the window tc
| man hauled up, and made fast to the window
| sill and safely descended by it.
A man named j. E. Wilson jumped from
the fourth story window and was killed. An,
drew Ensman and Mrs Scott met their death
| in the same way.
The mortality amonglthe female help of the
| hotel is feared to be great. There were some
| 200 of them, all lodged in the upper story OF
the building. The panic among, them was
| perfectly terrible. Miss Kate Claxtop, the
| actress, had another narrow escape and is I'M
l harmed.
At2 Is, or about half an hour after the fire
was discovered, the entire roof was ablaze and
the flames rapidly descending to the lower
stories. Half an hour later the floors and in
interior walls began to fall. The roof fell in
| and now nothing is left of the hotel except the
Walnut street front and parts of the Fourth
| aud Fifth street faces. Loss on building and
| contents will be from $4,000 to 81, 100000.
The engines are still playing on the tire and
force is organized to search for dead bodies.
Several bodies have already been taken from
the debris in more or less burned state, but the
names are not yet ascertaned; also severa
bodies are at the Morgue awaiting identified
| ton. Mrs. Moran, servant, was killed by
jumping from window. George Frank Gou.
ley, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge Of
Freemasons of Missouri, is supposed persisted
| Six other persons, names unknown, were killed
either by jumping from windows or sutfocated
by smoke and dragged out of the burned build
ing.
SIP. NJ idmore Hayden, Superintendent Of
| the American Express stable, is among The
killed; also Henry Hazlen. deputy auditor o.
the Missouri Pacific Railroad. An Englishmar
| named Adams, said to be a commissioner oil
education, has been identified at the Morgue.
EUering-The report that number of bodies
| were taken from the ruins this morning proves
to have been false. The fire department. have
not yet succeeded in cooling off the debris suffi-
GENTLY to enable the search to be made. Mr..
Adams, referred to in the previous despatch,
was Rev. A. Il. Adams, incumbent of parish
in Berkshire, Eng. He was on his way from
Florida to California. His remains await the
| order of his friends.
Lottie Allen, an actress from the East, and
Miss Clifton of the Olympic company of this
city, whose guest she was, are among the saw
ed. 81. F. or 81. NJ Clark, railway conductor
said to be formerly from Toledo, together with
| his wife and children, are among the killed.
Milton Noble, the actor, and Miss frankie Nc
Lellan, actress. were saved, but the latter was
seriously injured. The former was mainly in
strumental in saving the lives of the lad es
who were on the same floor of the hotel as
| himself.
vicinity of the fire all day, some of them look
ing for absent frieEds, but the great mass of
them actuated only by curiosity. There is a
strong guard of police surrounding the ruins
| and no one is permitted within the lines ex-
| cepting the reporters and those directly inter
known to be dead have notyet been ascertained
| but full list may be expected tonight.
| William Felix Munster, said to be member
OF the English House of Commons, who was
married in this city few months ago, was
residing at the hotel with his wife, became sep
| arated, and under the impression that she was
| killed, he became intensely excited and evil
IDENTIFY lost his mental balance. About six
o'clock this morning he went to thu room of a
friend at the corner of Fourth and Olive streets
and shot himself. The coroner held an inquest
but could not decide whether death was caused
by suicide or accident.
DIR. Auler intends to make very searching
inquiry into the cause of the fire and all the
facts connected with it, but will not begin an
investigation for day or two The fire de-
partment is still throwing water on the ruins
and as soon as they are cool enough search for
the bodies will be commenced. Those most
familiar with the circumstances of the fire and
best acquainted with the number of guests and
employees in the house, believe that few, if any,
of the bodies will be found. There were but
about so female servants in the hotel instead of
200 as previously reported, only one of whom
is known to be missing