Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1892-02-08

uoad Doulcs nave thus Tar Deen lound
Six injured persons are In the hospital and
sixty-three have been reported alive.
This leaves about seventy-six persons still
missing. The number Of dead will, how.
ever, probably not exceed, at the latest es-
innate, thirty people
Soon after the fire broke out ,ambulances
arrived from the various hospitals. Many
physicians who reside in neighborhood
were quickly on the scene and did all
they gould 70 relieve the injured.
Quick work OF the Flames.
Mr.. Meares was among the first to leave
the building. and this WAS before the drst
engine arrived. But in few minutes Are
was shooting from all the windows of the
upper hoos. Nj. Mears. who had been
half dased, soon realized that he had not
hsen followed out by his wife. At THAI
moment q hook and ladder company ar
rived. Mesres implored them to save his
wife. A ladder was quickly placed in po-
sition to q window which he said was his
wife's room. This proved not TO be Mrs.
Mears, but an unknown woman quickly
stepped out upon the ladder and was car
ried down In safety.
Then the ladder was placed against the
window Of Mrs. Meares, room. Mrs.
Meares appeared ut the window. She was
very nervous, and in making the descent
slipped and fell 10 the sidewalk and was
injured.
One nigR jumped from a third STORY
wine" . on the sixth avenue side and was
killed. a moment later another man
leap.,! nom window on the Fortieth
street h.ic aud was instantly killed.
Shor;ly sftCrward two women jimped
from windows Ga the Sixth avenue side.
Sergcan, Warl and Patrolman Phillips
went INTO n room on the fourth floor
from and rescued, Walter II. Phelps and
wife. They also sa7ed Mrs. Samuel Knoff,
who was about to leap from window
The Landlords Story.
Richard Meares, proprietor OF the hotel,
says that at sos a. m his wife awakened
him, telling him the house was on fire.
She heard the cracking OF the flames, and
saw smoke coming through the crevices Of
their bedroom door Mr. Meares had only
retired mt o'clock, and was aroused with
difficulty. he sprang out Of the bed and
ran into the hallway. Volumes Of smoke
filled the hall, and the flames were max
ing their way rapidly up the elevator
shaft Their apartments were on the third
floor, and forty feet from the stairway.
Mr. Meares ran back to his room, shouted
to his wife, Now follow me-" snatched
up q coat and again ran into the hallway.
He fought his way to the staircase, sup
posing his wife was close behind him. The
passageway was filled with dense smoke,
which almost strangled him. Throwing
his coat over his head, he groped his way
to the banisters. Flames were shooting up
from below To run down the stairs for
two flights meant death, SO he dropped
twenty feet TO the ground floor, landing on
his feet without iniury, and made his way
TO the street.
Fircmen Risked their Lives
in thousand different ways. From every
point water was poured into the hotel, but
apparently each effort of the flremen only
increase the fury ofthe blaze, and by $50
n roaring column of flame was leaping
into the mir. Above the roar Of the flames
rang the fearful cries of the imprisoned
people In the burning hotel. Suddenly q
man was seen in a widow high overhead.
4 cgy Of horror arose ~ he came swiftly
down, striking thc sidewalk with sick
ening sound. He was instantly killed.
For while he was left, living where he
fell ill pool OF blood Redeemed the
stones.
Nets were brought, ladders were raised
u
ing place, and brave men climbed through
the fame and smoke to rescue the people
who stood screaming In the windows with
flames behind them. Minute after minute
the excitement increased, and the positiJ
OF those in the hotel became more terrible.
Ambulance bells rang furiously, doctors
with bandages came fiocking to the scene,
and then by ones, by twos, white-robed
Gn, ha
ropes. others climbing from dizzy window
lodges to copings. while sometimes
despairing cry would herald the leap
which ended in death. One woman, as she
leaped struck policeman, Yho was car
ryinR another woman down a ladder, and
all came to the ground together. The
woman who was being carried sustained
no severe injuries, nor did the policeman,
but the other woman struck on her head
and Gid not stir.
As fast as the injured people came
down the ladders or ropes, they were
bundled into ambulances and driven to
hospital. Many were taken to n drug
store.
No Record Was Kept Of Them,
and IL was almost impossible to say how
many had been thus saved. Those who
escaped without injury, for the greater
part avoided observation. and IL Will be
impossible to tell Just how many escaped
and how many were killed, except by
finding the bodies of the latter Many Of
the guests are not desirous Of having their
friends know that they were in the hotel
They will probably, therefore, not come
forward to say that they are safe. On
Saturday nights particularly, the Hotel
Royal Is full OF such transient guests.
Mr. Meares estimates that there were
1S3 guests In the hotel. To those who
saw how the building blazcd up from top
to bottom In less than half an hour, it
seemed incredible that many should have
escaped with their lives.
AT "A o'clock the Sixth avenue wall for
sixty feet from Fortipth street fell out
ward with crash aud a deafening roar,
and forty-fvc minutes later more than
half the Fortieth street front wall col
lapsed
The Whole Building Collapsed
at I:30 o'clock. and great pillar Of flame
shot up In the air. accompanied by noise
like tremendous explosion. All that
was left standing OF the structure was
strip Of wall about ten feet wide.
Soon after 3 o'clock Chief Bonner de-
clured that the fire wqs uu Ter control, and
the work Of searching !ug hc bodies ~ the
dead was begun.
The streets for blocks around were COW
ered thickly with ice, from the torrents Of
water.
Thero were nbout thirty seyvant oirls