Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1895-08-24
BURIED IN THE RUINS
Gumry Hotel Wrecked by tx
pIosion of Boilers.
The Ruins Are on Fire and the shrieks
OF the Victims Can Be Heard
Firemen Can do Little to
Save the Unfortunates.

Allied with guests. was completely
wrecked at midnight by an explosion
and It Is believed over twenty-five per-
sons lost their lives. The floors and
wall fell In a mass, carrying down the
people who were In the building. The
1ebris was Immediately ablaze. The
work of rescuing the buried inmates
rom the flaming rooms was retarded
by the smoke and fire. The screams OF
he mangled and the burning were
1eartrending. Few of the names OF the
Victims can be secured, but the follow
ing are some OF the dead:
Graynor. Mrs.
Greiner, Robert G..
Gumry, Peter c. and wife.
Irving Clerk.
Murphy, James.
Wolff. Mrs. r. c., Lincoln, Ne&
Twenty-Five people registered at the
hotel yesterday, the list being as fol-
oWs:
Buren,, Bud. Colorado Springs.
Burle, George, Colorado Springs
Brown, j.. c., Omaha.
Carson, w. j.. Pueblo, Colo.
Howard, Miss Jennie, Boston.
French, F., Central City, Colo.
Kirk, j. L.. Omaha.
Knight, Mrs. O.. H., Lake City, Colo.
Mrs. knight n son
Letson. M. F.. Denver.
Lorah, b., Central City, Colo.
McCluskey, f.. T., Cripple Creek.
McLain, w. c., Huron, Kas.
McLain, w. c. and child.
Roberts, J.. w. and wife, Colorado
Springs.
Sloan, Henry, Huron, Kas.
Sloan, Mrs. Henry, Huron, Kas.
Williams. Mrs. c. w. Boulder, Colo.
williams, Miss Hattie H., Boulder.
Colo.
The explosion which caused the ter
.ible disaster was OF the boilers in the
basement of the building. The entire
'front.' Of the building was carried out
md scattered in fragments across tho
street. The noise OF the terrible report
lad not died away till the cracking and
crashing Of the falling floors followed.
After tina the cries OF the injured and
lying and her the horror Of the ruins
ablaze. Before the fire department
could ender aid. the ruins were in
danes.
The hotel was located on Lawrence
near Seventeenth. On both sides OF
Ia ltilN' " wv
senht streets, and on Larimer, directly
back OF the Gumry. the plate glass win
lows of the business houses were blown
n, and a number Of pedestrians were In
Iured by falling glass. The fronts of
many buildings I'm the vicinity were
BADLY wrecked. The hotel structure for
90 feet along the alley and extending
IS feet towards the front. is IA mass Of
| lahpic prinL a,1 ,lactar are nilpl i'm
leaps twenty feet high. The firemen
are working like beavers and digging
.nto the debris, but are making little
progress. The remaining portion of the
building from which the guests are
being removed by ladders as fast as
possible, is expected to fan at any mo-
nent. and precautions to avoid further
.oss of life adds to the difficulty in
reaching the lead and injured. The
bodies Of three women are also to he
seen in the bac part of the building,
cut cannot be reached. Mrs. Graynor
was found pinioned between two fai-
en- walls. AS the firemen undertook to
.xtricate her from her position they
we're driven back by the dense smok
hat indicated the developing Of fire In
The lower part Of the ruins Another
nan WAS Seen lllpiDI III III - '.b
he basement, but as the firemen
cached his sid they We're compelled 10
retreat. Before they could get away
hey were saluted by the cries of an
other unfortunate whose position ad'
Joined the others. Nothing could be
lone and the fire department was prac.
Ideally powerless owing to inability tc
cope with the smoke.
A. t.oa tha Aan,au ctil Eort thu Arc.
men back from the work Of rescue, ex.
,ept just at the line of the alley wall
Of those. pinioned beneath under the
debris, only two are alive, both men
rom the fifth story. Both were COW
cred with several feet of debris about
heir heads. The flames were only kept
back from their bodies by half A dozen
streams of water.
A piece Of the cornice Of the Chess.
man block. at seventeenth and Lari.
mer streets. fully a block from the
Gumry hotel, was torn out and fell &c
the street, narrowly missing several
passersby. The fragment weighed al
least a ton In the wrecked building
there was a tier Of five or six rooms
extending across the rear of the build.
ing facing the alley. ON each of the
the upper HOOFS, All Vi THESE ToOIIis
are believed TO have been occupied. as
people residing in rooms across the
alley observed lights burning in every
window during the evening. Among
the dead are Peter Gumry and II. c.
Grenier, the proprietors of the hotel
the day clerk, and the night clerk
none of whom have been found. I'm.
mediately after the explosion occurred
a baby was heard wailing In the corner
Of a room which had nearly all fallen
away. It's parents had gone dowr
with the first crash. Afterward the lit.
tie ones cries became weaker anc
weaker, and when the flames shot VI
into the skeleton of the building 1t be.
came silenced. The fremen made a
brave effort to a v a woman caught
In the debris Of the north corner of the
hotel. but were forced to abandon the
attempt.
THE WORK OF RESCUE.