The state herald., 1894-11-02
BURNED TO DEATH.
HOTEL FIRE IN SEATTLE.


unesn feopla Perish, and MANY In.
Iou IN the Panlc.-Men and Women
Jump from the Window.
seattie, WASH, Oct. ga fire which
iesuited eT tainly In fourteen deaths
una inc Injury of three people, broke
out In the West Street house. nj Colum.
oia and West streets about O'Clock
.n,s morning, and at this hour q a. MI
y. 'ne dead are burned beyond recog.
ni'ion, and the coroner decided to nj.
T." uie dead to remain where they are
~ m,pes that the proprietor could
t lucy ufy the bodies by the location Of
sa',ed, seissi JULY
:, The flames broke out so suddenly and
o m Inerceiy that the occupants were TAX.
nari SURPRISE and there was a wild
tna men ana women jamping from
a w shn IN all manner Of attire.
k,,,, snatp explosion was heard in the
story IL, ~ II ule rear pert Of the second
nriotor W ., r. butler. son of the pro
becan "Iu Immediately the flames
drS SI ,nro w. spread Rapidly through tho
hu,,,,ina unoer Il the corrugated iron
twn's,n,.,, Mmic' is one Of range of
CoiemoHy sIu .ctures owned by j. NJ.
street. '"e EAST siue OF west
,rousad raised cry Of fire, whic!,
house the guests with whom the
follr WIS crowded, and rush for life
n WE'D. 1t was not any too soon. for
q flames We're rushing through the
cong, narrow halls like invading
soldiers sacking city.
In the meantime officer F. q. Bryant
had discovered the flames and turned
In an alarm, which brought the fire de.
partment to the scene. Then he turn.
cd his attention to saving the terrified
people, who peered from every window,
win the flames creeping up behind
them. He found Mrs. Susie Allen and
her 2-ycar-old child at window cry.
Ing for someone to save the child.
Drop the childr' shouted the officer.
She did 80 and he caught 1t safely In
his arms. Depositing 1t on the ground
he snatched n plank and set 1t against
II window. The woman slid down /,
and suffered no further injury than n
few scratches.
w. +. Butler, proprietor of the hot Il,
was in bed when the fire was discov
cred, and escaped In scanty attire.
His son, $. +. Butler, was night clerk
al the hotel. He says the fire undoubt.
edly originated from kerosene lamp
In the kitchen. which was located OH
the upper floor near the rear wall. The
flames made such rapid progress that
before the inmates could possibly be
aroused the fire was upon them. Then
the people began to drop from the win.
dows on both sides of the building, the
| flu nm pln Col
Two streams OF water were kept
trained on this place and the water fell
In torrents on the stairway and was
hot enough to scald.
1t was only after the fire department
had gotten well TO work that the full
horror OF the affair began to reveal It.
self, and by that time the building was
mere shell. There was some unac.
countable delay In getting the water
on owing to the slowness OF the fire
boat In getting up steam. When, nj
last pressure did come, the building
was Il raging furnace and all tina,
could be done was to confine the flames
to the block where they started. The
first dend man was taken out from {,
room over the Hill Syrup Co.'S store
and was found with one leg In his
trousers and his shoes half laced. The
body was discovered with his head
covered with the bed clothes, under the
bed, having apparently hidden from
the flames, so badly burned us to be
unacceptable, rs were all the other
bodies.
At noon fourteen bodies had been
taken from the West Hotel. and two
more bodies are thought TO be In the
ruins. None Of the bodies have been
Identified Us yet.