Milford chronicle., 1883-01-26
THE MILWAUKEE FIRE.
THRILLING GENES DESCRlRFB ny
s0lIE OF TIE EYE-NITNE ssE~.
PRAYER AND RELIEF.

PRAYER AND RELIEF.
Mary McAuley. who lies at the Axte
House in a nervous condition, and who
was carried out in faint by Fireman
Strauss, says: II was awakened by the
/ shouts and screams of the others, aud
ran into the hall 1t was full Of girls
rushing madly up and down, crying and
screaming. l rushed to the end Of the
hall, peered through the doorway and
saw that everything was smoke and fire
outside. then ran back, and passing a
room where seven girls had taken refuge,
| Joined them, and we all knelt down in
prayer One of the girls had a crucifix,
and fat woman prayed out loud just
as we had given up all hope the window
crashed in our room and ! tainted. 1t
so happened that the fireman with lad
der had found our room out of thirty
others, and we, with few others, were
saved. I knew nothing after fainting
until / awoke here. Ought / not to be
thankful?'
THE FORGOTTEN BELL.
An important fact connected with the
fire is that n large fire bell had been
hung in the area since the erection Of
the hotel, to be used for alarming the in-
mates in cases of imminent danger from
fire or otherwise. This bell hung III
wooden framework in the rear Of the
office, and once had rope reaching
nearly to the floor of the area, so that
the alarm could be given by the engineer
or any other person deputized for that
purpose. The rope dropped off several
years ago from the effects of decay, and,
although it is claimed that the attention
of Mr. Antisdel was called to the fact, a
new rope was never supplied. Hence,
on Wednesday morning, when the fire
was discovered, it could not have been
rung, even if thought Of But it seems
no one thought Of the bell until after the
hotel was in ruins. The size Of the bell
was such that its sound would have
reaches every part Of the mammoth
building.
AMONG THE CHARRED CORPsEs.
The scenes around the noxes of
charred remains brought from the ruins |
were too heartrending to be adequately |
described by any pen. Mothers, who |
have spent sleepless nights and mourn |
ing days since the fire waiting for tidings /
of missing sons and daughters. stood /
over the blackened bones and smoking
flesh trying to identify the remains.
Husbands who have lost wives and wives |
whose husbands met death in the flames |
and smoke, tenderly, searchingly bent |
above the black and smouldering heaps, !
vainly trying to recognize the lost. The
front and interior portions Of the build
ing are draped in mourning, and the
boxes containing the remains are placed
n the room, numbered in the order in
which the remains are recovered.
CONDITION OF MIR. GILBERT
John Gilbert, the actor, is reported
,etter, and hopes are felt of his recovery.
lie knows nothing of the fire and inn
gines that he has been drinking heavily,
nd remarked to his physician This
thinking whisky is a terrible thing"
The news of the death of his wife will be
ept from him MS long as possible.
THE ARRESTED BAR-KEEPEB.
Scheller, the bar-keeper Of the New
all House, who has been arrested,
harged with setting the building on I
re, came to Milwaukee with Mr.. An
sdel from Detroit about nine years
go, when the latter assumed charge
t the Newhall House. He had been J
hicf clerk in the Biddle House in that
ity when Mr.. Antisdel kept it. The
wo men, it is said, have always been
arm personal friends. Scheller learned
he printers trade in his youth, L
nd worked at it in Detroit for six years. +
'esidos Scheller's well-known financial /
and his high insurance,
lother thing which gave rise to the first G
lspiciOn, was his attempt to blow mp r
le Newhall House by gas explosion b
)me two weeks ago. So great WIS the
anger Of Scheller being lynched in Mil r
aukee that he was secretly taken from
le jail there and sent into the interior g
the State. p
DAMAGING EVIDENCE. II
The most damaging evidence in con s.
scton with the arrest Of Scheller, the II
mkeeper of the Newhall House, on a a
large of having set the fire, has come
light, despite the efforts of the police
keep the direct causes leading to the W
rest secret. On the day before the fire I
,heller removed part Cf his stock OF Y
luors from the Newhall House bar !,
ON to his private house. The stock
removed is valued at 800. The in "
rance agents have done nothing toward 81
justment of Schellers policies since SC
arrest. Surprising developments ere
pected. The insurance men now
enly assert that Scheller's stock was
,fth hardly one half tue amount in pl
red for.
IN ONE GRAVE. bl
The remains of the forty unidentified m
rsons will be inferred in Forest Home II
metery, the officers of which have tb
cred a burial site. A meeting of the
rgy of all denominations has been n
led to make arrangements and agree
on the ceremonies for the funeral. 81
careful estimate places the number Of tb
tins of the catastrophe at seventy rf
e. Seventeen bodies of these killed
jumping were taken to the morguc 81
the morning of the fire; eight of the op
'vivors have died since. Three iden- ",
ed and thirty-four unacceptable 70
lies have been taken from the ruins. H.,
6 list of saved embraces l02 1Rames, -
King for granted Chief Clerk Tees w
tement that 10 guests and 81 ems bu
yees were in the hotel at the time Of
fire, these figures leave four persons
accounted for, who are presumably
he ruins.
MODEL FATmR-IN-LAw- Tho
Ia (Ga.) Constitution says:
dsomest Christmas present
son was check for S25,0r