The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-02-08
HUNDRED MISSING
Veteran Firenlen Appalled, by
What They Saw.
PEOPLE CRYING FOR HELP
FELL WITH THE WALLS.
Others Ieaped to Certain Death on
PaVements Far Below.
BURNING OF HOTEL ROYAL IN NEW
YORK YESTERDAY MORNING.
BURNING OF HOTEL ROYAL IN NEW
YORK YESTERDAY MORNING.

Sleeping Guests Aroused to Find Them
selves Imprisoned by Smoke and Flame
Gus Escapes-The Landlords Dash to
the Street.-The Dropped Twenty Feet
Through the Fire Many Incidents of a
Horror Which Rivals That of Park
Place.
NEW YORK, February 7.-An appall-
ing catastrophe, paralleling in horror
and perhaps exceeding in loss Of life the
Park Place disaster of last summer, oc-
Cured in this city early this morning.
The Hotel Royal at Sixth avenue and
10th street, opposite Bryant Park, was
completely destroyed by fire and large
number of people were burned, suffo-
Gated and crushed in the ruins. Five
burned, mangled and disfgured bodies
within a short time after the breaking
out of the flames were removed to the
morgue. 1t is feared that scores of 9th
er victims are buried in the ruins.
The fire broke out shortly after this
morning and spread with fearful rapidity
Flames soon enveloped the entire build
ing, cutting off all means of escape
for the guests rooming in the upper sto-
ries The origin of the fire is unknown.
It started in the basement near the eleva-
tor shaft located in the middle of the
building. The
Flames Were First Seen
pouring out of the cupola on the roof di-
rectly over the elevator shaft by an en-
gineer on Sixth Avenue elevated
railroad train, who stopped his engine di-
rectly in front of the hotel and blew the
locomotives whistle loudly and contin-
uously. This unusual sound awoke many
of the sleeping people in the hotel and
brought policemen to the scene, who at
once sent out fire alarm from near by
signal box.
Meanwhile the employees of the hotel
on night duty sought to arouse the guests
by cries of Sire" So rapidly did the
flames increase that it seemed an age be-
fore the firemen came, although the first
apparatus rolled up to the scene within a
few minutes after the alarm was sent out.
The desperate character of the fire be-
came at once apparent to the fire chief
in charge, who promptly rang thee more
alarms in quick succession. Heartrend-
ing and siclening scenes which appalled,
even the experienced firemen and police,
were soon being enacted. The Mortified
crowd that quickly gathered in the
streets about the doors of the building
saw men and women, clad only in their
night clothes,
Jump from the Upper Stories
and fall upon the stone tagging of the
sidewalks. crushed to death OF seriously
injured. Every window of the building
seemed filled with men, women and chill
dren, crying out piteously to those be-
low to save them. Some of these were
certainly burned to death, as the police
say they saw them suddenly diappear
from view while great masses of flames
on the instant burst out of the windows
where the wretched victims had just
been standing.
The first hook and ladder company ar
rived about seven minutes after the
flames were discovered, and the firemen
at once ran up ladders to the hotel Win
dows Firemen, policemen and citizens
mounted ladders and carried down wom-
en- and children to places of safety. They
worked very rapidly, for by this time the
staircases and elevator shafts in the
building were enveloped in flames. The
fire escapes in the rear OF the building
afforded means of escape to some, while
fire ropes, provided in all the rooms,
were utilized by many male guests in
reaching the street.
According to the most reliable reports,
about $50 people were sleeping in the ho-
tel last night. How many were lost may
not be ascertained for several days. The
hotel had 124 rooms, nearly all being oc-
cupied last night by guests. The hotel
managers and employees made up the
balance of the list of those in the build
ing.
Five Dead Bodies
have thus far been found and six in
iured persons are in the hospital. Sixty
three are reported alive. This leaves
about 76 persons still missing. The num-
ber of dead will probably not exceed at
the latest estimate 30 people. Soon af-
fer the fire broke out ambulances ar
rived from the various hospitals, and
manv physicians who reside in the neigh
borhood were quickly on the scene and
did all they could to relieve the injured.
The following are the dead SO far as re-
ported:
Unknown woman, 40 years old, frac-
tured skull, slightly burned, supposed to
have jumped from window.
Unknown woman, about 2S, good look,
inc, light complexion, wore abundance
of jewelry, burned and suffocated.
Unknown man, good looking, about
43, had on striped silk undershirt, light
brown stripes, and evidently a Hebrew.
HENRY G. LEVY, of Levy, Striass &
Fraonan TO7 BrOadway wholesale cloth