The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1883-01-18

window into the canvas held Nv the fircmen
died at the cntral Police Station. Mr..
Hough was visiting the family of Allen
Johnson. lie was special agent Of the
Northwestern National Fire Insurance Com
panv Of the city. and leaves wife and four
children lie was about iO years OF age
There was touching sctiiie when he tried
to tel the bystandefs whefH lie lived He
spelled out the words .p-e-o-rI-h, wife.
baby"
One OF the saddest facts in connection
with this awful catastrophe Is the fate Of
Mr. and Mrs John Gilbert Mr.. Gilbert is
connected with the Minnie Palmer Com
Iany playing the part of the gambler in
MY Sweetheart. Monday, in Chicago, Just
before leaving for Milwaukee, Mr. Gilbert
married Young lady 10 whom he was de-
votedly attached, and who reciprocatcd the
love bestowed upon her. Wednesday morn
ing the fair touri.- wife lay ih the morgue
dead, and at the plallkintun House, writhing
in agony, lay the husband, but step from
deaths door.
There was a strange incident when MRS.
Gilbert's body reached the morgue. An
Irishman Identified the corpse as that Of his
daughter. He nj once proceeded to strip
from the fingers Of the dead woman her
sparkling rings and to wrench the ornaments
from her ears At that moment old Mrs.
Donahue reached the morguc and, with
passionate burst Of grief, recognized the
body az that of her daughter-in-law. Its
my child" cried the alleged father still
stripping the jewelry from the dead wom-
the robbcr confronted each other, and the
painful scene amid the Rhastly surroundings
created the greatest confusion.
The multitude by this time had sweled to
thousands, who stood in perfect awe. but
few having self-poSsession and resolution
enough to lend a helping hand on the cam
vases stretched out to receive those of the
~s.
risked the leap down to the stone sidewalk
100 feet below. At first there We're OILY
Lieut. lockwood, Detectives Ricman and
McManns, Officers O'Brien and Campbell
and few Seatinel men stretching the heavy
canvas, which required fully thirty
strong men to handle successfully A poor
fellow stood on the cornicc Of the fifth
story corner window for twenty long
minutes, not daring the fearful leaI.
Finally he became bewildered, to Judge
by his actions, or tlumbfounded by
smoke, and slid off his perch to the canvas
II the necessary resistance. The body fell,
hnliindered by the canvas, with q crash
which sent sliudder through every witness
The shattered body was carried into tho
American Express office All the while
hundreds Of people had been looking on, no
body responding 10 the demands of the
officers for aid. Everybody seemed To be
spellbound. The terrible spectacle seemed
to have paralyzed every bit Of will
power. In the sixth-story window, right
over this unfortunate. sat the figure Of Il
man, crouchei upon tile window sill, gazing
like one absent minded into the fiery alvss
below, motionless but from TIME to time
sending up q hcartrcnding shrek. Steadily
the flames encroached upon him. He did
| not seem to mind it Then the flames singed
his hair, licked his night clothes One des-
| pairing look he gave to the crowd below,
And then tntnblet hack Into the sea OF fire.
!, man and woman appeared at window
of the third story. They were recognized as
Allen Johnson and his wife canvas was
stretched below the windows Of their apart
ments, formerly occupied by Prof. Haskins
and lady, and thousand voices called. be-
son kissed his wife, then leaped
into the mir and shot downward
into the canvas, but his weight was such
that the canvas was pulled out of the hands
Of the few who held it, and he landed on tho
| ground with deathlv force. His wife fol-
| lowed. Her body struck the veranda and
| fell to the ground lifclcsH Mr. Allen died
shortly arterMard In the express Office, and
I his dead body wis laid beside that Of hts
wife until they were borne away
| About q dozen jumped from the Michigan
street front Each leap meant death or
/ shattered limbs, and not less than four un-
/ fortunates ut one time lay upon the icy side
walk front OF the Chamber Of Commerce,
| clad only In nght-shirtA. blood and brains
! oozing from the wounds through which the
| bones protrutied SOME were carried TO tho
| express Office and others to the ground
| floor OF the Mitchell Building, where cots
had been hastily arranged. and from there
they We're carried Oft to the houses of kind
hearted people.
Gen Tom Thumb md wife. who were
stopping Mt the hotel. had narrow escape.
They we're awakened hv policeman and
hurriedly made their exit through window
and down a long ladder. Mrs Thumb max
I ing the descent in the ar, af the officer.
They lost all their baggage
Hon William E. Gra,ns.-. editor Of the
Ereaing WISCONSIN, and wife, who had rooms
on the second floor recciycd serious but not
fatal injuries, and he Il now under medical
care at the Plankinton. Mr. cfamcr was
badly burned about the hands and head
Mrs. Cramer's hair was badly burned, a
were also her hands and feet
sixteen Of the victims have been posi-
lively identified rs follows: Allen johnson
commission man, Milwaukee; Mrs Aller
johnson. Milwaukee: D. g, Powers. inventor
| Milwaukee; i. II. Hough, travelling man
Peoria, Ill Mrs John Gilbert, wife of tn,
nctor Miss 1ibbie Chellis. dressmaker. Mil
waukee: Mr. Hun, insurance agent, Iowa
Mrs Kelly, servant; Miss ONeil, servant
Bessie Brown. chamherinnid Thoma
T. Van Loon, capitalist, formerly. o
Albany. n Y, later OF Milwaukee
Maggie Owens servant. Milwaukee; Kat,
lnehan, servant. Milwaukee,; Maggie Sulli
servant, Milwaukee; Mary McDade, servan,
Milwaukee: Mitchell Hallan servant. Mil
waukee: G. Hewcy, conductor Wisconsin
Central, Milwaukee,; Mary Mcmahon, Nil
wankee; Charles Kelsey, Tom Thumbs ser
want; Mary conroy, iaundre>s, Milwaukee
Ottillic Waltersdorf. kitchen girl, aged L
Catharine Monahan. pantry waiter, Bridge
. ODonnell, hall girl, Sun Prairie, Wis
. The NcwAall House was built hy DAME
! Newhall and his associates in lA1s. Th
original cost of the structure including tn
! lot and furniture. was 4.1a.Ma II was situ
: atcd on the southeast corner OF BiuadNa
and Michigan street. was built ot Milwaukee
! brick the dimensions were 1aaxls1 fee
1t was SIX stories high and had SO rooln
The hotel was a tinder- box. firc-tla,
J Instead Of brick partition walls, trcStle -Mo,
. Of twelye-inch pine timber formed the mal
! support and constituted the principal d
visions Of the entire building above th
ground floor.
!, A Milwaukee dispatch Of the 18th ins
SAYS: There were III guests and sixt. -seye
, employees in the building. Of these tWent
, have been 81 far identified among the dea,
forty eight are missing and sixty seven n
| known To he saved. leaving forty two una,
) counted for and supposed To be in the ruin
The tuttering walls We're torn down ycste
: day by force of loo men employed by Il
1 Board OF Public Works The Comme
i Council indulged in u stlunbble as to the e
! pense of rcscuing the bodies. three Aide
, men opposing the prosecution Of the scare
4 week will be required To remove the debri
: Nineteen bodies. or rather parts of Il
) bodies of nineteen persons, had been due o
. Of the ruins Of the burned hotel up u Il
! morning of the 18th inst. One or two of Il
: !. bodies WIS taken out almost entil
: yet 50 badly biackened aud crisp,
: : as To preclude the possibility of iden
: iication. OF the others only ira
ments were found A horrib. feature
: the calamity Ii revealed in the number
{ fragments Of human flesh and bones faul
! In the ruins-here a foot there an arm, ~
! elsewhere portion OF u skull or some 9th
! portion Of a ho,iy--Mhich goes Ia show til
:. : as the victims fell back III the vortex
= flame and descended with the fioor- -tilnbe
j they struck upon the network of gas a
I water pipes and We're torn To pieces Ii b
!. heen ascertained that Mr.. Brown,
= Hamilton, Ont. his wife and four childr
met death in the lll-fated hustelry j
: Gould sent $50 for the relief fund, and I
1sZA