Middletown transcript., 1883-01-12
SIXTY LIVES LOST /


be on fire. The entire fire department
Of the city was summoned, but before
the engines were in working order the
hotel was one blazing pile. The fire is
believed, with some good grounds, to
be of incendiary origin. The building
has long been known as a "death
trap" The flames caught by the base
ment and shot with lightning rapidity
up the elevator shaft and spread out in
the different stories as they were
reached.
DEATH ABOVE AND DEATH BELOW.
Then began the terrible tragedy
Guests awakened from their sleep by
the terrible heat or the bursting of the
flames into their rooms were forced to
the windows, where their heartrending
cries rang in the ears of the vast con-
course of people gathered in the street
pOwerless to render aid. Exit by way
of the roof was cut Of by the fire, and
the two stand pipes, with the fire lad
ders, were not available for the same
reason. Men who in the daily walks of
life have been accounted heartless and
unfeeling wrung their hands in despair,
running about utterly bewildered, ex-
claiming My God Ny God This is
horrible ~
Then a black object would appear on
the outside of the window, driven out
by the smoke and flames. Piercing
screams would rend the air and a heavy
thud would announce that a human be-
ing had dropped from the dizzy height
to meet death on the pavement below.
At one time there were six persons
hanging from one window sill at the
fifth story, crying in agoniZing tones
for the help that could not be rendered.
One after another they loosed their grip
and met their fate.
A DESPERATE BUT VAIN EFFORT.
One man, by letting himself down at
arms length from a fifth story window,
put his feet through the window below
and reached the fourth floor in safety.
The operation was repeated until the
third floor was reached, each point
gained in his perilous descent being
greeted with encouraging cheers from
the bystanders. As he was putting his
feet through the top of the second story
window, his hands slipped from the sill
dDONG. dllu. Will d VIII VI NlO-
pair, he fell backwards, turning over
several times, and striking the pave
ment on his head, was mangled beyond
recognition.
JUMPS TO DEATH.
Another man jumped from the fifth
story window. struck the telegraph
| wires on Michigan street, bounded up
and came down a mangled mass of
| flesh and bones. A number of people
dropped out Of the different stories on
the jumping canvas, but in majority
of cases they were killed outright or
sustained injuries from which there is
little hope of recovery.
During the progress of the fire two
men appeared at window in an upper
story and as they looked down upon the
scene below the floor Of the room gave
way and with an agonizing shrek they
fell backward into the vortex of flames.
TOGETHER IN DEATH.
/ Mr.. Allen johnson and his wife
sprang from fifth story window. He
was caught in the jumping canvas, but
sustained injuries from which he died
this morning. His wife struck on the
telegraph wires, bounded over and was
also caught, but was so badly injured
that she only survived her husband
about an hour.
SERVANTS DASHED TO PIECES.
While these horrors were happening
on the Broadway and the Michigan
sides of the burning building still
greater was occurring in the alley at the
rear. The servants quarters, where
eighty-six Of them were lodged, were in
the northwest quarter of the building.
remote from the place in which the fire
was raging but all means Of escape by
the stairways were cut off by the flames
As the terrible roaring and cracking of
the flames came to their ears they be-
came panic stricken, and eight Of them
followed each other, leaping from the
dizzy height to the ground in the alley.
The jumping canvas was held for them,
but it was powerless in the conflict with
death and was clotted over with the
victims blood.
THE HERO OF THE FIRE.
at this iuncture the cool headed he
70 of the night appeared upon the top
of building directly opposite the SER
wants quarters with ladder in his
hand. For moment the long unwield-
Iy thing poised in midair and then de-
scended with crash through window
of the hotel. 1t formed a bridge across
the alley, however, and before it be-
came steady in It's position the man had
crossed over into the hotel. Then, amid
the cheers of the multitude below, the
l H. ho1N1oCc
across the slender bridge until fully a
dozen were rescued. They were all of
them in their night clothes, and many
were badly frozen before they could be
taken to shelter.
GOD BLESS HIM.
A woman in dead faint, unable to
help herself in any particular, was drag
ged across in safety. But one time the
whole of her body was hanging over
clear of the ladder, while the brave man
held her by one Of her ankles. The
crowd below held their breath in sus-
pense, expecting every moment to see
the ladder turn over or break beneath
| the terrible strain. The man, however,
was equal to the emergency, and by
hurculean effort pulled her up on the
slender bridge and finally placed her out
of danger, while the crowd, which had
endured the most painful suspense for
fully ten minutes, burst forth with
round after round of cheers.
The dead and a portion Of the woun-
ded were conveyed in the first instance
to the American Express Office, while
the wounded were cared for at the
Kirkly House and stores on East Water
street.
CRIED BY THE HORROR,
John F. Antisdel, principle lesse, has
gone crazy over the terrible affair. He
ran up and down Michigan street moan
ing and crying.
TOh, oh, my GodI Who set that
fire ~ Over his head was black cloth.
He held his hand heavenward as if in
4 voking divine aid. When he came to
the mangled body Of one Of his guests
his rawlings were pitiful in the extreme.
All the efforts to soothe him failed. He
may recover his reason in time. His
son and partner, James Antisdel, stood
on the street silent and undemonstra-
tive, as if paralyzed by the horror. He
/ A r,f hoH ocoo,Nol