The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1895-08-24
QUESTS BURlEDlN THE RUINS
Gumry Hotel Wrecked by Ex-
pIosion of Boilers.
Ruins Are on Fire and the s'.ricks
of the victims Can he Ileard--
Firemen Can DO Little to
Save the Unfortunat es.

Denver Colo. Aug. lS.--Ihe GufnfE.
Hiled with guests, vas completely
wrecked at midnight by an explosion
and 1t is believed Owe 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
debris was Immediately ablaze. The
work of rescuing the buried inmates
rom the flaming roons was retarded
by the smoke and fire. The scream of
The mangled and the burning We're
leartrending. Few of the names of the
victims can be secured, but the follow
ing are some of the dead:
Graynor, Mrs.
Greiner, Robert c.
Gumry, Peter c. and wife.
Irving Clerk.
Murphy, James.
Wolff, Mrs. r. G.. Lincoln. NeG.
Twenty-Five people registered at the
aOtel 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 and sons.
Letson. M. e., Denver.
Lorah. b.. Central City. Colo.
McCluskey, L. r.. 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 vas of the boilers in the
basement of the building. The entire
'front.' of the building was carried out
and scattered in fragments across the
street. The noise of the terrible report
lad not died away till the cracking and
crashing of the falling floors followed
After that the cries of the injured and
lying and then the horror of the ruins
ablaze. Before the fire department
could render aid, the ruins We're in
lanes.
The hotel was located on Lawrence
1ear Seventeenth. On both sides of
Lawrence from seventeenth to Eight
.enht streets. and OF Larimer, directly
pack of the Gumry. the plate glass Win
lows of the business houses were blown
n, and a numher of pedestrians were In
iured by falling glass. The fronts of
many buildings in the vicinity were
badly wrecked. The MOTEL structure for
100 feet along the alley and extending
3 feet towards the front. is a mass Of
1rb,t- 4 nod -l--.z --.- n L..
leaps twenty feet high. The tiremen
Ire 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 fall AT any mo-
nent. and precautions to avoid further
.oss of life adds to the difficulty in
reaching the dead and injured. Tn
bodies of three women are also to be
seen in the back part of the building,
out cannot be reached. Mrs. Graynor
MAS found pinioned between two fai-
en- walls. AS the tiremen undertook to
aXtricate her from her position they
were driven back by the dense smoke
hat Indicated the developing of fire in
The lower part of the ruins. Another
'''' 'S' '>N' tAiS 'AA'R
he basement, but as the firemen
.eached his side they We're compelled to
retreat. Before they could get away
hey We're saluted by the cries of an
other unfortunate whose position ad-
Joined the others. Nothing could be
lone and the fire department was prac-
.ically powerless owing to inability to
cop with the smoke.
AT 1870 the flames still kept the fire.
men back from the work of rescue, ex-
,cpt just at the line of the alley wall.
IOf those pinioned beneath under the
debris, only two are alive. both men
rom the fifth story. Both We're COW
cred with several feet of debris about
heir heads, The flames We're only kept
pack from their bodies by half q dozen
streams of water.
A piece of the cornice of the Chess
man block, at Seventeenth and Lari-
nler streets. fully a block from the
iuinry hotel. was torn out and fell to
the street, narrowly missing several
paSSerSby. The fragment weighed at
least a ton. In the wrecked building
there was u tier of five or six rooms
extending across the rear OF the build
Ing facing the alley, on each of the
he upper floors. All of these rooms
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 r. c..
Grenlel, 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,
4 baby was heard wailing in the corner
Of a room which had nearly all fallen
away. Its parents had gone down
with the first crash. Afterward the lit
tie ones cries became weaker and
weaker. and when the flames shot up
into the skeleton of the building it be-
came silenced. The ilremen made a
brave effort to save a woman caught
in the debris of the north corner of the
hotel, but were forced to abandon the
attempt.