The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-02-07
A Night OF Horror.

Cases are of rare oc u-rence in VIII ch.
as in Byron's - Prisoner of ChIllon,"
ones hairs grow white
In a sin Ie n ght,
As mems have grown fr m sudden fears,
but there is n we'll ll-authenticated in
stance OF this kind in the person of
Charles b. Wardrop, of No. 21o North
ourth street This Newhall House
fire in Mi waukee vividly recalls an in
cideht in my early lite," remark ed Mr..
Wardrop to a Globe u, nlOcrdt reporter
who dropped into his store Yesterday
ternoon. my white hairs date rom
ebruary 30, 1858. and if you care to
he the ory will tell it TO you. The
old Pacific Hotel in this city was opened
for the reception of guests on Seventh
and Poplar streets on June %. 1857.
The hotel was three stories high. the
first beng occupied by stores. and it
was very good hotel for those days. l
was about twenty-ti years old at that
Time, an after serving a while rs clerk
changed for the position of heal porter.
The house had been opened less than a
year when. on February 20, 1858, it was
swept by such n fatal lire as this city
has never seen efore or since. That
n ght tn rty occupants of the house per-
ished in the ames. and { was by the
merest chance that was not included
in the nu Der. 1 had given up my room
for hat night, and was s.eeping with
eight hers, mostl. IA lroad men. in
the same room on the tn rd floor of the
hou,e. bo t two o. clock in the mo n
ing l was awakened by the fierce crack
Ing the flames, and was conscious of
a sheet o. fire rolling through the cham
ber n which we were sleep no. rolled
hn lad o11
m hands and knees under the fla es,
which filled all the upper part of the
room. The stem n from the oast NO
DO lies of my dead companions was
tear III, and l expected to meet
The same fate. Although badly
81 orched / kept my presence of
mind and crawled along out of the
room, throu IN the hall, and to the
stairways leading to the second floor.
TN attempt NJ 10 descend them l fell
through the fire which had destroyed
them, settin my shirt on lire and strik-
ing on the ban sters leading from the
first to the second story, and breaking
two ribs. From this place gained the
g rect an1 was saved. OF the other eight
men in the room not one escaped.
mong the dead was Mr.. Gerry, q
newspaper man. In making my escape
when it grew out it was as white as
snow. The terrible experience of that
N ght whitened it completely, and
although succeeding growt have had
some ark hairs mingled with them, my
head is still very white, as you see. "A
long invest CATION was conducted after
the fire, but its cause never full explain
ed. 1t was proved that the watchman,
who perished in the ames, was drunk
that ght, and, although >ome tho ght
the fire ncend airy. l always charged it
to some swing ng lamps in The back
part of the house The night was bitter
co d and the wind blew Eercely The
re department. which had recently
been organized. was hindered 10y frozen
Ire plugs From hat day to this have
never slept in a room that was not with
in umping distance of the ground, al
though have travelled a great deal and
stopped In m ny hotels Whenever
could not get a room suiting me in that
particular have frequently spent the
night in a chair in a hotel o fee From
my perience have a good opportun-
ity to Judge of what the po eopie in
the Milwaukee fire suffered, and | can
tell you that it must have been some
tn ng terrible. st Loues Gto0e-Deno-
| m.