Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-02-04
An nld.Time Hotel Horror.
Cases are of rare occurrence in which. in Bvron's Prisoner of Chiffon,
 
LSt. Louis Giobe-Deme1t.l J

-- Lotus Globe -Delmcrl-L-
 Cases are of rare occurrence in which,
 as in Bvron's Prisoner of Chiffon, ones halrs grow white
 In gle night,
 Az mems have grown from sudden Tear.
 but there Is well authenticated instance of this kind in the person of ! Chas. B. WardrOp, the cigar store man ] of DIS North street.
 This Newhall House fire in Mil ! waukee vividly recalls an accident -l ] my early life" remarked Mr. WardrOp | to ca GlObe-DemOcr6t reporter who | dropped into his store yesterday after
 noor f0. go few samples of the fragrant l weed "My white hair dates from | February 21 1858, and If you care to ! hear the story l will tell it tO you. | The old Pacific Hotel in this city was ! opened for the reception of guests on | Seventh and Popular streets on June | 3S, 1857. The hotel was three stories high, the first story beng occupied by stores, and tt was d very good hotel for l these days. 1 was 2j years old at the ! time, and after serYIng awhile as clerk changed for the position of head porter. The house had been opened less than a | year. when on February 70, lSJo, lt was swept by such d fatal tire as this city has never seen before or since. That night thirty occupants of the house rerished in the flames, and t was by
 the merest chance that I was not ln- cluded m the number. l had given up my room for that night, and was sleep ing with eight others, mostly railroad
 men, in the same room on the third
 floor Of the house. About , o'clock m
 the morning | was awakened by the
 fierce cracking Ct the flames, and was
 conscious of a sheet of fire rolling
 through the chamber in which we
 were sleeping. ! rolled out on tine
 floor and crawled along on my
 hands and knees under the flames,
 which filled au the upper part
 Of tne room. The stench from
 the roasting bodies of my .ad compan- ions was fearful, and 1 expected to meet
 the same fate. Although badly scorched
 ] kept m presence of mind and crawled out of the room, through the hall tO the stairway leading to the second floor. On attempting to descend them 1 fell through the fire which had destroyed them, setting ny shirt on fire and strik- ing the baniSters leading from the first to the second s.ory, and breaking two ribs. From this place l gained the street. and was saved. Or the other eight men Iu the room not one escaped. Among the dead was Mr. Gerry, news paper man. In making my escape my hair was singed of my head, when 1t gre" out again it was as white as snow. The terrible experience of that night whiterej it completely, and although succeeding growths have had some dark mingled with them. my head is still very white, as you see. \ long investigation WIS conducted after the fire, but it's cause was never fully explained. It was proved that the watcLman, who perished ! in the flames, was drunk that night, and ! although some thought the fire was in caniiary, ! always charged 1t to some 1 swinging lamps m the back part of the l house. The ght was bitter cold and | tine wind blew tiercely. The Fire De- | parimcut, which had recently been or gau;zei, was hindered by frozen fire | plugs. From that day to this ] have | never slept in a room that was nOs in | easy jumping distance to the ground, | although l have travelled a great deal | and stopped m many hotels. Whenever | l could not get room suiting me in | that particular 1 have frequently spent l the night in a chair in an hotel office. | From my experience l have a good op- portunity to judge of what the poor peo- 1 ple in the Milwaukee fire suffered and ] | can tell you that 1t must have been | something terrible.