The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-01-11

plteously Deseeching the few below
for the aid which it was impossible
to render; but few of the unfortu-
nate inmates gained the front en-
trance on Michig n street. although
many might have been saved if
some immediate attempts at
systematic rescue had been
made. In the halls of the
hotel was a scene of the widest
confusion. Men, women and chill
dren rushed up and down the halls
IN the dense suff0Cating smoke.
avoiding the binding flames and
the roaring blaze, and in their fran
tic etfo.ts rushing by stairways and
windows leading to the fire escapes.
stumbling over bodies lying unconz
scious on carpeted walks, The fire
apparently started on the third
floor, over the side entrance on
Michigan Street, and before the de.
partment got the steamers fairly in
position, the flames had enveloped
the whole of The southeast corner
Of the building.
The multitude, which by this
time had swelled to thousands,
stood in perfect awe, but few hay
ing self-posssssion enough to lend a
helping hand on the canyasses
stretched out to rescue those of the
despairing inmates who risked TO
leap down to the stone Sidewalk
100 feet below. At first only Lieut.
en7nt Bockwo0dys DetetectivesERIe-
man and O'COnner, officers O'Brien
and Campbell and a few sensible
men stretched out heavy canvasses
which required fully thirty men to
handle successfully. A poor fellow
stood on the cOTnice of the fifth
story corner window for some min
utes not daring the fearful leap: f.
nally he became beWildered, to Judge
by his actions, or dun
founded by the smoke. and
slid off his perch to the canvass
below, but the few who held it
could not give it the necessary re.
Sistance, and the body fell unhiu-
dered by the canvass with a crash
which sent a Shudder through every
witness. The shattered body was
carried into the American Express
office. In the sixth story window.
right over this unfortunate, sat the
figure of man, crouched on the
window sill, gazing like one absent
minded into the fiery abyss below,
but from time to time sending up q
heart-rending shrek. Steadily the
! flames encrOached upon him: he
did not seem to mind it; then the
flames singed his hair, licked his
! night clothes. One despairing look
he gave to the crowd below, then
tumbled back into the sea of fire. A
man and women appeared at the
window on the third story, and were
recognized as Alien Johnson and
wife the canvass was stretched
below the windows of their apart
ment, and a thousand voices called
beseeching them to jump. Mr..
Johnson kissed his wife, then leaped
, downward into the canvass, but his
weight was such that the canvass
was pulled out of the hands of the
few who held it, and he alighted on
the ground with deadly force. His
, wife followed, her body struck the
veranda, and fell to the ground life
|
forwards in the express office. About
a dozen jumped from the Michigan
: street front, each leap meant
death or shattered limbs, and not
less than four unfortunates at one
time lay upon the icy sidewalk in
l front of the chamber Of commerce,
clad in night shirts, blood and
brains oOZing from the wounds
through which bones prOtruded.
Some were carried into the express
Office, others to the ground floor of
: the Mitchell Building, where cots
had been hastily arranged and from
! there carried off to the private
: houses of kind hearted people. The
scene in the alley west
; of the burning building was sick
ening. AS early as 8 o'clock
the bodies of the seventeen I'M
fortunate waiter girls were stretched
upon snow and ice. with broken
limbs, writhing in agony till
death ended their sufferings. After
almost superhuman efforts ladders
were stretched from the roof of the
, bank building across the alleyway
to the sixth story of the hotel. The
= brave fire laddies carried ten girls
across the frail bridge, four of them
1 dead. The mass of telegraph wires
enclosing the building on the south
and east side played sad havoc with
the unfortunates who made the
j frightful leap for life. Several
bodies were fairly cut deep into by
) the wires, and then the torn and
) bleeding forms would drop to
g the ground. Others would hit
l the wires crossways, and
| rebound and be hurled
: to the ground with a dreadful crash
| To the horror of the unfortunate
!. waiter girls, all lodged in the sixth
7 story and attics, the saddest lot had
: fallen. OF sixty young girls, only
y eleven was heard from alive, as late
: as yesterday evening. it is
: feared the estimate of fifty lives
z lost, as formed yesterday morning
is far too low, and fully double thai
number is burned OF smothered tt
:; death in the blazing fire. The
\ police patrol soon commenced theil
I dreadful work of gathering the deaC
!, and wounded; the former being
: taken to the morgue, which wa:
2 soon filed; the latter, to the Cen
. tral Police Station, where they were
VI