St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-02-08

tieth street wall and the parti-
ton walls running parallel with
Sixth avenue had been left standing
almost entire, like blackened skeletons
with great black holes where the win
dOWs and doors had been and portions
of fire escape clinging to them in grim
irony. About half of the south division
wall remained, showing where dozen
fire places had been. AT Its base was
large mirror, still uncracked, which had
adorned the Office. All the other walls
had fallen in the mass of ruins, In which
the hotel and its contents, with possibly
many bodies, had been engulfed. The
crowds found fascination in watching
the efforts of the firemen to throw down
the two dangerous partition walls. The
outer one extended to the roof, and was,
at its top. loosened mass of prick and
mortar, with single chimney stand
ing, which tottered at almost every
ouch Of the weakened walls. Few of
The Watching Thousands
would have consented to change places
with the hardy fireman who mounted
the scaling ladder to the crumbling
summit of that insecure mass, and deX-
terously threw the rope so that it en-
circled the wall. When this was adj
justed thirty men bent themselves to
the task of Oyerthrowing the wall. Dan
ger lines were established, and all traf-
fic on the Sixth avenue street car line
was stopped. The ruined wall was
stronger than had been thought, and it
took fully half an hour to send 1t crash
ing into the pile of wreckage beneath.
Then the work of clearing away the
wreck began. The guest who probably
had the most narrow, and at the same
time marvellous, escape today was M. L.
Hartman, a travelling salesman for st.
Louis wholesale grocery house. He reg
istered at the hotel Saturday evening
with his wife.
81 had room on the sixth floor" said
Mr.. Hartman, land was aroused from
sleep by loud, roaring noise and by
the sound of whistle which l think
was from one of the engines On the
elevated road. Iopened my door and
discovered that the stairway leading to
the lower floors was in a blaze. The
hallway was filed with smoke, and as
it poured into my room as long as the
door was open, l quickly closed it,
knowing that there was no escape that
way. [ then went to the window and
opened it, and there seemed to be as
much smoke on the outside as there was
in the hallway, for the room soon
Filled with Smoke
from that direction. Both my wife
and 1 would have been suffocated
in the room had l not taken
two towels, which / soaked with water.
These we used TO keep the smoke out of
our lungs by holding them over our
mouths and nostrils. L tried TO find
fire escape near our window, but there
was none, and l thought at one time
that we should never get out of the room
alive. 1t was certain death to jump six
stories, and, as it was either that or
burn TO death, said to my wife: Mat
tie, am going to shoot you and then
kill myself l concluded that it
would he better to die that way
than burn to death, and as | always
sleep with revolver under my head.
hurried to the bed to get it. By this
time the flames were coming up through
the cracks in the floor, and through the
cracks of the door. Just as was about
to shoot my wife, the floor fell with a
crash. and we went down probably two
stories. The flooring stopped opposite
window, and my wife jumped out and
landed on the portico beneath. A rope
was hanging out of this window, and
with this assistance / managed to
get down another story, but here |
slipped and fell to the portico beside
my wife. picked her up, but was un-
able to carry her, as [ was almost suffo-
Gated and the fall had injured me- l
was endeayoring to reach ladder and
try to carry her down the street, when
two firemen took her from me. How | |
reached the street / do not know.''
Mr.. Harman's hands and chest are Sc
verely burned, and his hair and eye
brOws are singed. He was told yester- |
day that his wife was being cared for at |
one OF the hospitals, and that she was |
not fatally injured. 1t is believed, how
ever, that she is one of the dead.
Had an Umbrella.
There was not even rope escape in
the room on the rhird floor which
Felix Kraemer, salesman for Stein
way 81 Sons, Of New York. occupied,
and had it not been for Mr.. Kraemer's
experience at hotel fires and an umbrel-
la he probably would be numbered
among the victims.
Had l not had a strong umbrella,
should either have been burned or
killed by jumping" said Mr.. Kraemer.
81 have been burned out at hotels three
times now. was burned out at hotel
ut Warrensburg, Mo-, and also at Els
worth, Kan, and l learned something
about how to act when at fire on those
two occasions. AT the fire at Warrens-
burg guest escaped by using an open
umbrella to ease his flight from an up
per story window. l never forgot the
way in which ne escaped, and since then
l have always been provided with
strong umbrella for an emergency like
Continued ON Third Pnre