Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-04-18
n O. 25.
Frightful Calamity.

ST. LOUIS, April ll.-Ihe mos
frightful calamity that has ever befall
en- St. Louis took place at a very earl
hour this morning, involving the de-
struction of the Southern Hotel BY
fire and the loss of great number o.
lives.
From the best information at hand
it seems that the fire caught in tlr
store-rooms in the basement. and -wa+
first seen coming through the grand
floor, just north Of the Office, and ir
ten minutes it had ascended the eleya-
tors aud rotunda, and spread itself oy,r
the sixth floor, under the roof Thi,
floor was occupied entirely by the EN-
ployes of the hotel, the largest part Of
whom were women.
The fire spread rapidly, filing every
room and hall with flames and smoke
and the scene was of the most terribl,:
description. Frantic men, women aDG
children ran through the halls Shrek
ing in the most heartrendering manner,
In their wild and desperate efforts t..
escape. The smoke was so dense iu
some of the halls that the gasligh,s
were extinguished, which renderen
egress even to those most familiar will,
the building matter of great difhcui-
ty.
The fire department was on the spot
promptly, and hundreds of people con
gregated at the scene, ready and viii
ing to render any aid necessary. Tke
density Of smoke in the halls drove
many guests and boarders back init
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
but night-clothes on were thus 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 the fifth and sixth stories.
but by hosting 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.
While this was going on some
frightful scenes occurred One man.
who had beeu occupying window on
the Walnut street front of the hotel.
became desperate at the seeming delsy
in efecting his escape, and with
nervous hands he tore the sheets trom
his bed, tied them together, 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.
The men below, who saw his position.
turned away their heads to avoid wit
Messing the sickening event that Was
inevitable. Finally he reached the
end of the string, and then, for the
first time, he seemed to realize has
position. He stopped and threw his
head back, revealing CHASTITY face,
and swung to and fro, swayed by the
breeze which the roaring flames above
created. His limbs swung around
convulslvely as though to catch upon
something, then he let go and groans
went up from the hundreds as he
whirled round and round and finally
struck on the stone tagging with a
sickening thud. He was carried to
saloon across the street, and died in
few moments.
At quarter past two, 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 hote1s
in the country except the Walnut
street front and parts of the Fourth
and Fifth street faces. The loss on
the building and contents win be from
$3.50, 900 to ST ,000,000