Plateau gazette and east Tennessee news. (Rugby, Tenn.) 1883-1884, 1883-04-14
A TERRIBLE FATE.

Texas Hotel Caves IN, Burying the In.
mates in the Debris, Which Then Take
Fire--Thirteen People Either Crushed or
Burned to Death In the Mass of Ruins
Suicide of One Victim to Escape the Slow
Torture of the Resistless Flames.
GREENvILLE, Tex, April 0.
Saturday morning there occurred the most
dreadful calamity ever known in Texas.
The Ende Hotel, three-story brick building
fell with 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 to
death. The killed and burned victims are
as follows:
Mrs. e. w Pruitt, the propretress.
George Pruitt, crippled son of the proprie-
tress burned viii g begging for relief.
Louis Albert, jeweler, burned alive.
I. ID. N Riley, contractor, crushed to death.
Frank West, railroad freight clerk, crushed
to death
R, r. Meals, cotton buyer, manner of death
Miss Lou Davis, chambermaid, burned to
death.
j.. E. Ford, telegraph line repairer crushed
Mr. Hill, mattress maker, manner of death
unknown; and four negro servants crushed
to DEATH
All the above victims were buried be-
meath the ruins beyond human aid, some be-
ing killed instantly, and others being ere
mated in the singing flames. Up to this
hour few humps of chalTed flesh and
bones have been removed, representing the
remnants of six human beings. OF some
only the skulls remain; OF others the bodies,
with the limbs burned off, making sight
horrible beyond description.
The inmates of the house who escaped
were:
w. D. Pruitt, son of the proprietress, badly
bruised and mangled.
DR.. 7. r. Turner horribly burned and terri
bly, crushed; may die.
NJ Il. Mars, badly bruised.
The slightly injured are as follows:
D. c. Bell, painter.
X. NJ Denton, carpenter.
Tom Motors, butcher.
Lewis Morreyschap, conductor.
Percy Fox, of Honey Grove.
W. +. Mcclure, stranger from Tennessee.
Fred Ende, owner Of the building, and his
wife md daughter.
A negro girl employe.
DR.. Turner lay beneath the timbers till
they burned in twain, thus releasing him,
but not until he was badly burned and
manged. Mr. Denton was imprisoned, and
would have killed himself to escape burn
ing to death, but q 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 fire engine,
which came at the speed of amile 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 an explosion of powder III hard
ware store, which had caught fire in the
first story, blew out the west wall,
causing the entire building to come
down with crash. The stores of
James Omstead, hardware, Gee 3
Wilson and ii. LoweRstein, agricultural i'm
plements, with some minor buildings, were
burned; all partially insured. The rail-
roads acted nobly in clearing their roads for
the train bearing the fiYe-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.