Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-08-16

PANICKY PEOPLE.

PANICKY PEOPLE.
MUCH FUSS AND LITTLE HARM.
An Alarm 1t Sar.toga-A Fire Quickly Kx-
tIpguIshed-Whas might Have Been
Another Hotel Disaster.
At Saratoga Wednesday at few minutes
past two O'Clock cloud of smoke rushed
out from the basement of dress and
cloak establishment located in one Of the
wings of the Grand Union hotel. Hun
dreds of guests sal upon the immense
piazzas and in the garden of the hotel !;
groups of elegantly attired ladies chatted
pleasantly with their male escorts, while
scores of children romped joyously through
the spacious grounds and vestibules of this
fashionable summer retreat. About two
thousand guests wero stopping at the
house. Soon after the smoke was seen .
cry of Fire, fire." resounded through.
out the corridors. The smoke increased
in volume and everybody rushed to the
place whence it was seen to issue.
After taking hasty glance at the omi.
nous indications of rapidly spreading
fire the guests left hastily in tho direction
of their rooms. "Do you think tho fire
will spread ?" ''Will We have time to re-
move our thingss" Such were the ques.
tions which were almost breathlessly pro.
pounded as ladies, young and old, ran up
stairs to their respective apartments.
Many speedily reappeared bringing with
them bundles Of all kinds. Articles Of
wearing apparel, jewels and other personal
effects were hastily wrapped in sheets,
towels and counterpanes and carried down
to the large parlor and the piazza. Cash.
mere shawls, Persian wraps, silks and
satins of all colors were carried in arms of
ladies and their attendants and deposited
upon chairs and tables.
Incidents of tho Alarm.
Some comical scenes and amusing convel-
sations were indulged in. One gentleman
came rushing through the main parlor in
search of his wife. "Where was she ?"
asked friend. "She was taking bath,
he replied, "when the fire broke out, and
dressed herself hastily; she came down
before me-" He soon found her, how
ever, among the crowd. Several excited
ladies appeared with poodle dog in one
hand and jewel casket in the other.
Brignoli, the operatic tenor, was seen in
one corner evidently trying to quiet the
nerves of an interesting blonde. Cham
bermaids and nurses also rushed wildly up
stairs and startled their mistresses with
the announcement that the hotel was on
fire.
During all this excitement two crowded
omnibuses drove up to the hotel and de
posted their guests, who registered at the
office after hearing that the fire was likely
to be put out in a few minutes. The
village fire department was called out and
bucket brigade formed to pass water
from the fountain in the northern portion
of the hotel park. The fire was soon ex-
tinguished.
Under the store where the smoke was
first seen issuing from there are three
rooms, one in front, two in the rear of tie
arcade or wide passageway which runs the
whole length of the building. From the
store overhead stairway descends be.
tween these two rear rooms, and each is
entered by door leading from the land.
ing at the foot of the stairs. In the room
further to tho rear four girls were working
on costumes, &C., and small gas stove
was burning on a stand against the north
Just before two o'clock one of the guests
noticed light reflected from the wall,
showing that there was flame in the
room beyond tho stairway. She at once
gave the alarm. At the same moment
Horace Hammcll, employed as plumber,
came down the elevator and was passing
along the subterranean arcade when he
discovered smoke issuing from this same
room.
Pertious Emergency.
The door was fastened, but he kicked it
in and found that two costumes which
were hanging on the forms or dummies
used by modistes to display completed
robss wero on fire. He seized one and
lowered it cut into the arcade,
but tho flames had shot mp to
tho joists and floor overhead, about
seven feet from the floor, and broke
throught into the store above. A pile of
loose paper which was stored in the corner
of the room where the forms were located
was ablaze. Hammell ran to get fire
extinguisher, but the hose blew off and he
could not use it. He then ran through
the arcade to Congress street, at the south
side of the hotel, and gave tho alarm. =
Meanwhile Miss McCarty, forewoman
in the workshop, had gone up Stairs and
given the alarm 1T the Office, in the rOtun-
da. At once the excitement above dc.
scribed arose among the guests and en-
plOyCS bHk0. Au0 CAClGcDCNb SpTOdU
throughout tho village as soon as the alarm
was sounded. The combustible stuff in
the basement rooms and the yellow pine
floors made an amount of smoke altogether
disproportioned to tho fire. BY this time
James II. Boxer, engineer of the hotel,
had started down the arcade with a line of
hose, throwing four full streams and
boating back the smoke until his detach-
ment reached the burning form, and a:
once flooded the room whore the fire was
located.
The hose carts from the fire department
drove into tho grounds, and more streams
we're put into play from that direction.
Tho floor of the piazza was cut through,
and more water being thrown in that
direction the smoke crept everywhere, and
excited persons on the scene thought the
fire had made much greater progress than
tho facts proved, for the flame were con
fined entirely to the two Easements rooms
where they originated, and did not cover
an area Of more than fifteen to twenty five
feet.
James Conner helped the girls out of the
room where the smoke was suffocating,
and they escaped without any damage. In
fact, few slight cuts and bruises were all
the physical injuries sustained by anybody
notwithstanding the great excitement
which for time prevailed. Colonel H. s.
Clement ran over from Congress hall, to
bring lot of his men and several of his
fire extinguishers, which did good service.
The loss tn the buildin0 was triflin0 nroh