Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1884-08-04
FALL OF A HOTEL.

At 7:30 o'clock yesterday evening the Ell
tire rear Of the United States Hotel in
Washington fell without moments warn
ing, burying number Of persons in the
ruins Two persons were soon taken from
the runs--one young son of the bar-keep.
e. of the hotel ; another colored woman
employed in the hotel. From the mass of
ruins upon which hundreds ofwilling hands
were working, came cries and groans and
suppli"ations. How many were buried be-
meath the ruins no one at the time could
tell The diuiug room, it is said, was locat-
ed in the portion of the building which fell
and the guests are said to have been at sup
per when the accident occurred. The ex-
element was tremendous, and a. the news
spread, thousands of people llocked to the
scene. few minutes later general alarm
was sounded, and all the hook and ladder
companies in the city hurried to the vicini-
ty OF the hotel.
The portion OF The building which fell was
erected about twenty-five years ago. The
tumble began with small portion of the
wall ut the rear end. This precipiiatel the
general crash, and in minute Or two the
whole mass was dusty ruin. The dust
rose like smoke, so that alta little distance it
looked as if q fire was starting in that neigh
borhood Several Of the buried persons
were not Immediately killed and the cries
of the wounded were frightful TO listen to.
The following persons were known to have
been in the building: Mrs Belden wife oithe
proprietor; Ernest Shocks, boy eleven
years Of age, a son Of the restaurant keeper
next door to the United States Hotel
Addie Fletcher colored chambermaid, wife
of Rufus Fletcher, formerly a porter in the
hotel. Annie Dickson, colored, chamber
maid rescued and taken to Providence Hos
pital Solomo ION Wilson, colored, pastry cook
Harrison, a colored employee about the
hotel Henry Hall, co!ored, cook
The rescue of Annie Dickson was effected
Immediately after the fall Of the building.
She heard the coming crash, and was in the
act ofjumping out Of the laundry window,
when she was caught in the general col
lapse. She suffered dislocated wrist,
brllisel leg and scalp wound.
A boy was taken out, little hurt.
The scenes and sounds at the ruins were
heartrending. Those working upon the
debris could hear tho cries and groans OF
the sufferers below.
All the guests of the hotel have re-
ported alive and unhurt. The chief of the
fire department came near losing his life.
He ventured so far under the ruins that he
was quite unconscious when taken out
He was restored, however
Mrs. Bedding, the wife Of the proprietor of
the hotel, was rescued ut half past eleven
o'clock after having been imprisoned four
hours. She was not crushed, but held
down by her clothes and penned in by the
fallen timbers.
The manner in which the broken timbers
and bricks and mortar lodged made the
labor Of removing the debris exceedingly
difficult. Will Fisher, n colored bell boy,
had narrow escape. He was in the cellar
OF the back building getting coal, when, he
says, he saw daylight beginning to show
through the wall where it bulged out. He
ran towards the front building and barely |
reached it, when the back portion settled |
down in a ruin. AS it was, some Of the |
bricks fell about him as he ran. The work
of exhuming the unfortunate was con-
tinued throughout the night, and up 10 2 |
o'clock to-day the dead bodies of two of the
victims had been recovered. Five have
been rescued alive. There are others in the
ruins, but it is impossible to tell how many.
The United States Hotel is one Of the
oldest structures in the city, and has long
been in an unsafe condition. Dangerous
cracks in the walls were visible on the out
side, and the complete prostration of the
whole mass showed what she'll of build.
ing it was. The building, which has
frontage of 125 feet on the avenue, and a
depth Of 1S5 feet, is owned half by Judge
Cox, and the other half by four of the Fol-
lansbee heirs.