Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-02-18
AN EQUINE HOLOCAUST.

AN EQUINE HOLOCAUST.
Over Sixty Horses suffocated in . Burning
Stable at st. Louisa Sudden Call for q
Hotel Full of Sleeping Guests and Their
Frantic Exit Sans Ceremony, Sans Al
most Everything.
ST. LOUIS, Feb. ia disastrous fire
started at 4:05 this morning in the sale
and livery stable of John P. Mutually,
Broadway and Bates, and extended
from there to the Bates school, the roof
and third story of which were left In
ruins.
The Hotel Noble, built and owned by
Mr.. Mutually, occupies the northeast
corner of the street, and runs about
seventy-five feet north on Broadway.
Adjoining it is the stable, the greater
portion of which extends back of the
hotel to Bates street. The stable
extends on the east to the alley, on the
opposite side of which stands the rear of
the Bates school, only separated from the
alley by high board fence, which played
an important part in this mornings de-
struction of the school. The fire started in
the northern division of the stable, used
exclusively for sale and commission pur-
poses. 1t is not known how it origi-
mated, although O'Rourke and several
other drivers belonging to the stable were
within a few yards of where the fire
started. The first thing they noticed was
bright light and the flames crawling up
the wood work. Officer McSheeny
noticed the fire about the
same moment and turned in an
alarm, which was not responded to
promptly by the fire department. The
building in which the fire started was a
lightly constructed frame and contained
about twenty-five horses, whose pitiful
cries were soon drowned by the flames or
asphyxiating smoke that swept over them
in dense volumes. West of this COM
partment was a shed occupied by eigh-
teen or twenty mules, and some thought
full person opened the gates of the pen
and the sagacious animals sought cooler
quarters in the neighborhood.
The next house to be attacked was the
carriage house fronting ON Bates. 1t was
filed with vehicles down stairs, and the
second story contained twenty-eight
horses, whose only means of exit was
rough inclined plane. The flames stop
ped short at the brick walls of this build
ing, contented with scorching the roof and
pouring in heavy clouds of smoke OF she
unfortunate animals i'm the second story.
The scene this morning shows how fear
full their agonies must have been. Many
that held them i'm the stalls and rushed
madly around until they fell suffocated
on the floor. Others, in the mad
delirium of death, unable to free
themselves, tore their flesh in pieces from
their sides and died in commissions. Here
and there stalls dragged and kicked to
pieces showed the frenzy of the animals
and their wild, fruitless efforts to escape
a terrible death. Not a hair was Singed,
it was a slow death from suffocation. Ten
minutes after the fire started in the stable
it had spread to the alley fence in the rear
of the Bates school, and the sparks flew
high in the air and floated into the venti-
lators under the school roof, where they
found Judgment on the dry rafters and
started a second fire. Here the care
lessness of the fire department was
almost criminal, according to the
statement of the janitor of the school,
who says that he notified the firemen i'm
mediately after the flames stasted, but that
it was over twenty minutes before the
first stream of water was thrown upon
the building, and then the attic was one
sheet of flames. The rafters soon burned
and the iron roof fell in with crash,
smothering the flames and wrecking the
third story of the building so badly that
it will take several weeks to repair the
the firemen made a seive of the building,
and the plaster is dropping from the walls
and ceilings.
When the fire broke out the guests in
the Hotel Noble were awakened by the
lights and shouts of the hack-drivers, and
found the fire at their windows. No time
was lost looking for valuables to save.
They rushed out on the street with blan-
kets and sheets wrapped around them,
and in a few minutes the house was
empty. The brick carriage house saved
the hotel, and the exertions of the firemen
were confined to keeping the flames from
passing that building, and is given as an
excuse for the destruction of the school.
Mr.. Pierce Mutually Mr.. j. P. Mullally's
son, claims that over sixty horses were
burnt up or suffocated, and it is not yet
known how many mules were saved. A
reporter counted fifty-three carcasses and
many more may be buried under the fallen
timbers. The insurance is given at one
hundred dollars head on the stock, 1eav-
ing loss of over six thousand dollars on
the stock and about three thousand dollars
on the building, which was not very val
nob1a