Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-08

ALMOST INSTANT ENvEIoPrS9 OF THE BUILDING
Ix YLAMEs-rERRIBLE SCENES DURING TIE
EoLocaUsr-A HUNDRED GUESTS MISSING.
Fire broke out early yesterday morning in
the basement Of the fve-story brick Hotel
Royal. that weli-known landmark which has
stood for more than a quarter OF a century at
the southeast corner OF 9th avenuo and 10th
street. New York. The hotel was burned to
the ground. AMI large number OF people we're
burned. suffocated OF crushed in the ruins. At
the time of the disaster there were nearly 100
guests in the hotel. The hotel employees. all
told, numbered fifty-fve. Of this number OF
people Ave have thus far been found dead, six
are in the hospital and sixty-three have been
reported alive. One hundred are still missing.
The number dead will probably not exceed
thirty persons. The Pecuniary loss Is estimated
at S250,000.
The disaster recalls wildly the collapse OF
the building in Park place, near Nassau street,
August %. 1891, in which sixty-two persons
lost their lives.
Nearly every one of the 124 rooms which the
Hotel Royal had Its Ave floors were occu-
pied BY guests. many of them transient In
fact all the rooms save four had been taken at
clock Yesterday morning, when Richard Mears
the proprietor went to bed. When the names
burst forth from some unknown cause near the
enveloped i'll flames
THE PRoPRIEroa's ESCAPE.
At sos O'Clock Mrs. Isabella Mears, wife OF
Mr.. Richard Mears, proprietor of the hotel,
awakened her husband, telling him the house
was on fire. Sho heard the cracking OF the
flames through the crevices OF their bed room
door. Mr. Mears had only retired at o CLOCK,
and was aroused with difficulty. He spranS out
OF bed and ran into the hallway. Volumes OF
-. Lall. a ln arn
making their way rapidly up the elevator shaft.
Their apar tmenIs on the third hcor and
forty feet from the stairway. One glance 1T
the situation was enough to tell him the story
He ran back to his wifes room and shouted,
Now YOU follow me, snatched up a coat and
again ran into the hallway. he fought his
way straight 10 the staircase, supposing that
his wife was close behind him. he passage
way was choked witt. dense smoke, which
almost strangied him. Then throwing his
oyercoat over his head to prevent sutfocation,
bent his head low and CROPPED his way to the
banisters, Oh which he placed his left hand.
Flames were shooting up from below. His hand
which was on the railing was burned and his
hair singed. His situation was periious.
10 run down the stairs for two flights meant
DEATH and SO he. swinging himself over the
hand-raIl dropped 20 feet 20 the ground floor.
lie landed on his fee: without broken bone and
made his way to the street. Mr.. Mears was
among the first to leave the burning building.
and when he made his exit he did it before the
arrival of the hrst engine. But even in those
few minutes the flames had gotten their grip on
the fated structure and ire was shooting from
all the windows OF the upper floors.
HIS WIFE RESCUED.
When Mr.. Mears reached safety in the street
he realized his wife was not with him.
At that moment hook and ladder arrived.
Mears implored them to save his wife. lad
der was quickly placed IN position TO the win
dow which he said was his wife's room. Up
the ladder Policeman Merritt went The win
dow selected was nos the right room. In 1t was
an unknown woman. who quickly stepped ont
on to the ladder and was carried down in safety.
Then the ladder was placed against the window
OF Mears room. young man ran nlmbly up
to help save the woman, who hod already
stepped upon the ladder. Mears ran up the
ladder, too, and stepped off to the roof Of the
yeranda over the entrance TO the Office to steady
his wife when she came down. She was very
nervous and in making the descent slipped and
fell TO the sidewalk. She was picked up with a
sprained ankle and had several body bruises.
In the meantime Policeman Gallagher had
rung in an alarm, which was followed by two
calls for ambulances.
LEAPS FROM WINDOWS.
The scenes at the fire before the fire COM
panies arrived were heartrending. One man,
whose name is not known, sprang from a third
Story WINDOW anu was O2sleu 10 uealu on the
ground below. People turned their faces
away. Mortified at the sight. This was on the
9Th avenue side of the building. A moment
later another man leaped from window on
the 10th street side and was instantly killed.
Shortly afterward two women jumped from
windows on the 9th avenue side and we're dead
when picked up. Their dead bodies were taken
to the 30th street station house and afterward,
unidentified, removed to the morgue. At that
hour the known dead numbered four. Several
others had dropped from windows or slid down
ropes, with which every room in the hotel was
provided, and escaped with severe burns, while
many more had been injured in the same way
making their escape by the fire escapes and
were in the hands of ambulance surgeons who
had been summoned from Bellevue and the
New York hospitals. The surgeons had their
hands full in taking care Of the injured.
All this time the fire was raging fercely and
it was plain to be seen that the building was
doomed. The structure burned like SO much
kindling wood. The work of rescuing guests
still went on and many were taken from the
Ward and Patrolman Phillips of fire patrol No.
went into room on the fourth-fi floor front
and rescued Walter H. Phelps and wife down
ladder safely. They succeeded in saving
Mrs. Samuel knapp, who was about to leap
from one Of the windows on the third floor.
LOST $4,000 IN CASH.
Mr.. Frederick Uhlmann, the dealer in hops
mas been a guest at Hotel Royal for years
and lived with his brother Simon and mother
The latter on Saturday wen. to their country
residence at Lakewood, n. ]. Mr.. Uhlmann
had gone to bed shortly after / o'clock and
was sleeping soundly when he was rudely
awakened by the cry of fire and the screams
and shouts for help of the inmates of the
hotel He ran from his room on the second
floor, which was directly over the office. into
the hall. He found it filled with smoke and
was forced back into his room. Again he
made an attempt, and. falling over some OBJ
structlon IN the passagcway, succeeded in
making his way down the ore flight of stairs
10 the street lie escaped with only an over
coat to cover his Hakedness. Mr.. Chlmann lost
everything IN his room, including Sl2. 600 in
cash, several checks and notes and other valu-
able business documents. Despite his loss, how
ever. Mr.. Chlmann cheerful. for he
said: If my mother and brother had not gone
away on saturday they would have been
burned"
OTHER NARROW ESCAPES.
Among the narrow escapes was that Of Mr..
II. c. IhOmpkins of New York, who was L tram
silent CUES; at tie hotel. He was awakened by
the cry OF fire. He got up and went into the
hallway. but escape down stairs was impossible.
Nix 1hompkins kept his mead about him and,
collecting all his valuables, escaped out one of
the windows down rope. In descending the
flames from the second-toor windows burned
his hands and eiigAtly scorched his hair