Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-08
the walls fell people were seen at several
windows on the TOP floor

the walls fell people were seen at several
windows on the top floor
CRYING FOR HELP,
but fell back and were soon burned in the
ruins.
News of the disaster spread through the
length and breadth Of the city, and the
friends of those who lived in the hotel
hurried to the spot in fear aud trembling.
After the ire was sufficiently cooled to
permit of q partial examination of the ruins
search was made for the dead. The search
was az once rewarded by finding q charred
body almost burned to n crisp. It was IN
recognizable, but identified IS that of Henry
j. Levy, from q ring on one of the fingers.
The walls were in q dangerous condition,
and it was deemed necessary to pull them
down before continuing the search for the
work early tomorrow morning clearing
away the debris.
The loss on the hotel and furniture is
estimated at $3.50, 600. The building was
owned by Herman Israel, furniture dealer
on the Bowery.
WHAT AIEARs SAYS.
Richard Mears, the landlord and prin-
ciral proprietor OF the hotel, was in the Of
fee during the latter part Of Saturday
evening. He went 10 the clerks desk about
1880 and ascertained that all but four of
the ITO rooms and suites in the house had
been taken. He estimated there were about
one hundred and thirty to one hundred and
forty people in the house, all told, at that
hour. He learned later that the other four
rooms were taken before l q. M.
MearS said the spectacle twenty minutes
after ne reached the street was beyond his
powers of portrayal. Men and women 1t
the upper windows, clad only in robes de
mutt, shrieked and gesticulated frantically,
and were only prevented from jumping by
the tremen who shouted words OF encour-
agement TO them. But the flames waXed
fiercer, and presently 4 human form
plunged from the fourth story and struck
the pavement, head foremost, with a
sickening thud, while blood and brains
splashed upon the clothing of
the bystanders, and another and another
shot downward until three unacceptable
bodies lay still and motionless. The men
could stand 70 more, and got away from the
horrible place as quickly rs possible.
Not all the persons who engaged rooms
at the hotel last night registered, nor did
all who registered put down their true
names for reasons best known 10
themselves. \ few of the names
are E. T. Leonard aud wife, Philadelphia;
81. D. Sonlin, city; E. e. Lonlalla, Rupre-
tonet; +. a. Clark aud wife, Boston; j. L.
Price and wife. city; L. c. and Mrs. Taylor,
Newark; f. Lester and wife, Boston,; Z. j.
X Smith and wife, Springfield, Mass.
Those known to be dead whose bodies
were recovered are not all identified: in
fact, only one is identified with any degree
of positiveness. This is II. c.. Levy of the
firm of Levy, Straus Il Freeman, clothiers,
Broadway. The bodies of the other four
are the bodies Of two men and two women.
It is feared search of the vast smoking
pile of debris in the cellar of the hotel will
reveal many CHASTITY finds.
It was reported at late hour that no less
than 100 people are still unaccouEted for.
The origin of the fire is unknown. It
started in the basement near the elevator
shaft, which is located in the middle of the
building. The flames were first seen pour
ing out of the cupola of the roof, directly
over the elevator shaft, by an engineer on
the Sixth avenue elevated railroad train,
who stopped his train directly in
front of the hotel and blew his whistle long
and continuously The sound awol1e many
of the sleeping people in the hotel and
brought policemen to the scene, who ut
once sent out fire alarm from a near by
signal box Meanwhile the employees of
the hotel on night duty sought to arouse
the guests by the cries of fire. So rap
idly, however, did the flames in
crease it seemed an age before
the firemen arrived, although the fire
apparatus ratified up to the scene
within a few minutes after the alarm.