The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-01-31

The Lloyd house." a hotel in Dick
son City on the main road, erected in
1858, was totally destroyed by fire at
an early hour yesterday morning. TWO
adjoining houses, occupied by the fam
lilies IF Peter Mckinley and Mathew
Mcpherson, were partially destroyed,
the large plate glass windows in the
Richmond company store nearby,
cracked by the heat, other dwelling
houses were sCorchei and Il breaker,
owned and operated Ivy w. ii. Rich
mcnd, located within fifty yards of the
burning hotel building, narrowly es-
capped the flames.
Snow on the roof of the breaker
where the flying embers rested, was
all that saved the building from de-
struction, The hotel, a four-story
structure, was burned to the ground.
Patrick Gallagher, who conducted the
place for Mrs. Alice Lloyd, of this
city, owner of the building, was in
New York city ct the time. His wife
and young son and the sole boarder
of the hotel, escaped from the building,
mother and son by way of ladders and
the boarder by jumping ten feet from
a window in the second floor to the
DISCOVERY OF FIRE.
The fire was discovered at about 4.3O
o'clock by Mrs. Gallagher, who was
awakened by the smell of smoke.
Quickly arousing her son, Mrs. Gal
lagher called the boarder, James Ger
rity, and opening a window in her bed
room in the second floor the mother
with her son in her arms, went out
on the narrow porch over the front
entrance to the hotel. Here she stood
in a two-inch depth Of snow, in her
barefeet with only q light night dress
uron her. holding her son and scream
ing Help! Fire!"
The building was rapidly filling with
smoke, which came pouring through
the open window. The fire seemed to
be raging in the basement, as later
proved to be the case. The large struc-
ture seemed ready to burst from the
/ heat.
! Mrs. Gallagher stood on the roof of
the porch crying out in the cold morn
ing air for assistance.
Gcrrity, the boarder, in the mean
while. had opened the window in his
/ bedroom and had jumped out. Mrs.
/ Gallagher saw him. Hugging her boy
closer in her arms she looked down
the distance to the ground but, cour-
/ age failing, she shrank back and con-
! tnued her cries. Ten minutes elapsed
| before Boarder Gerrity succeeded in
, waking S. II. Norton, whose house
/ was across the way, and with Mr.. NC
/ PhersOn, whose house was few feet
from the hotel on the south side and
Mckinley. who lived on the north side,
ladders were secured and Mrs Gal
I lagher, half dead from the cold and
/ the strain of the dreadful moment
was rescued. She went at once to the
house of a neighbor and remained
there while her property was being
consumed by the flames.
BURNED RAPIDLY.
In twenty minutes after the fire was
discovered the big building was a mass
of flames. The people of the neighbor-
hood had been aroused by Mrs. Gal
lagher's cries for help and the excite
ment following but no means was AT
hand to stay the sway of the flames
The wind at first was directly west
and toward the Richmond breaker
Between the burning building and the
breaker st OOd Il low squat house, occu-
pied by four families of foreigners
That it still stands is a miracle. The
houses north and south Of the fire were
farther distant and these were touch
ed by The flames but the low squat
house escaped.
The trees in the rear of the hotel 10
were burned and when the flames burs
out the flying embers, some it is sale
as big as a hat, arose in the air ovel
the house in the rear and were carried
by the wind toward the breaker, a few
yards on the other side.
The scene in the dullness of the early
morning was beautiful but ominouS
The embers, flying in the air, strucl
| squarely against the massive breake
building and We're either quenched il
the snow on the roof or fell back t
the ground. Time and again fam,
burned for a second or so on the roof
but finally died out.
After time the wind changed from
toward the breaker to the southwes
and the crowd turned their attention
from the breaker to assisting McPher
son and Mckinley, who were takin,
their household furniture from tn
dwelling houses on the south and nortl
respectively. Everything was save,
from the flames, but thieves carried of
| most OF tne furniture. MIS-. McPnefSOl
was i'll and had to be carried from tn
house.
FIGHTING THE FIRE.
The goods had hardly been remove,
when both houses became ignited. A
about the same time fire companie
Nos. / and having been sent for an
rived from Olyphant. The hose wa
connected on the water main and tw
streams applied, one on each house
No attempt was made to save the hotel
At 730 o'clock it had been completed,
destroyed.