The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-03-22

Butte, Mont, March 21-The Hale
House, large three-story brick build,
ing on East Broadway, used as a lodg-
ing and boarding house by miners in
the employ of the Anaconda company
was entirely destroyed by a fire which
broke out shortly after o'clock this
morning. So far as known, two men
are dead from injuries received in
jumping from windows, another is dy-
ing and 20 are missing, while a search
of the ruins may disclose the fact that
many transient dodgers lost their lives
also. The casualties were as follows
DEAD AND DYING.
Matt Doyle. aged 40. miner at the
Mountain Consolidated; jumped from
third story window, turned over in the
air and struck on head. Frank
Rohdey. aged 40. lately from Portland,
Ore; jumped from third-story window,
turned over and struck on head and
shoulders, fracturing his skull.
Dying.-Hugh Boyle, aged 30. miner
at Anaconda mine; started to lower
himself from third-story by means of
improvised rope. which parted 80 feet
from the ground. He was just recOv-
ering from effects of broken leg
through an accident a month ago.
INJURED.
Pat Gilligan went down with third
floor when it collapsed and was rescued
by firemen; badly burned.
John T. Carter, stranger in the city,
got out by means of a fire escape;
badly burned and cut by glass.
]. ]. Conroy; burned on hands and
fractured bones of one foot by leaping
TO ground.
Barney Reynolds; fracture of right
leg. He found escape cut off and made
a rope of his blankets. 1t broke when
he was 20 feet from the ground
Mike Judge; right arm broken. He
had rescued Patrick Boyle, who was
hanging by a section Of improvised
rope that had broken from the weight
of Hugh Boyle. He and three COM
panions made another rope. The others
got down safely, but the rope broke
with Judge.
John Irwin; burned about the neck
and face and cut by glass. He jumped
from the third floor, but was only
stunned by the fall.
FIRE AND ITS ORIGIN.
There were $50 men and women in
the building when the fire broke out.
Of these it is believed about 200 es-
capped without injury. The fire started
in the bakery house in the center of
the building and had a good start be-
fore discovered. The blaze was first
discovered by Billy White. Jake Yuch
and Jack Dooley, who were awake at
the time, and, smelling smoke, went
down stairs to make an investigation.
Two of the men Immediately attached
a small hose to a hydrant and began
to throw water upon the fire. After
few minutes work, however. the men
realized that the task was a hopeless
one and they retreated to give the
alarm. They summoned the Waterman
and rushed to the upper portion of the
building. shouting that the house was
on fire. BY this time the fire had
broken through the first floor and
smoke filled the Railways.
ALARM GIVEN.
Dooley and his companions realized
that there was no time to lose and they
began kicking in the doors of the
rooms. The men thoughtfully awak-
ened the women first. The alarm had
been turned in and the department re-
sponded promptly. When the firemen
arrived, men in their Undertaking
and others half dressed We're Chamber
ing down the fire escapes in the rear
Others and the servant girls with them
were at the windows in the front OF
the building, frantically calling for
help. They were cut off from the rear
of the building by the dense smoke
The ladders were run up. but not be-
fore many of the frightened people had
jumped. Others, including all the fe-
male help, were gotten out by the fire
men. On the side of the building many
had made ropes out of their bed
clothes and sought to escape in that
way. Some of them succeeded. but in
other cases the ropes broke and the
men dropped many feet to the ground
SAVING HUMAN LIFE.
AS fast as the inmates were rescued
or jumped, those injured were placed
in vehicles and carried to the different
hospitals. Those uninjured or only
slightly hurt betook themselves to the
houses of neighbors and friends in or
der to secure some clothing. No one
saved anything but what he or she had
on at the time of the fire. This made
1t impossible to obtain a full list of
many who were slightly hurt
The night was bitterly cold, the Their
registering below zero. As
long as there. appeared any chance of
people being in the building, the fire
men devoted their attention mostly To
saving human life. 1t was Only after
there was no further chance to do this
that they began work on the fire in
earnest. The fire had gained such
Roadway that two hours after it began
the walls had fallen.
UNACCOUNTED FOR.
1t is possible some of the missing
men may turn up yet. Early in the
day the list of the supposed dead ran
up as high as 80. This was because
many of the men who escaped did not
report for work at the mines. Little
by little. however. the list decreased
as men reported, until 90 known lodg-
ars were unaccounted for. 1t is posi-
BILE. however, that lots of transient.
roomers who are not well known may
be dead in the ruins Only an exami-
nation viii settle that point and that
cannot be made until the ruins cool
off
The Hale House belonged to the An
aconda company. 1t was built in 1895, |