The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-05-05
WITH LOSS Or LIFE

| fife Old St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans.
J whisff Coast One million Dollars, Went
Down Before tire, fnfy OF the Fire King
Two Persons Kined By dumping and
| Many: 1t is Feared. wefe Burned In
/ Their fsoOms.
NEW ORLEANS EpriI as, fO:ll p. m.
The st. Charles hotel, the largest
building IN the city, is burning. One
person burned to death so far.
NEW ORLEANS, Aprl .9-At least
two lives were lost at the ST Charles
hotel and how many more will nos be
known until the ruins of the hand
some structure are searched.
The fire was discovered at about IL
o'clock in the kitchen OF ths hotel.
Everything was quiet around the
building at the time, all the servants
having disappeared from that part of
the building and most of the guests hav-
ing retired for the night. The origin of
the fire is not known. 1t had gained
a good headway in the rear portion OF
the structure before its presence be-
eafne known to the clerks in the office.
An alarm was at once turned in, and
SNCt OiC vi tiC VI tht hp"SN
who could be found at that hour was
started through the halls TO awaken
the guests. 1t is thought about 200
persons were sleeping in the hotel at
the time the fire broke out, though the
exact number Of guests is not known,
and the register, with everything else
of value In the office, is destroyed.
r Al A.
on the upper stories were less fnrtu-
nate, and the two known to have been
killed were men who jumped from
these upper windows. The bodies of
both had been severely burned before
the leap for life was made and in both
cases the clothing was nearly gone.
The bodies were so mangleG by the
fall that recognition was impossible
and there was nothing about the little
remaining clothing of either to indi-
cate the identity of the unfortunates.
The fire burned its way with great
rapidity to the freight elevator in
the rear of the st. Charles hotel
and soon spread to the upper
floors, so that the third, fourth and
fifth floors on the Commerce-street side
of the hotel were ablaze. Most of the
guests were on the st. Charles-street
side, and they soon began to make
their appearance ut the windows on
that side. Many of them were in their
night clothes and in scanty attire, and
most of them, with the aid of ladders
brought quickly into use by the fire
men, made their escape to other hotels
near by.
How many others were left upon the
upper floors; how many who failed to
reach the windows in time or, reach
ing the outer walls, with the flames
close upon them suffered horrible
death by suffOcatiOn rather than make
the hopeless attempt to save their lives
by jumping forty or fifty feet to the
stone pavement, can only be conjec.
tured.
The hotel was gutted before the fire.
tnen had made the slightest Roadway
in checking the flames. Indeed, it re-
quired their most heroic efforts to save
the human life imperiled in the fast.
burning wooden structure.
4'ttiililH VI TIE contents OF the nOItl
or the baggage of the guests was
saved, and it il doubtful if in their
rush for their lives any of these fright
ened people took time to gather up any
valuables they may have had near
them at the time the alarm was
sounded.
When the fire was at its greatest heat
burning embers were carried in great
clouds across St Charles street and
rained upon the roof of the building on
the opposite corner of st. Charles and
Gravier streets, in which are located
the offices of the Western Union Tele-
graph Co. This building could not be
protected and was soon ablaze in a
dozen places.
The st. Charles hotel was one of the
finest establishments of its kind in the
south. 1t was built in 1856 at IA cost of |
about 81, 100000.