The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-02-07
A POPULAR HOTEL BURNED
HIGHLAND PARK HOUSE OF AIKEN.
Sc, TOTALLY DEsTROYED.

The Fire Occurred Yesterday Morning
Loss is About O,o0o-The Hotel Was
Owned by Prominent Connecticut Men
Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Farrell Escaped
Safely From the Burning Building.
Augusta, Ca, Feb. 6,-Highland Park
hotel, which for more than o score of
years has been filled every winter with
northern people and which has made
Aiken, S. c., one of the best known re-
sorts in the whole south, was burned
to the ground this morning and only
half dozen chimneys remain standing
as grim monuments. There were about
100 guests in the hotel, and the house
was full in the very midst of its sea-
son. Boston, New York, Philadelphia,
Chicago, Cincinnati, Toronto and sew
eral towns in Connecticut furnished
the majority of the guests.
The fire broke out about $50 o'clock
this morning in little brick building
in the rear of one of the wings of the
hotel, where the laundry was situated.
This one-story building was Joined to
the main hotel, a big three-story build
ing of 1856 rooms, by a small, narrow
wooden. structure, which the guests
say might have been chopped away
with axes and entirely cut off the fire
from the hotel If there had been any
intelligent direction Of the efforts that
were made to save the hotel 1t is not
known how the fire originated, as the
proprietor claims there was no fire in
the laundry room
The hotel had been entirely refitted
for this season at cost of about $70,-
900. The company is capitalized at
$150.O0O. The building was insured for
$40, 900, furniture $4,000, engine, boiler
and dynamo $9,5O0, and personal prop
erty $4,000. Losses are divided among
the leading insurance companies of the
country, most of them for $1,000 to the
company. During the excitement of
the fire an alteration took place in
which Thomas Fallon of Boston, the
engineer of the hotel, was shot by
another employe but the wound is not
serious.
The Highland Park hotel was a house
we'll known to many New Haven and
other Connecticut people and was a
favorite stopping place for those from
this state travelling in that section of
the country. The principal owners
We're J. III. Whittemore of Naugatuck,
Franklin Farrell of Ansonia and Henry
F. Peck of Waterbury, and it is under
stood that several New Haven parties
were also interested. Mr.. Farrell with
his wife and other members of his
family were at the Highland Park
hotel at the time of the fire and a tele-
gram received from Mr.. Farrell yesterday
morning by one of his friends in this
city stated that he and his family es-
capped safely from the burning build
ing. Mr. Farrell had been at the hotel
two or three weeks, having gone to
Aiken for his health. When he left
Naugatuck he was suffering from a
severe rheumatic attack, but since his
arrival at Aiken he has been much i'm
proved in health.
Mr.. and Mrs. Rutherford Trowbridge
of this city had made all arrangements
| to go to the Highland Park hotel to
join Mr. and Mrs Farrell and We're to
have started last Thursday, butftheir
| youngest child was taken i'll with scar
let fever. This prevented their going
/ and to it alone may be attributed
their escape from the peril of being in
| the burning building. Mrs. Trowbridge
| is daughter of Mr.. Farrel.