San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-02-22
DISASTERS OF A MONTH.
Vh and al Scar.
New York sun.


=. fatal fatal and terrible collisions, fires
10 oTnlosions and the alarming death
la a III t6e list of business failures, and
E y s'o,verwhelming series of shocking
nenolties that marked it will make
!; an memorable for years. -.
u The mouth had just begun when
H.. news of Gambetta's death was
sSS 0 over the wires TO all parts Of
iSa world. The mystery that hung
Wv srSr i, together with the perturbation
soS excitement it caused in France,
made mad the event the sensation of the
. . for several days.
Three days later came the news Of
Mo snread of disaster and death over a
Iargc hart of Europe. The Rhine and
a0 nsnube rose, inundated villages
and towns, washed away bridges,
undermined houses and spread distress
over many miles of territory. The
Rhine dam at Lubwigshaten gave way
and many people were drowned. The
list of the dead along the Rhine num-
bpred more than seventy persons.
France, Switzerland and Austria also
suffered dreat distress.
On the 9th of the month, the In
man line steamer City of Brussels, as
che was nearing Liverpool in dense
foc was run down by the steamer
Kirby Hall. She sank almost imme-
diodelv. The Captain of the City of
Brussels said that the fog was SO
heavy that he stopped the engines and
allowed the vessel to drift with the
Tide. After she had drifted thus for
fOrty.one minutes, the Captain heard
the Whistles of steamers on both port
and starboard sides. He thought that
The two steamers were passing him in
parallel lines. A moment later a
white line doomed up on the starboard
bow, and before anything could be
done the Kirby Hall struck the City
Of Brussels with terrible force. The
Captain of the City Of Brussels stuck
by his ship till she went down, and
then chung to q spar until rescued.
Ten men were drowned.
Four DAYS later occurred the APP
palling loss of life in the milwaukee
hotel fire. The hotel was veritable
death trap. The fire started ID the
basement at 4 o clock a. m.-an hour
when all the inmates were asleep
and shot up the shaft like a meteor.
In minute suction of the air from
the shaft into the corridors had car
ried the flames into every story, and
before any one had time to give an
alarm the whole north end of the
structure was sea OF fierce and roar
ing fame. The stairway around the
elevator shaft was Burning away, and
the sleepers weZo caught in an awful
trap. Another stairway was at the
extreme north end of the building,
but almost Inaccessible. The flames
and smoke swept through the corri-
doris, and the atTlighted guests were
aroused by the sutfocating smoke
pouring in the apertures OF the doors,
followed by the glare OF the fire. Some
rushed forth almost into the heart Of
the flames and struggled toward the
further stairway. A few of them
escaped, the others were overcome by
the smoke and roasted in the fire.
But most of the people were awak-
ened too late. When they jumped
in alright from their beds and threw
open their doors they were met by the
Surging of the flames. They flew to
the windows. Five OF six or seven
stories below was the stone pavement.
Many jumped, and were picked up
mangled and dead. Others shrank
back from the fearful jump until the
flames swept into their rooms and
Shriveled them into unrecognizable
shapes. Many women hung from the
window sills and rent the air with
screams until the fire licked their
hands and they went spinning down
to horrible death. At one time
there were five women hanging at
the same time from sixth-story win
dowS. Below We're thousands of men
looking on Mortified and powerless as
the women dropped one BY one to the
street and were picked up dead. The
servant girls had no chance OF escape,
Tor the fire rushed up the stairway,
consuming it as it passed, and swep.
into the servants rooms. One after
another they jumped from the win
dOws in the top story of the burning
building to the street below. Thou
sands looked on and saw them meet
Their death. The proprietor of the
hotel became insane. The belief was
general that somebody had set fire to