New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-09
KNOXVILLE FIRE-STRICKEN.
WORST CALAMITY IN THE HISTORY OF
THE CITY.
.- LEAST FIVE LIVES LOST AND PROPERTY
WORTH MORE THAN 5000 900 DESTROYED
HOTEL GUESTS AMONG THE DEAD
AND MISSING

knoxville Tenn. April S.-Never in the his
,orv OF Knoxville has the city suffered such a
,,.s by fire as 1t did to-day The very heart Of
.ne city, including some OF the largest whole
,ss snd retail business houses in the South, was
ass,royed The loss is variousy estimated at
,,,n 81 100000 10 s, 100000, with about 60 per
cent Of insurance
The list Of dead so far reported is as follows:
2 W Hopkins. St Louis; - Robinson. Pu-
,ask. Tenn. A. +. Weeks Locke. y. Y; s. r.
Williams Springfield. Mass.
The loss OF life is uncertain, as the register Of
the Hotel Knox. In which ffty-sx people were
sleeping. burned The proprietor of the
hotel says that he had five or six guests who
have not been since the fire a. +. Weeks.
Of Locke y. Y. traveller for a Rochester stamp
tug company, is known TO have perished in the
flames Il. w Hopkins. a st. Louis CONNER
olal traveller was last seen in the burning build
ing in a suffocating condition. w. II. Kephart.
ex-secretary Of the Chamber of Commerce, saved
the hft Of John Boyle. an old farmer, by drag
e!ng him 10 a window and letting him out on the
roof Of another building. Kephart jumped one
story and was injured
The last man 10 leave the burning hotel says
that he IS positive that five or six persons were
burned. He ran over three or four men in the
hallway who were suffocated.
When the firemen thought all the inmates OF
the hotel had escaped. a woman with an infant
in her arms rushed to q rear window ana
screamed for help. A net was quickly stretched
and the woman asked TO drop the child out. put
as the smoke choked her she told them that II
one had 10 die both would perish. The woman
was finally rescued by The hremen.
From the hotel building. which was iNe stories
high the fire spread east and west. stin wind
famed the flames and the Fire Department was
Inadequate. IN the wholesale hardware mouse
o. ". W. Woodruff & Co. a dynamite explosion
occurred. and scores OF people were hurt by iy
ing bricks and glass. 1t became necessary at
last 10 have the walls OF one building blown Gown
lhy cannon 70 check the spread OF the lire
mountain howitZer Of the knOXNllle Legion was
called into play, and a load Of canister did the
work at the same time damaging some houses
IN another portion OF the city.
The city authorities. realizing mat the FIRE
Danartrnent was unable 10 conquer the hames,
telegraphed TO Chattanooga for assistance An
engine was placed on fiai-caT on the southern
In 10 minuIes with one stop for water, an av-
erage Of over sixty miles an hour breaking lhe
record When the engine arrived here. the IRE
was almost under control yet the Chattanooga
fremen did some good work.
a cabinet-worker named p. c. Dyer, fell dead
IN the street from fright and a man named
Iobinson. from Pulaski. Tenn. is supposed 10
be another victim He was registered al the
hotel and is missing.
4 large force Of men is at work clearing away
the ruins tonight and searching for the bodies
The streetcar lines ate completely tied up and
all the electric companies have suffered.
one Knoxville architect received orders to-day
for plans for eleven buildings 10 take the places
Of the ones burned Al the buildings are 10 be
replaced at once.