St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-16

lutte as to whether to lump to
the pavement or 10 face the
fiery foe that was fast encrOach-
ing on her liberty and life. She step
ped upon the sill of the window, and
placed her hands above her head.
People in the street below shuddered
and turned their faces to shut out the
horrible sight that must meet
their gaze should the woman jump to
the ground. The woman did not jump
but seemed to be withheld by either
fear OF feeling that escape would come
from some other source. She stepped
down from the sill into the room, but
remained at the window but an instant
when the whole room became enveloped
in flames and the woman
Sank Back From View.
1t was reported shortly after the fire
broke ont that Miss Cora Tanner, the
actress, who was guest of the hotel,
had jumped from window to the
ground and had been killed. Later
it was learned, however, that Miss
Tanner had escaped alive. but had suf-
fered severe burns on the arms and
hands. The frightful shrieks of the
guests and the crackle of the flames
could be heard for blocks away.
The building burned so rapidly
that most of the people OH the
upper floors we're obliged to use the fire
escapes or jump for their lives. One
woman appeared at the window in
room on the north side OF the building
with baby in her arms. Her pitiful
0riai rnl, n
the flames gathered around her. The
firemen tried in vain to raise ladder
on this side of the building. The woman
was told to throw out the rope or
jump from the window. She threw
out the rope, and as she was climbing
out of the window, the flames enveloped
her and she fell back into the building
and perished. Seven or eight men
and children jumped from the upper
stories on to shed in the rear of the
building. At one time seven per-
sons were struggling together on the
shed which had already caught fire
from the flying sparks. The victims
were half naked. Several of them were
seen to tear off their body undergar-
ments that had caught fire. One woman
lay on the ground where she had fallen,
tearing the hair from her head. Her
Hair Had Caught Fire
and it was with difficulty that the flames
were quenched. She, together with the
others who had jumped from the rear
windows, was picked up and carried on
a stretcher TO saloon in the neigh
borhO0d. In this saloon several
persons lay on the pool tables in all po-
sitions. One of the women was Annie
Schwartz, a laundry girl employed in
the hotel. She was rescued from the
rear of the fodrth floor by a
colored man, who had already saved
several others of the help. The doors
of Gray Bros, shoe manufacturers,
across the street, were smashed IN and
several persons carried there on stretch
ers. The police Office was turned into
a hospital and the. patrol wagons into
ambulances.
One of the most frightfui incidents of
the fire was the terrible death of a
woman who jumped from the fifth story
of the building. Several policemen
stood on the sidewalk holding nets
ready to catch the guests as they
jumped. Two persons, man and a
woman, jumped into one of the ets,al-
most at the same moment, and escaped
with broken limbs. The next to jump
was woman who appeared
in a window OH the fifth
story in her night clothes.
She leaped out of the window and miss
ing the net was dashed to pieces on the
stone sidewalk. She was picked up and
removed to the morgue.
One of the firemen told this story of
the woman who was killed by jumping:
''When we first came we were hampered
by telegraph wires on West Fayette
street. In trying to raise the
ladder it became caught in the wires.
A woman stood in the window crying
for help. The flames were leaplng out
toward her and she was frantic with
fright. | went up the ladder to cut the
wires. While L was doing this she
jumped. thinking that we could not
reach her, and the awful result was
that she missed the net and was killed."
1t is now 4:25 O'clock, and. although the
hotel is still burning. the fire de-
partment have the fire under
control. There are four dead
bodis lying ar different undertaking
establishments and one dead at st. Jo-
seph's hospital. These bodies have as
yet been unidentified. 1t will be utterly
impossible to learn definitely how
many were burned to death, and
whose bodies will never be found
A remarkable confidence is the fact
today meeting of the insurance ad-
justers of this state was to have taken
place at the hotel. The proprietors of the
hotel are Warren j. Leland and Van
buren Leland, who are also the propri-
etors of and are interested in various
other large hotels in different cities
throughout the United States.