The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-08-20
4 TERRIBEE FATE.


 Hotel-Oyer Twenty May be Killed-IiA'
 plosIon Wrecked the Building Just After
 Midnight-Eire Broke Out in the Ruins.
 Denver, Aug, 19,-The Gumry hotel on Lawrence street, between Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets, was demolished by an explosion which occurred shortly after midnight. The explosion took place In the rear portion of the building and its cause has not yet been ascer- tained.
 There was no warning of the sudden disaster, and 1t is certain that a num- Der of guests and employees of the hotel have lost their lives in the ruins, the building being a complete wreck, It Is marvel that any escaped. Thus far only seventeen persons who are known to have been in the building at the time of the explosion are accounted for.
 To add to the horror of the situation the ruins of the big building took fire, and many of the unfortunates who were not killed outright by the crash were slowly burned to death. Their screams and pleadings that they be killed to save them from torture by fire were piteous in the extreme, but the terror stricken bystanders were powerless to render them any aid.
 Among those known to have perished are the followin:
 MT. Grelner, assistant superintendent of the state capitol.
 Mrs. Greiner, wife of above.
 Peter Gumry, proprietor of the hotel,
 Mrs. Peter Gumry, wife of the above,
 Among the injured are: w. c. Me Claim of Huron, Kan, Henry Sloan Of Huron, Kan, and Mrs Henry Sloan.
 Twenty-t two persons registered yes terday, most of them late last night, the list being as follows; Mrs. o. H, Knight, Lake City: Mrs, Knights two sons; J. L. Kirk, Omaha; J. c. Brown, Omaha; Budd Buren, Colorado Springs; J w. Roberts and wife, Colorado Springs; Miss Jennie Howard, Boulder; Mrs. c, w. Williams, Boulder; Miss Hattie Williams. Boulder; w. c. Me Clain, Huron, Kan; Mrs. McClain and child, Huron, Kan; Henry Sloan, Hu- ron, Kan; Mrs. Henry Sloan, Huron Kan; George Burle, Colorado Springs; D. T. McCloskey, Cripple Creek; F. French, Central City; B. Lorah, Central City; w. J. Corsen, Pueblo; M. E. Let son, Denver.
 MT. McClaln and family arrived at the hotel at late hour, from Huron, Kan. They occupied front rooms. MT MeClain thinks there were about sixty guests in the house. This, with the helr employed on the premises, would make seventy-five persons in the building al the time of the explosion.
 Besides Peter Gumry and R. c. Grei- ner, the proprietors of the hotel, the day clerk and the night clerk are both missing,
 Immediately after the explosion oc- cured a boy was heard wailing in the corner of room which had nearly al fallen away. His parents had gone down with the first crash. Afterwards the child's cries became weaker and weaker, and when the flames shot UT into the skeleton of the building his voice was silenced.
 It is thought that the entire force oi employees in the building have beer killed, for they were sleeping in the portion which fell, and the remaining walls toppled over upon them, buryine them from all hope of rescue. The force of the explosion and the concus sion of the falling walls shattered tht windows on both sides of Lawrence street, from Seventeenth street tt | Eighteenth street, and back of the hote on Larimer street the plate glass win dows of all the business houses were utterly wrecked, and belated pedes i trians were badly injured by the fall l ing of glass and flying debris.
 The fronts of many buildings in th vicinity were badly wrecked. | The hotel structure for 100 feet alont 1 the alley and extending seventy-fiv l feet toward the front, was a mass Q 1 debris. Brick and plaster were pilet
 in heaps twenty feet high, and iron l this mass of wreckage could be heart l the moans of the injured and dying. l At '12:35 o'clock five injured person l were taken out They were all inmate of the upper story and sank down wit l the floors, escaping more fortunatel.
 than did those below.
 Every engine in the city was calle'
 to the scene, but the flames could no possibly be got under control befor many of the injured had been cremat ed. As the chances of escape lessene the cries of the imprisoned people in
 creased, heartrending shrieks risin
 from every portion of the great mas of wreckage.
 Two injured women had been almos
 extricated from the ruins when tn
 flames approached so close that the res cuers had to abandon them for thei
 own safety The bodies of three wome
 were also seen in the back part of tn
 building, but could not be reached The firemen worked with great heroisn The heat was intense and the smok
 binding.
 1 Electric light wires dangling in tn
 alley and walls tottering to a fall in
 creased the perils of the situation Once the men managed to reach the in
 terior, whence proceeded cries for sue
 cor, but as they crossed the threshol
 the walls in the rear fell and expose
 to view the inmates making franti
 struggles to escape.
 Mrs. Greiner, wife of the assistan
 superintendent of the state capitol, wit
 her husband, are in the ruins, for ac
 cording to the firemen they saw tn ! yyoy,1o- annao1ir1p to tbapo fro,oo bo al