Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-01-01
NAN \ LIVES LOST.
Burning 4 IL Famous DsltTal House
n albany.
SCENES AT THE FIRE.
ssas Thrilling Essapes from the r,amss-
APssisisai c~aees Interrupted
The Fatalities.

ALBANY, N. r.. December M.--rhe
&test estimate IL that thirteen persons
al employees of the hotel. persisted IN
the DelAyan House FIRE last night Three
Of the missing people are men and in
ere women.
conservative estimate Of the loss is
uSc'ooo on the bpilding. which is insured
Tor uto.oeo. and $1,000 on the furniture.
which Is insured for $3.50. The rents Of
the hotel are Insured for $4,000.
Heiser & Muifolder. dealers IN whole.
sale notions. who occupied store under
the annex. suffered a loss by fire and
water Of $4,000. Fully insured.
Slight losses were incurred by several
merchants on the opposite side Of Broad
way. caused by falling walls and intense
heat.
THE DEAD.
The list Of the dead who persisted in
the flames Includes Mrs. Hi. house.
Keeper; Mary sullivan. chan.be. .naid.
Mrs. Ray Young, OF jamestown: Agnes
Wilson. OF Atwood. Canada. lnewon,ah;
Bridget Fitzgibbon, pantry-gtrl: Kate
Groel Fernadio Bcilet;i. cook; Ricardo
Tt'esfernl. cook: Meget,a S;aurena.
chnmbermaid; Emi'gla T, magln. cham
bermaid; Simon Moyols. employee: Thorn
as Cannon. employee: Ami, Daily.
chambermaid; Ellen Dillon. chamber
maid
Missing: Mary Carey. chambermaid
So far as could be learned the above
list includes those who were unsuccess-
full In their efforts to escape. They had
rooms on the fifth story of the building.
end their deaths could not have been
the result OF anything but fright. One
OF the porters who went up TO warn them
said to-day that 1t was impossible TO
lead them 10 safe exit. They simply
went wild when they learned OF the fire.
i, was stated to-day that the Central
people were thinking OF purchasing the
Deiavan site on which TO erect a great
railway station.
THE CONFEDERATION.
Sunday night special from Albany
thus tells the story Of the hoters destruc-
ton:
The candidacy of the several men for
Speaker of the Assembly received start
ling baptism of fire. for the Delavan
HOUSE. that famous hosiery. known from
Maine 20 California, the Mecca OF poll
ticians and the centre OF all big State
political events for forty years, was COM
mon visitor. but fire such as this has
seldom been seen.
1t was $50 o'clock and the political
headquarters Of both Mr.. Fish aad Mr..
Malby We're filled with politicians Gnd
newspaper-men. State Factory-1nspector
Connolly. who had been in the lobby with
number of people. started to go up the
elevator. He remarked that he smelled
smoke, and suggested an investigation.
RAfn he nn,tld hl hac.
cries of fire from different parts of the
house simultaneously.
The outburst of flames before IN alarm
could be given to arouse the inmates OF
the rooms was something appalling. Up
the elevator-shaft there shot a solid col
umn Of flame. and UP the staircase near
this perfect fiue there shot up another col
umn. AS the mass OF white hot flame
reached each of the five floors II branched
out into tongues Of leaping destruction,
and It seemed as though the whole inte-
rior OF the structure was seethirs mass.
GUESTS JUMP.
Fortunately there were few OF The
guests on the upper floors as the ma1ori-
~ OF those registered were politicians end
were down on the second floor, where Mr..
Fish and Mr.. Malby had headquarters.
There was rush for the stairs IN the
front and servants stairs in the back,
where the flames had not yet reached,
and In a few minutes there was a tum-
bling mass of humanity coming down
these few means of egress Those on the
two upper floors could not avail them
selves Of these exits. as the flames were
rushing along the corridors. People on
the street. who had not yet seen the
flames, were startled by hearing crash
OF glass and seeing men and women come
tumbIing out of the windows. Within ten
la
twelve persons were dangling on the
perilous rope fire-escape or hanging on 10
window-sIlls.
The Fire Department arrived quickly,
but II took some time to get ladders up.
and In the mean time some of the people
had dropped TO the street On tie right
side OF the building there appeared AT the
window. surrounded by smoke. a man and
q woman. The man had hold OF the wo-
man. trying to persuade ner to wait for
help. but she broke away and sprang oU..
She struck balcony and rabounded TO
tie street. The man waited for a ladder
and was taken down In safety. His name
was ii. A. Foakes, a representative of a
cash-register company In Dayton, y. The
woman was his wife. who xii probably
die
Ii ex-Speaker Malby's room. which was
10 the rear of the elevator shaft, where
the fire first appeared there was the
greatest excitement. About twenty poll
ticians were there. including Congress
meE Weaver and Curtis, Senator Kilburn,
and Mr.. Malby. A rush was made fo-
the stairs and when the party landed In
the street the only injured one was
found to be Assemblyman Robbins. whose
hair and face was badly burned. In Mr..
Fish's headquarters there was less hurry.
because they were near the stairs. All
goS down safely. but without their bag
gage. Il. A. Manchester. of Auburn,
postmaster of the Assembly. came to-
wards. the baggage-room for his grip.
and. >,sson returning. he found his way
blocked with flames and smoke. and
rushed back TO a window. He broke the
glass and slid down a rope fire-escape.
no OUTSIDE FIRE-ESCAPES.
Although the building was five stories
high. there was no outside fire-escapes.
and the only means left for the people
IN the cutoff rooms was TO use the rope
fre-escapes. Ben Heilman. of Brooklyn,
was in the third story. He opened his
RI ON door as soon as he heard the cry
OF fire. A burst OF flame made him
look 10 the window as the means of
escape In an instant he had but two
Alternatives fiery death or jump.
He chose the latter and plunged through
the window. When he was picked up
from the sidewalk he was found TO be
badly injured. He will die. His wife.
who was In the room with him. tried
the fire-escape. but IL either broke, or
else she failed TO hold TO II. for she
fel 10 the pavement. Her right leg was
broken. her left ankle dislocated. and she
was badly burned about the head ana
face. A.
In less than fifteen minutes after the
Arc started the entire structure was wrap
ned in flames. From the windows OF each
~ its Ave stories smoke poured In Vo'-
,,mes. and a few minutes later the hames
heIched forth. In twenty minutes thu
building resembled seeihing crater, ana
n ssas plain 10 the thousands Of specta'
tors who had gathered that II would b.
entirely destroyed. Edward Walsh. por-
ter. was caught in the hall. Before he
could Ket out he was very oaoiy burned
and had to be taken TO the hosritai.
The department. with nine streams OF
~vster pouring into the building. could do
absolutely nothing at all TO stop the ON
Taught of the flames. and the oni,
s-cvk was 10 save surrounding property.