Red Lodge picket. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1889-1907, 1894-11-03
BURNED TO DEATH
Sixteen Guests in a Seattle Hotel
Lost Their Lives.
THE BUILDING WAS A FIRETRAP
Ghe Fire Is Thought 20 Have Origin
a1eh From the Explosion of /.
lamp in the Kitchen.


SEATTLE, Oct. .1,-Sixteen persons-
IL men, three women and three child
ren-were burned to death ia the West
Street hotel early this morning. Thir-
teen b1des have teeu identified. They
/ are:
Mrs. O.terman, Of California, aged
| GO; Andre" O:termau, her son, aged
/ Is; Mrs. j. ". Huffman, wife OF q We'll
/ known farmer OF Fall City, Wash.
t Mrs. !. II. Han cher, of Rolte, Iowa,
and her three caiidren: John +. An
derson, aged IS; +. Ballman Z. GEahn,
labore:; Angus NcDouald {. VIII
soa, NJ. McSorley.
The Hotel y Fire TIaY
The Nest - rect house occupied the
upper floor OF n two.story corrugated
lfon building that covers "a quarter Of
! block CT ground at Columbia and
| West streets, one block from the North
ern Pacific depot. and hear the busi-
ness center of the city. The building
WAS nieie shell OF wood covered with
Iroa. There We're seyera! exits to the
street, bat they We're narrow. lie fire
was undouptediy caused by the eSplo-
sion of Il lHmp in the kitchen. The
corrugated iron sheetiog Kept the
flames hid until nearly the whole in
terror was Il furnace. The thin parti-
,,f
with cheese cloth, and burned furi-
ousiy.
1t vas uot until the ilames were seen
burning in the windows by people iii
the street that the alarm OF fire Was
turned il. When the iigemen arrived +
the tire did not present an alarming as /
pect. People al the windows We're /,
rescued with ladders and boards, some .
esca,,ing with hardly any clothes. ID. /
Il. Glass, l. lward IIavelu and {. b. :
J ]ohnson jumped to lhe ground and !
were injured SO badly that they were .
taken 10 the hospital. All will recover. I
The crowd IN the street then suppo seti .
all the !clgeTs had escaped. The fire
S1en played water through the will !
dows and we've reinforced by the fire !
boat. the building being only short .
distance from the water front.
Di covered the Bodies.
AT 2:45 q. n the fire was under con-
troll aud the tirenen were able to enter !,
the shell Of iron. y he stairs they
found tie body OF q man, pinned 70 the .
floor by the ruins OF q bed lie had .
apparently just heard the alarm aud |
was dressing when overcome by smoke
and suffocated, for the only clothing !
he had on was his trousers and boots. .
The body vas terribly burned. Con-
tnuing their search the iremcn dis
covered corr Sc alter corpse, until at i
O'clock they had counted Is. Suhse
quentIy another was found, Most of
tie bodies were ie!t where they lay
until daylight in the hope that the
proprietor might identify them by
locating the room Oh the register,
for all the bodies except two We're
charred beyond possibility Of recogni-
ton.
In one OF tie Railways q body,
chavred black and without vesil5e OF
clothing, was found. A little further
on ia the same passageWay was anoth-
er body, evidently that OF wonian,
with face upward aud haCds out
stretched as ii fighting for her life.
There was little left Of The Wnmah's
form; part oil The body MAS charred
aud turned ZONES lay around it. lii
another bal! CT rassagewaN was an
other body, evidently that OF an agod
Womau. Her !}oGiy Was 1earlulty con-
torted, The burned arms and hands
were uplilteh, and in one biackened
hand was Il l!andtui OF hair, as Ii she
ia iser agony he'd clutched il III despair
hen tile fire came upon her.
The saddest Sight of All,
! The sad.lest sight Of all was found in
an il side room, eli the passagewav
which led to West street. There,
/ calmly lying lit the ciarred and black-
4 ened bed, was evidently an entire fam
I ily. The father lay on one size, the
I wife ueX. to him and a little burned
I and bIackened 'Fn', the flesh failing in
/ snreds flom it. the small fingers
clu clet, show eli that little child
, Was among the victims.
In al adjoining room was q SUI more
horrible sight. In a corner el a small
inside room two charrea and naked
skeletons met the gre. The flesh Was
burned lro!n each anu the Ii.st, that oi
a man, with u!ackenea slunIs CT
arms, seemed to he fighting !nl ending
,tan.er Immediately iteyOnd hilu,
also bolt upright and ciu' ching bis
waist. was Il skeleton of q woman.
!, - a
couch. the smoke end flames had
rushed in uron them and telare thev
had realized their awful danger they
were overpowered a 4 met most hor-
rih,e death.
in tie po lion o? ;l,e hotel where the
fame, did not destroy tie woodwork,
the bodies oi two mole were found.
One man was completely dressed ami
another was III lis III nl-hlrlothes. ihey
were suffocated by the smoke.
Terrible Scenes after the Fire.
nsome Of the ruined lnoms at the
eEd Of the narroW hall, where ore man
was found dead, is u white streak OH
the @..l, tintariisted by smoke, kept
thus ~ the uplaised arin OF thi. We
tim, v here thai, arm rested against the
wall When, in tie last struggle, he
reached upward fer i.e!n in his awful
aeoay. Ia The corner Of lhe loom
where he upper parts of the walls are
buried away is an enormous spot up
ON the floor and OK both cssrner walls.
In that place, against the wall, sat tie
wife, dead, Iler arms about the waist OF
her dead husband, VINO sat before her
on the floor, his feet and arms burned
off, bis eyes burned o0t, and her han 3
) burned oil.
In another room is a long, uni urned
spot, Tie shape oI man, where one
" as found dressed and dead, With his
face badly burned. The bod'es were
, taken to the morgue this morning in
, boxes or canvas sacks. Most Of the
bodies were wrapped in stained aud
dirty bedciothing from The storet oon:5
, Of tie burned hote'. Some Il the