Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-10-17
FLAMES VICTIMS.
The Leland Hotel at Syracuse. n. Y,
Burns With Awful Results.
Many Inmates Fail Victims to the Fiery Demon
Others Crushed Into shspeless Mass
in Their Efforts to Escape.

SYRACUSE, N. y, OCT. lO.-What
proved 10 be the most disastrous fire that
ever visited Syracuse for many years was
discovered in the Leland hotel ut 1890
O'Clock this morning. 1t Is now 2
O'Clock, and the fire is still burning
fiercely, though the entire first depart
ment OF nine engines are working hard to
save further loss of life and limb. An
eyewitness of the fire says be is positive
that at least twenty-five persons have
lost their lives, and many more have
been more or less injured. One woman
was being lowered from window by the
aid of q rope. She had reached point
opposite the third story when the rope
became ignited from burning sill. The
rope parted and the woman fell to the
pavempnt, her brains were dashed ont
and her body fiattened into a shaprless
mass. So great Is the confusion and ex-
element the identity of those killed and
injured is wholly unknown. Undertake
ers' ambulances aud other vehicles are
! living in all directions, and the streets in
the neighborbood of the i'll fated hotel
ure througed with excited crowds OF peo-
pie.
3a m.-The hotel IS still burning.
Wild rumors are nfloat that the list
killed will number fifty persons, but it Is
! believed the number Will be less than
twenty five.
h. &5uard lines are stretched across the
Isifeet, hut are inadequate to keep back
the surging crowds OF people that are
| packed in the streets leading TO the hotel +,
aud the rolice are stationed all around
| the building.
Scenes and incidents connected with
| the rescue of the inmates are heartrend-
ing in the extreme. A man and woman
were seen locked in each others arms in
the window on the fifth floor. Below
them was a perfect sea of flames. No
possibility of escape except by the win
| dow was open to them, and that seemed
inevitable death. No assistance could
reach them. The woman seemed TO he
anxious TO jump, bit her husband was
earnestly entreating her to desist. The
crowd below waited with nhated breath.
The woman made one last effort to jump,
hut was restrained 10y her husband and
the cry Of the crowd signally. An awful
end must have hpfalleu them, rs they
fell backward INTO mass Of flames.
AT the window on the fourth floor al
most directly under this. woman ap-
pe"red NJ the window. She was sur
rounded on all sides from the interior ny
hames. She stepped upon the sill of the
window and placed her hands above her
head. People in the street shuddered
aud turned their faces to shut out the
horrible sight that must meet their gaze
shoul the woman jump to the ground.
She did not jump. but seemed to be
Ii.
escape would rome from other source.
She stepped down from the sill into the
room. but was at the window only an
Instant when the whole roof became en-
reloped in flames aud the woman sank
back from view.
II was reported early that Miss Cora
Tnuner. the actr ess, had jumped from a
window and had been killed. but later it
was learned she had escaped alive but
suffered severely.
Frightful shrisks of the guests and the
crack of the flames could be heard for
blocks away. The building burned so
rapidly that most OF the people on the
upper floors were obliged TO use the fire
escape OF jump for their lIves. One
woman appeared at window of u room
on the north side Of the building with
for help were not heard until the tinmes
closed around her. The firemen tried in
vain to rails ladder. The woman was
told TO throw out the rope or jump from
the window. She threw out the rope and
Ms she was climbing out OF the window
the flames envelopei her and she fell
bark into the burning building.
Seven or eight men. women and chill
drcn jumped from the upper rooms onto
the sheds of adjoining buildings.
At one time seven persons were strug-
Cling on shed which had caught fire
from flying sparks. Several of them
were seen TO tear off their endorsements
which had caught fire. One woman lay
on the ground where she had fallen,
tearing the hair from her head which had
caught fire. She, with others who had
jumped from the rear windows, were
carried to a saloon In the neie hborhood.
In this saloon several persons lay on pool
tables in all kinds of conditions.
The doors OF GRAY Bros. shoe manu-
facturers across the street, were smashed
an and several persons carried there on
stretchers. This police office was turned
INTO hospital and the patrol wagons into
ambulnnces.
One Of the most frightful incidents of
the fire was the death of a woman who
Jumped from the fifth story window.
Several policemen stood on the sidewalk
holding nets ready to catch the guests as
they jumped. Two persons, man and
woman, jumped into the nets almost at
the same instant and escaped with broken
limbs. The next jump was that of
woman from the fifth story window.
She leaped, but missing the net, was
dashed TO pieces on the stone sidewalk.
1t is now 4:25 O'Clock, and although
the hotel is still burning, the fire depart
ment have the flames under control.
There are four dead bodies lying at diff
ferent undertaking establishments and
one dead at st. Joseph's hospital. These
bodies are unidentified.
1t will be impossible to learn exactly
how many were burned to death, and
whose bodies will never be found.
,ssTbs. proprietors of the hotel are War
'stffy. Teel and VanBuren Teel, who are
also proprietors of and interested in vari-
Gus other large hotels in different cities
throughout the United states.
By the burning of the Leland hotel the
total losses exceeds Sl25. 200. The hotel
cost $4,000 The furniture is oil de-
stroyed. There was considerable loss by
the American Exnress compauv in ifs