The record-union., 1895-04-15
FIRE AT PASADENA.
The Hotel Raymond and Contents
Burned to the Ground.
GUESTS SUCCEED IN SAVING SOME
PERSONAL EFFECTS.
Great Preparations Made for the Car
nivaI Which Opens at Los Angeles
To-Day-Double Tragedy at Tacoma
stage Held Up In Colusa County
by Two Masked Men.
Special to the REooRD-UxIox.

Special to the RECoRD-UNIoN.
Los ANGELES, April 1.-THE Hotel
Raymond. at Pasadena, was totally de-
stroyed by fire this afternoon. Not a bit
of the famous resort is left. The hotel
was crowded with tourists, but they all
escaped with their lives, although ward
robes and other possessions were en-
tirely consumed. The cause of the fire is
not yet known.
In less than an hour from the time the
fire was discovered in the oupOla at the
southwest corner of the building the
hugh structure was leveled to the ground,
and the only thing lett standing to mark
the spot was the tall chimney of the
furnace.
The fire WAS discovered at 3:2O by boy
outside, who saw cloud of smoke issu-
ing from the windows of the cupoia on
the fourth story. The alarm was at once
given, but the flames burst forth before
a drop of water could be brought, and
the strong wind, almost a gale which
had been blowing all day, carried the
flames at an alarming rate. There was
no hope for the building from the start.
There were about $50 guests at the
hotel, 100 OF whom were members of the
Car Accountants Association, whose
special train stood at RAYMOND station.
The guests acted In an orderly manner,
and some succeeded in saving a few per-
sonal effects, though most of them lost
everything. No one was injured seri-
ously, but in trying to save something a
few were burned about the face and
hands, and one of the guests was well
shaken in jumping from the roof of the
veranda. The electric fire alarm was
sounded in each room as soon as the fire
was discovered, and in less than ten
minutes every person had left except a
few men servants, who tried to ave the
trunks. The hotel was supplied with
ire apparatus, but no one remained to
work 1t as the heat was too intense.
The Hotel Raymond was built in 1884
by Walter Raymond of the firm of Ray
mond IL WhitcOmb Excursion Company.
which has hotels in New England and
Colorado also. The great hotel stood on
an eminence overlooking the San
Gabriel Valley. The cost of the building
was almost half million dollars, and
the furniture cost $50, 900. the building
and furniture were insured for 500, 900 in
Boston. New York and San Francisco
companies.
Colonel w. E. Wentworth, the resident
manager of the hotel, was in the Office of
the hotel when the alarm was turned IN.
he cried like a child as the flags from
the huge structure went skyward, but
later he was concerned only for the com
fort OF the guests and the army of
servants employed about the place.
Many of the guests and most of the help
went at once to the Green Hotel in Pasa-
dena, where quarters are secured for
them.
The servants were mostly imported
from Boston and other New England
points. They lost the greater part OF
their effects, and are left destitute.
Colonel Wentworth said they will be
cared for and returned to their homes in
the East
There is a mystery about the origin of
the fire, though the accepted theory is a
defective tlue. The building was lighted
throughout with electricity from plant
in the basement.
Tonight great crowd Of curiously in
cIIned sightseers gathered around the
smoldering pile, which represents all
that of which was probably one million
dollars worth of property at noon. The
general impression is that the hotel will
be rebuilt at once. II Is an important
factor in the Raymond Whitcomb Ex-
cursIon Company's big enterprise, and
was under the management Of Colonel
Wentworth, while Wentworth Hall, in
the lew Hampshire hills, a famous sum-
mer resort under the Company's manage
ment, was closed. The same help was
used in each hotel.
During the last few years many people
have made the Hotel Raymond their
winter home, and the enterprise. though
gigantic one, was considered a paving
one. The management had Just had pre-
pared plans for extensions and improve
ments to be made during the summer.