Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-01-11
THE HOTEL HORROR.

=
An Early Morning Fire Attended by Gte.:
Loss OF Life-r,DdcrooS Structure
Consumed in a Trice.
According to further particulars received
Of the destruction oi tLe Newhail house il
Milwaukee, We elnesday morning, 1t seems
that shortly before O'clock three alarms
Of fire were sounded in rapid succession.
Oae was from box 439, corner OF Niick and
Eighteenth streets another was tele-
phone ALARM and then followed the Omi-
! nous a;.lal from box -, this time signal
| ing that the Newhail house was on tire.
WEc.. the filemen arrived Oh the scene
| it was found that the fire broke cut in the
| south cad Of the huge siI-stoTy building
in either the fourth Or fifth I"cr, starting
from the southwest corner OF the struc-
ture. 1tspread with lightning rapidity.
and in its deadly path human life van
| quisheG and dozens Of charrcd bodies
marked its pro-rs S. Ia the twinkle of &
moment the Whole tire department, except
| the chemical engine, which was left to
| fight the fire on Eighth street, was called
to tie scene. y scene OF the utmost
tenor prevailed. The corridors were
filled with dense smoke and half stupeiied
persons were ly ing ACROSS the Railways.
| while tie shrieks of women and the
groans of men filled the air.
Those fc" who appeared On the scene
did all they c2uid to rescue the
bewildered guests, and :. great many we're
taken cut OF the front entrance and from
the small balcony running along the
Broadway front Of the building. The lre
men went heEoically to work, hut it Was
soon apparent to all that efforts to save
| la k,,, hn fr, 4 ip1
was then directed to getting the inmates
out of the building, but how unsuccessful
they proved IS shown by the appalling
death list. The '.umpiug' cloth proved
Of little assistance. About dozen uufcr
tunates attempted to jump, but rebounded
from the telegraph wires, a perfect mass
OF which surrounded the tEc fronts of the
building.
Meantime the whole building had be-
come enveloped in flames, aud terrific
volumes of fire ami smoke shot with
lightning like rapidity through the roof
and high up into the morning air. The
FIRE had STATED in the basement Of the
building near the elevator shaft, through,
which it had spread from iioor to floor, So
that flames were issuing from all parts of
the building at once. At ) O'clock the
hotel was a mass of roaring flames, aud
before the relief engines from Chicago ar
rived, the fire had spent lis force and WIS
under CUutroi.
Regarding the origin Of tho fire, Nj.
Antisdel said - The night watchmau sa"
the fire first. Bat before he could do any
thing tue flames shot up the elevator ig-
hitting every door. | was awakened by the
noise and rushed cut before the huldin {
filed with flames and smoke and people
A ~. e.
wife | tried to save others. | met my
father and mother in their night clothes
; and tried to get them to leave the build
ing, but father was apparently out OF his
lead. i.e said he was bound to go into
tho i.Ines to save the building, hus BY
force got him into the street, and being
afraid that i: let him 80 iic would again
enter the flames conducted hi:;l by force
down Michigan street. When near the
alIcy son,c one icll from the upper floor t.
tho ground Il few feet away and caused
him 10 become iienzicd.'
sen. !, WHICH EEGGAEs DEsCSirriu>.
Tn. Gnc auai Contest With Death Fought b.
| tiie Lninr;unate 1nm.Ies.
; The scenes during the progress Of the
fire wee heart-lcadiug ami pitiful beyond
description. Guests rudely awakened
from their sicl p by the terrible heat and
i sulIucatinG smoke appeared i'll the Wiudo"
where t.ici. frantic cries fur aid rang OF the
cars of the cOucOurse of people gathered
below, but ;'uweri3SS TO render any As
Sist3ccc.
Walled il by TIE SEC. Of h..ins, the un-
fortunates ia TIC building could be seet,
running wildly abju: ii the vain saaIc!,
for Il means OF escape, and wrinIiug their
hands in despair, Finally, driven out by
the fast Govouriny flames, every now and
then q black object would appear on the
sill .! 4 window, u piercing shrek !onl
: the morning air and q thlld would an
noun2o t;!It one more unfortunate had
chosen - meet death CT Tie pavement be-
low rather than in th2 scething mass of
flames within. Others, seeing the dis
tanco to the ground .;eloW, turned round
and with hands upiiGted heavcuward,
l as if invoking divine aid. threw
themselves back into the fire. One man
who had cluns teuaciousiy to the windows
7 Of the tittL story tried to lat himself down
at arms length. lie reached the third
story in safety, each point gained in his
pcrilOus descent being greeted with en-
couraging cheers from the bystantieTs.
AS he was putting his foot through tie
top OF the sccond-story window Lii; hands
slipped irc:3 the sill above and, with wild
shrek. the unfortunate man who had 50
, nearly escaped q terrible fate Eel! back
ward, turning over several times Ip the
descent, and finally striking on his head
On the pavement below, E.aaslad bsyont!
recognition.
Another case HLiv'l sent i c!.i:l of horror
: through tie crowd was when two men
appeared at 4 window in an upper story,
and as they were cOnte,: plating the terri
bic leap for life before them the floor OF
the room gayo way a:t;! they fell back
into tie vortex Of ta:i,aa. AZ ono time
there were six persons hanging from a
fifth story window crying in agonizng
tones for the help that could not be rem
dercd them, and one by one they loosed
their held on it sn:! te! to the street
below. MI Alien Johnson and his wife
sprans from fifth story window. Uo
: was caught in tie jumping canvass but
sustained injuries from which he died
almost Immediately. His wife stuck on
the telegraph wires bounded over ard
Was also caught, but was SO badly injured
that she only survived Lcr husband about
au hour.
| Tiis Hero o! the Day.
While these scenes were being enacted
Oh the Broadway side Of the burning
building, one of still greater horror was in
progress il tho alley in the rear, where
the servants quarters were situated. The
flames had started on the opposite side of