Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-01-17
A Dreadful Fire.


The flames spread with such rapidity that
in few moments the ordinary means of
t egress had become impracticable. Many
; persons leaped from the windows of the
? upper stories to the sidewalks and were
killed or manned; many were seen TO
t perish and others who.were not.seen at all,
t were suffocated or burned. The firemen
q worked well. and succeeded in saving
= many lives that but for their efforts would
/; have been lost. 1t is not known bow many
a persons lost their lives. hut the latest
adVices are that between sixty and seven
ty persisted.
This hotel was one Of the largest in the
: northwest, and was widely known. Prob
q ably 200 persons retired to sleep.
Soon after the first alarm the whole
> department was called to the scene
Telegraph operators bad seen from their
, quarters light smoke emerging from
, the attics of the Newhall House. 1t was
!, scarcely noticed until the general alarm
had been sounded, when they saw, to their
horror, that almost the entire south front
, of the Newhall House was one mass of
! flames. There were few people on the scene,
except the police and reporters and some
belated stragglers, but the scene develop.
ing before the horror stricken few was
one which none of the witnesses will ever
forget.
!, In a.moment every window of the large
six story hotel structure was filled with
struggling guests. frantically and piteously
beseeching the few below for aid, which
it was impossible to render. Few of the
unfortunate inmates gained the front
entrance in Michigan street. although
many might have been saved if some
immediate attempt at systematic res
cue had been made. The halls of
the hotel were the scene of the widest
confusion. Men. women and children
rushed up and down the halls in the dense
sutfocating smoke, avoiding the roaring
and binding flames, and in their frantic |
efforts rushing by the stairways and win
dows leading to the fire escapes, STUN
bling over bodies lying unconscious on
the carpeted walks. only to join soon the
many PROSTATE forms.
The fire started apparently on the third
floor OF the doomed building, over the side
entrance in Michigan street, and before
the fire department got steam fairly in
position the flames had enveloped the
whole southeast corner of the building.
the fiery element licking its way greedily
and with lightning-like rapidly towards
the northern wing. Some laundering
person seeing the reflection of the fire on
the SKY, turned in an alarm from box 81,
at East Water and Division streets, at 5 40,
causing the loss of the work of one steamer
TOR ten minutes of precious time, Just when
the hre was at its worst and every window
in the huge building lined with shrieking
humanity, The multitude, which by this
time had swelled to thousands, stood in
silent awe, but few having selfpossesson
and resolution enough to lend helping
hand on the canvass stretched out to receive
those OF the despairing inmates of the
burning pyre who risked the leap down to
the stone sidewalk 100 feet below. At first
there were only Lieutenant Rock wood
Detectives Herman and McManus, Officers
O'Brien and Campbell and a few Sentinel
men stretching the heavy canvas, which
required fully thirty strong men to handle
it successfully. One poor fellow stood on
cornice Of the fifth story corner window
Tor twenty minutes, not daring to take the
fearful leap. Finally he became bewild.
cred, to judge by his actions, or dumb.
founded by the smoke, and slid off his
perch to the canvas below. The few who
held it could not give it the necessary
resistance. The body fell. unhindered by {
the canvas, with thud which sent a
shudder through every witness. The BODY {
was carried into the American Express S
office. All the while hundreds OF people
had been looking on, nobody Responding t
to the demands of the officers for aid [
Everybody seemed to be spell-bound; the L
terrible spectacle seemed to have para wed g
every bit Of their will power.
In the sixth story window. right over o
tne unfortunate man. was seen the fioure u
OF man. croucbed upon the window.sill Il
gazing like one absent minded into the Ii
fiery abyss below-motionless but from P
time to time sending up heart rendino 3
shrek. Steadily the flames encroached b
upon him; he did not seem to mind them Il
Then the famesisinged his hair and licked II
lls night clothes-one despairing look he
gave to the crowd below, and then fell o.
pack into the sea of fire. A man and a -
woman appeared at window of the third
story. They were recognized as Allen O.
Johnson and wife. A canvass was stretch III
I'd below the windows of their apartment. p
md thousand voices called to them to NJ
Jump. Mr.. johnson kissed his wife and g
hen leaped into the air, and shot down III
ward into the canvas, but his weight was OF
ucn that the canvas was RULED out of "
he hands of the few who held it, and he OF
lighted on the ground with deadly force III
lis wife followed. Her BODY struck the 6
eranda and fell to the ground. liEeless 81
ar. johnson died shortly afterward in pr
be express office, and his dead body was IN
aid beside that of his wife until they were ID
orne away. SO
About dozen persons Jumped from the ~
1lchlgan street front. Each leap meant Ia
cath or shattered limbs, and not less oe
nan Tour unfortunate persons Law at one Ga
me upon the icy sidewalk in front of the Oh
,hamber OF Commerce clad only in night al
1lrts, blood and brains oozino from us
POUNDS through which bones protruJed
ONE were carried to the express Office IN
nd others to the ground floor ofthe Much. co
II building, where cots had been hastily OF
ranged, and from there they were car. th
ed off to the private houses of kind lei
earted people. gr
The scene in the alley west of the burn. IA
e building was sckening. As early as gr
O'Clock the bodies of seven unfortunate
after girls were stretched upon the snow no
I'D ice, with broken limbs, writhinp in Ill
yony until death ended their suiferings
fter almost superhuman efforts ladders pu
ere stretched from the roof of the bank &c &c
Hiding across the alley to the sixth TN
DRY of the hotel, and the brave firemep M M
Irried ten girls across the frail bride pa
ur of them dead. The maze of teleoranh or
Tres encircling the building on the south
I'd east sides played sad havoc with the DC
fortunate persons who made the fright. .h VI,
! jump for life. Several of the bodies W wi
ere cut into by the wires, and then the II II
IN and bleeding forms would drop , ,el
9 .ground. Others would strike the .h'
Tres crosswise. rebound, and be hurled .la
the ground with dreadful crash. To IN"
e poor waiter girls, all lodged in the COZ
xth story and the attic. the saddest lot pa
ID fallen. Of the sixty young girls only G rs
sven were heard from as alive this ~
ening. The police patrol soon began al" are
cir dreadful work of gathering the dead an .n;.