The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-03-24
A Chicago Fire.

his daughter, of San Francisco, were as
sisted from their room on the fourth
floor of the Langham Hotel to the side
walk by firemen. Miss Nye had to be
carried bodily down thee ladder by a
couple of fire laddies and her father
The father and daughter took up quar-
ters i'll the Palmer House, minus their
effects. Mr.. Nye's rstsuspicion of fire.
came through smoke getting into his
room. He ran to the door, leading his
daughter by the hand, thinking to es-
cape by the stairway. The hall was
| filled with smoke, the fiames,w leap
ing up the elevator shaft and circling
around the stairway. He thought It
would be folly to attempt an escape by
such route, and he turned to a win
dow, which he raised He stepped on
the easement with Miss Nye and waited
patiently for the fremen to get lad
der up to the window. lit seemed an
age before they got that ladder in
position, said Miss Nye, lastnight, with
a shudder, land yet it was only a few
minutes. We had scarcely put our foot
over the window easements, when our
transom was burst by the heat and the
room was filled with smoke. We could
hear the cracking Of flames in the hall
way, and as they approached near the
door OF our room the heat became ter
ribly oppressive, and almost unbearable.
Oh, how watched the firemen, as they
worked to get ladders up, and how l
prayed they would hasten. Even as the
top of the ladder touched the building
the flames burst through the door and
leaped toward us so tiercely and rapidly
that i thought we would be burned
alive. When the firemen came we
descended to the street. 1t was an
awful ordeal"
Mr.. and Mrs. E. Hoole. an aged and
inffrm couple. who occupied rooms on
the fourth floor, were saved by the
pluck of G. D. Martindale. The latter
is employed as book-keeper by the firm
of Hoole and Snyder at No. 16l Monroe
Street and he was III Mr.. Hoole's room
comforting with him about business
matter when the fire began to spread
through the building On account of
their infrmities. neither of the couple
was able to make an effort TO get out.
Mr.. Martindale had to grasp them and
drag them out of the room to the hail
and thence toward the elevator Mr..
Hole kept crying out" Letme Perish and
save my wife, land Mr.. Martindale had
to fairly carry him to the elevator. Not
realizing the danger of an attempt to
descend by this means, he kicked open
the door and drew the elevator car up
to the fourth floor and then he put his
charges aboard and started to descend.
A voice at the bottom cried out, "For
Gods sake, go back, or you will be
burned alive" The next instant the
flames leaped up, surrounding the de-
scending car, and the air become so hot
that had the trio been less excited, they
would have tainted away. Mr.. Martin
dale reversed the elevator and assembled
to the third floor and again he had to
kick open the door in order to get the
old couple out of the burning car. He
dragged them to the stairs which led
to the dining room, and thence through
the smoke down stairs to the street.
When Mr.. Hoole reached the street he
tainted away and he had to be carried
bodily to the Matteson House, where he
and his wife were given a suite of
rooms.
The fire proved much more dreadful
III the loss of life and physical injuries
entailed than was supposed, until an
early hour this morning. 1t is now
known that at least five persons were
killed and four injured. Just before the
south wall Of the hotel fell upon the
Faxon building number of persons be-
sides those of the fire insurance patrol
were inside the latter building assisting
to save goods, as no immediate danger
was apprehended. There is no means
of knowing just how many of these vol
at the time, but excavations have
proceeded to an extent which justi-
fies the hope that all the dead
have been found. As far as
known, those at work in the
Faxon building when it was crushed
by the falling hotel walls. were the fol-
lowing: Captain Edward Shepard James
Boyd, Knute Thine, Patrick Mullins,
John Walsh and Frederick Jones, all
of the fire insurance patrol, William
Bean, Frank Turner and John Hen
Messy, clerk, both employed In the
building. Mullins and Thine being near
the rear of the building, were forced
out through one of the windows by the
rush of air as the building fell andswe
not dangerously hurt. Captain
Shepard and Boyd were pinned down
by fallen timbers and were rescued
alive about midnight. Both are
seriously hurt, but it is believed they
will recover. Walsh and Jones were
taken out this morning, both crushed
TO death. Bean was alive when found
and taken to the county hospital
where he died at o'clock this
morning. The body of Hennessey
was recovered at o'clock tonight
Soon after the walls fell the wreck took
fire and the firemen turned several
streams on the blazing mass to save
their comrades from being roasted tc
death, though at the imminent risk o.
drowning them. Mrs. c. v. Belknap
who was killed by jumping from al
upper window, was the widow o.
Colonel Belknap, who died some year,
ago at New Orleans. She has many
friends in Cincinnati Her remains are
| still at the city morgue.
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