The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-04-09

The following losses to plate glass were
caused by intense heat and water. the build
ings not being burned: Mester Newcomer
Company. $1,000. with insurance of $1,000;
NJ. p Arnsten e. Co., $1,000, with ample
insurance: others, aggregating from $1,000
TO $4,000. are fully insured.
BLOWN DOWN BY A CANNON
The fire was discovered about O'Clock
this morning in the wholesale grocery store
of the McNulty Company by a porter of
the Knox Hotel, which adjoined the gro
cery. general alarm was turned in, and
all the local fire companies were soon
the scene. The hotel was the first building
to succumb to the flames. From the hotel.
which was five stories, the fire spread east
and west, and stiff wind made the flames
very ugly, and the fire department was in
adequate. In the wholesale hardware house
of w. W. Woodruff & Co. a dynamite ex-
plosion occurred, and scores of people were
hurt by flying brick and glass. 1t became
necessary at last to have the walls of one
building blown down by cannon to stop the
progress of the fire. A mountain howitzer of
the Knoxville Legion called into play,
and a load of canister did the work at the
same time tearing up some residences in
different portions of the city. The city au-
thorities, realizing that the fire department
was unable to conquer the flames. tele-
graphed TO Chattanooga for assistance. An
engine was placed aboard a fiat and
| started the run of III miles, which was
made by Engineer Robbins i'm 100 minutes.
breaking the record. When the engine ar
| rived here the fire was about under con-
troll.
The loss of life is very uncertain, as the
register of the hotel. in which fifty-six peo-
| pie were sleeping, was burned. The pro-
| prietor of the hotel says that he had five
| or six guests who have not put in an ap-
| pearance. A. f. Weeks, OF Locke, N. Y,
! salesman for a Rochester stamping COM
| pany, is known to have perished in the
| flames. r. w. Hopkins. a st. Louis trav-
| cling man. was last seen in the burning
| building in a suffocating condition. w. III.
| Keppart, ex-secretary of the Chamber of
| Commerce. saved the life OF John Boyle an
old farmer, by dragging him to window
| and letting him out on the roof of another
building. Keppart jumped one story and
was injured When the firemen thought all
| the inmates of the hotel had escaped a
! woman with an infant in her arms rushed
| TO a rear window and screamed for help.
| A net was quickly stretched and the woman
| asked 10 drop the child out, but, as the
/ smoke almost choked her, she told them
| that if one had 10 die both would die The
| woman was finally rescued by the fremen.
! A cabinet maker named p. c. Dyer fell
dead on the street from fright. A man
named Robinson, from Pulaski. Tenn, is
| supposed 10 be another victim. He was reg
| istered in the hotel. and has not been seen
| to-day. A large force of men are at work
| clearing away the debris tonight and
/ searching for bodies.
SUFFOCATED IN RAILWAYS.
IL is more than probable that j. C. NJ
! Boyle an old gentleman who was hurt i'm
| the hotel will die. He inhaled flames. and
can neither speak nor swallow. The last
man to leave the burning hotel says he is
positive that nve or six persons We're
burned. He ran over three or four men in
| the Railways who were suffocated.
J. NJ. Dean. OF Kansas City. who jumped