Asheville daily citizen., 1892-08-30
TIE BELMONT FIRE AGAIN
DIR. HAWKINS RETURNS TO
HIS CHARGES.
He NGitcra:eS That the Manage
men; of Dr Won RucIE was Rad
OIL the nigh; of She Fire, and DIR.
VIM 2uCk gseTSndS himself.

men; of DIR Won Ruclk was Rad
OH the Night of She Fire, and DIR.
vou Ruclx Defends himself.
THE CITIZEN has received from Raleigh
printed slip signed "A. b. Hawkins
which replies to Dr.. Won Ruck's reply to
DR.. Hawkins letter which appeared i'll
THE CITIZEN OF Saturday. Much of the
matter in this slip is rciteration of what
DR.. Hawkins said to the THE CITIZEN.
Some extracts will be found of interest:
1T has been rcpnI ted that the fire orig
mated in a laundry, This not true, be-
cause there was no laundry at the hotel.
| do not know what caused the fire, but
repeat that DR.. vou Ruck cannot be
too severely censurcd for the manner in
which the hotel was conducted on the
night of the fire..
II am forcibly led to this conclusion
because there was no watchman in the
building at the time of the fire, and his
itself was an omission which proves
gross carclessneSs. There was no one on
duty whose special duty il was to notify
the sleeping guests of that hotel OF the
approach of danger.
III DR.. Won Ruck. as he states, had a
watchman on duty, why then was not
the alarm of fire given by such watch
man? Does DR.. Won Ruck mean to say
that his watchman, if he had one, gave
the alarm? Ii he had watch.
man, where was he He was not at the
post of duty, and. not being where he
should have been, he might as well have
been on the Sandwich Islands.
There were no escape ladders, and
not to have had both watchmen and
escape ladders were acts OF gross care
lcssness.
"Dr. Won Buck is again in error: He
says that the doors to the rooms on
the second floor were all open, aud that
the occupants had left them i'll time to
escape. Mrs. Hawkins and myself occu-
uird a room on this second floor, oppo-
site to his wife's room. The door to our
room was closed. No one had knocked
to awaken us, and VIC escaped by going
through the window and the door re-
maincd closed. DR.. Won Ruck had al
ready provided for The safety OF his fam
ilv. know this because three young
ladies came down from the third story
aud while one of them waited tor Mrs
: Hawkins on the tist floor and the othc'
two went to the pavilion. where they
saw Dr.. Won Ruck and wife, and Will tes
tifv that the Doctor was trlly dressed.
fact that was remarked upon by an cl
dcrly lady present. Aud | repeat tina
| saw Dr. Won Ruck when the hotel wa
on fire; that he was fully dressed ant
standing near the elevator with a grcn
andc in his hand, his wife having bcei
moved to place of safety, while SOM
of his guests were escaping throngh win
! dows without receiving any notice o
aid from him.
DR.. Hawkins here submits the follow
ing affidavit signed "W. Taylor
NV. Tay lor being duly sworn depose
and says: That he was stopping at III
Hotel Belmont, near Ashevillc, n. c., a
- the time of its dest tuctoi oy fire, on tn
night of Wednesday, August a. 1897
that lie saw DR.. Karl Won Ruck durin
the fire, and that said Won Ruck was {
that time dressed in white flannel Sui
of clothes"
DR.. Hawkins continues
ut is true, as DR.. Won Ruci says, tha
the invalid lady from Florida had tim
to leave her room. This is quite evlden
from the fact that she jumped from
portico two stories high to save hersel
And may it not be asked, in this conne'
ton, if DR.. Won Ruck could not hay
@ spared a few moments, after he had pre-
vidcd amply for the safety of his famil!
in looking after his invalid guest frot
Florida? He had taken his own tamil
c to the pavilion, and after being satlste
y that his family and household c
iects were safe from the fire he migl
have given some attention to the satel
of his guests and their effects.
"In reference to the boy carrying W;
ter to No. %. remember that Il te
moments after II O'Clock left the otlic
leaving two other gentlemen, and it W;
probably one of those who ordered Il
water. This boy was mere office bo
not watchman, and it is possible WI
n asleep at the moment, at that time
v night, after an crrand was performed
Dr. Won ISuck's Reply.
EplToH THE CITIZEN: In further l
ply to Mr.. Hawkins letter il today
issue: have stated the facts alreat
in my reply to previous letter In IT
ther explanation would say that | HI
retired to my room and was asleep wh
the fire broke out. A noise in the HI
= awakened me, and not knowing what
- was, put on pants, coat and shoes, a
~ looked out into the hall. A bright lig
in the end of the hall caused me to S
o pect fire, and before even informed /
.. wife in the adjoining room | ran to Il
end of the hall finding the flames conf
up the elevator. Mr.. Shaaf, a guest
the house, met me there and we
deavorcd to extinguish the fire
dischargng the contents of the che
cal fire extinguishcrs into the shs
had no means of knowing how mi
fire there was below.
While doing this Mr.. Hawkins rusl
by Mrs, Won Ruck was at this time
her room, and so were Miss Moore &
my son, entirely unaware of the ex
lie cncc of fire.
~ Seeing my efforts useless, passed bt
into the hall, and, unless am grea
an, mistaken, Mrs. Hawkins came out of
iS room then after her husband had nj
his escape. learn since that he h
however, thrown his trunk out of
W. window, ana on reaching the outsid
the building made inquiry for his "
and hired servant for SO to climb III
~ the porch for his trunk.
Before carried Mrs, Won Ruck {
her sister Miss Grace had awakened
family; in the meanwhile | looked
e. every room on this corridor and Il
A"3 was no one in any OF them. With the
ccption OF the room 67 all doors v
open, and opened this door and 70
the occupants gone.
/ did not so to the pavilion until
seen the four persons off the end of