The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-02-01
A HOTEL HORROR.
Alvord House at GloVers-
Vile Reduced to Ruins
by Fire, This
Morning.
AT LEAST FIVE LIVES LOST
Thrilling Escape of the Guests
Many Injured in Jumping
From Upper Stories.
AT LEAST FIVE LIVES LOST

GLOVERSvILLE, N. Y, Feb. l, 1855
The Afford House. one of Gloversvilie's
old landmarks. as we'll as the largest ho-
teis in Fulton county, lies buried in. Its
own ashes. It is believed that at least
five persons are dead in the ruins. Al
o'clock this morning the Alyord was
fine four story brick structure. sAn hour
later il was a mass of smouldering ruins.
For over quarter of a century the Al
word has been widely known throughout
the country as it was a popular resort,
and among its patrons were many glove
men and theatrical people, who for many
wears have made it their home while stop
ping in Gloversville The confiagratlon
was one of the largest in the history OF
the city and it's destructive work was
| complete. The building burned with al
most incredible rapidity, and the 1lerceness
with which the roaring flames devoured
the big building caused the thousands OF
spectators to shudder with horror at the
thought that some of the many inmates
would be unable to escape from the merry
| furnace. At this season the business is
unusually large and it is understood that
nearly every room in The building was oe-
| cupied
The fire started on the ground floor and
| shot up through the upper stories with
| hghtning-lke speed, the broad stairs and
! Railways furnishing great fiues which
carried the flames upward on their jour-
| ney of destruction. Many were the Thrill
ling escapes OF the guest guests aimost wno Wgne e
mediately after the flames We're dlscoV-
! cred the alarm was sounded through the
house and. the big hotel was soon the
scene of widest confusion.
| The terrified guests were awakened py
| loud cries of Fire! FireI Fire!" shouted
| through the Railways by those who first
| became aware of the danger This was
| followed by a wild scramble on the part
| of the guests to escape from the building
with their personal property, but II was
| soon apparent to all that the structure
| was doomed and many of the guests We're
| forced to flee without saving an article,
some even without their clothing.
A few tof the guests made their escape
| by the stairways, but the dense volumes
| of smoke soon cut off this retreat. Ine
| next resort for the imprisoned people
| whose peril was momentarlly increasing,
| was BY the windows. AS their terror
| stricken faces appeared, the great crowds
| watched breathlessly, hoping against nope
| that all would be saved. The guests
| who were thus entrapped did not long
| hesitate to take the risk OF jumping
| though some were rescued from their
| perilous positions by the firemen. Others
| made hying leaps, thus saving them
| selves from awful Deaths though several
| were more or less injured when they
| struck the ground.
| Findlay Morrow, a travelling salesman
| for T. & j. Dorm, woodenware manufac-
| turers of Albany, was awakened by the
| strong odor of smoke. Springing out OF
bed Mr. Morrow caught up his trousers
| and rushed to. the doorway put was
driven back almost blinded and suffo-
Gated by the black mass which filled the
corridors and rolled in dense clouds INTO
his room Abandoning everything else,
the gentleman, whose room was LOCATED
on the second floor, dashed out of one
of the windows and jumped, Landing
safely fnthe snow. Barefooted and clad
| only in his shirt and trousers, he was
! hurried over to John Sturm's PLACE where
he was furnished with shoes and stock
comfort. His coat, vest money 3a ana
] watch were consumed. Mr.. Morrow tod
a Leader representative that he lost
| $50 in cash and checks:
i A woman clad only in her night dress,
/ her feet and limbs barred to the icy
/ wind and standing erect on the narrow
4 cornice four stories above the ground, was
/ one of the most intensely thrilling spec
] tacles ever witnessed in the city OF Glo-
| versville, and was watched with bated
| breath by the Mortified and expectant
| crowd below
j G. Strauss of the firm of Levi, Strauss
| & Co, occupied a room on the third story
| of the hotel, directly over the Kitchen.
i He had risen and dressed and was atteno-
! ing to some trifiing matters when the
/ odor of smoke reached him. He opened
/ the door and, confronted by the peril
which annenaCed, he reused MS VIE anu
1 hastened to the tsairway to see If 1t was
i passable Finding escape there Impossible
4 he rushed back to his room and with his
! wife. brave little woman, whose cour-
age under such frightful circumstances
places her in the light of heroine, he
/ stenped out of the window and on the mar
row ledge, or cornice along which they
| walked from about the centre of the west
I wall TO the northwest extremity, where
/ they tsood ten or fifteen minutes await
i ing the rescuers.
Rv that time the hook and ladder truck
.lhad reached the scene of action and lad
/ der was hastily adjusted, Iown which
4 Mrs Strauss was assisted by George Walk.
While ON the roof Mr.. and Mrs. Strauss
i were followed along the same pathway by
Two yo,lng men, one of whom huma 7ely
4 removed his coat and placed it upon the
/ shoulders of the lady. who was nearly per-
/ isbed by her long wait in the freezing at
! mnsnhere Mrs. Strauss and the others
j who made a similar reri.pus escape all
i reached the ground in safety, and Mr..
i Strauss and his wife were promptly hur-
4 ried over to the factory of l4e0 Strauss d
4 ga where the lady faint ana exhausted,
/ AFTER the severe Stra,n to winch she had
i bene subjected, gave why to complete ex-
| haustion and was care tor
&l | When the representative called she was
/ recovering but still very weak and pros
! trated Mr.. Strauss announced that his
lass and his wife's jewelry, clothing and
Than one thousand dollars. In stating his
Il loss he was however, extremely CRATE
i ful that the life of his wife and his own
4 life had been spared.
i IT is not definitely known how the fire
[ rtarted but is certain that it started