Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28
AXorHER HOTEL HORROR.

Texas Hotel Caves In, Burying the In'
mates In the Debris, Which Then Take
Fire-Thirtecn People Either Crushed OF
Burned to Death In the Mass OF Ruins
Suicide of Ono Victim to Escape the Slow
Torture of the Resistless Flames.
G~REENv1LLE, Tex, Aprila.
Saturday morning there occurred the most
| dreadful calamity ever known in Texas.
| The Ende Hotel, a three-story brick building
| fell with a terrible crash that fairly shook
| the earth. AS the people rushed around it
they were terrified to hear the shrieks and
| cries of the inmates, who were crushed be-
meath the mass of ruins. A fire broke out
| and the imprisoned victims were burned tc
| death. The killed and burned victims are
as follows:
Mrs. E. W. Pruitt, the proprietress.
George Pruitt, crippled son of the proprie+
tress, burned while begging for relief.
j. d. N. Riley, contractor, crushed TO deatn
Frank West, q railroad freight clerk, crushed
to death.
i. Il. Meals, cotton buyer, manner of death
unknown.
Miss Lou Davis, chambermaid, burned to
j: L. Ford, telegraph line repairer, crushed
Mr.. Hill, a mattress maker, name of death
unknoWn; and four negro servants crusheo
to death.
All the above victims were buried be.
meath the ruins beyond human aid, some be-
ing killed instantly, and others being Gre
mated in the singing flames. Up to this
hour a few Jumps of charred flesh and
bones have been removed, representing the
remnants of six human beings. OF some
Nnly the skulls remain; of others the bodies,
with the limbs burned off, making a sight
horrible beyond description.
The inmates of the house who escaped
We're:
W. D: Pruitt, son Of the proprietress, badly
bruised and mangled.
DIR. 7. II. Turner, horribly burned and terri
bly, crushed; may die.
n. G. Mars, badly bruised.
The slightly injured are as follows:
d. C. Bel, painter.
K. NJ. Denton, carpenter.
Tom Motors, butcher.
Lewis Lewis FM n1 e{ Mnnpy c Gndye'
". +. Mcclure, n stranger from Tennessee.
Fred Ende, owner of the building, and his
wife and daughter.
negro girl employee.
DR.. Turner lay beneath the timbers till
they burned in twain, thus releasing him,
but not until he was badly burned and
mangled. Mr.. Denton was imprisoned, and
would have killed himself to escape burn
ing to death, but a second crash Of the fall
ing walls released him. One man cut his
throat when he found the flames were
consuming him. W.. d. Pruitt raved
like a maniac when he knew of
his mothers horrible death, and it required
several strong men to save him from
plunging% headlong into the flames. A tele-
gram was sent to Sherman for a fire engine,
which came at the speed of amile a minute,
arriving at daylight. 1t poured a stream of
water into the flames for six hours, but too
late to save any lives. The cause
Of the calamity is uncertain. 1t is
thought all explosion of powder in a hard
ware store, which had caught fire III the
first story, blew out the west wall,
causing the entire building to come
down with a crash. The stores Oh
James Ormstead, hardware, Gee 6
Wilson and II. Lowenstein, agricultural i'm.
plements, with some minor buildings, were
burned; all partially insured. The rail
roads acted nobly in clearing their roads fol
the train bearing the %tire-engine. They also
offer them relief. The telegraph offices are
flooded with dispatches, going and coming
from all sections, and no subject is discussed
but the terrible visitation of fire and death