The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1883-01-19
An Awful Hotel Fire.
20 PEOPLE LITERALLY ROASTED

Horrors Beyond all Description-Apful Deaths
in the Presence Of a Poweriess Muttitude-PaDe-
ments Srewn Nth Dead and Dying--Leaps into
Eternity-Narro,o Escape of Theatrical Compa.
mics.
MILwAUKEE, WIS, Jan. 10.-This morning
| at five minutes past four o'clock a fre broke
out in the Newhall House here, an eight story
hotel recently built, which has always been re-
garded as n death trap and been the subject Of
many gloomy predictions.
The building ha accommodations for eight
hundred guests and much of its space was oc
| cupied, while.eighty-six of the servants employ
ell there were asleep in various portions of it,
In half an hour il mass of flames, and
scene was presented surprising in horror almost
anything ever recorded
The gigantic building was literally one solid
flame, so hot that the great crowd Of citizens and
the brigade Of fir .men gathered by its light was
kept back and Withheld by q wall Of quivering suf-
focating air from carrying succor to the unfor-
tunate, who could be plainly seen struggling to
the windows and whose shreks Of horrible an
guish and fear were heard above the cracking
and roaring rs the fire swept upward and the
smoke rolled off in dense mssseS.
Forms and faces brought out with terrible
distinctness by the vivid light behind and around
them would appear at the upper windows and
| then dark bodies would be seen falling swiftly,
and could be heard striking the sidewalks with
the sickenng crash caused by crushed bones and
| flesh. The pavement at the bottom of the house
was literally covered with ifeless bodies lying
| as they fell in all directions and positions, made
more ghastly by the unnatural contortions of
broken limbs aud joints.
Often, however, the faces at the windows
every expression on which was Visible to the
powerless crowd below would be turned away
and the hoarse death cry of n IN IN, or the last
despairing shriek of woman would signal
other death rs the victims fell back into the hell
Of flame. and was consumed like feather.
The fremen work ell wherever men could live,
and saved many people. number Of the more
fortunate inmates of the house reached windows
beneath which people could stand, aud by leap
ing into canvass held there escaped will nothing
more serious than broken limbs and severe jars.
All of the mcmbors off Madison Square Theatre
Company staying at the House escaped. Tom
Thumb, who also there, escaped, and his
| wife rescued by firemen and brought down
n fire escape. Mrs. John Gilbert, of the Minnie
Palmer troupe and wife of the veteran actor,
was burned to death in plain sight Of the multi
| tudc.
| The death roll so far numbers from fifty to
sixty, although the numbers Of guests distribu-
ted through the labarynthan passage makes an
accurate statement impossible, and it is feared
| that there number of persons lost who are
yet not known of. The wounded number thir-
ty, and several ofthem will probably die Teie-
| graph to .GreenuiNe Ne,rS.
| THE DAY AFTER THE FfRE.-At daylight this
morning large gang Of laborers resumed the
work ofhunting for the dead in the ruins of the
Newhall House. The streets in the vicinity of
the ruins are packed with people. and the great.
est excitement prevails. The entire fire depart.
ment is engaged in pulling down the remains Of
the walls. The police and fremen confident
! that n number of people lie buried in the ruins,
lnclulng number of guests Of the hotel not
mentioned in the list published. Crowds of
people are arriving here by every train, and the
hotels are filed with fearful, anxious persons
seeking friends or relatives supposed to have
been in the fire. Portion of the fallen walls have
piled up the debris at the main entrance to the
hotel. and the hope of finding the bodies seem:
more forlorn than ever. Business is all but sus
pended throughout the city. most of the inhabi
tants having swarmed about the rufus. Every
undertaken in the city is busy, and preparations
are being made for twenty funerals.