The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-12-06
Fire Destroys Notable San Fran
cisco Hotel.
THEATER is GONE ALSO
Several Lives LoSt-Structure Was
Fire Tra,o-"LuCky" Baldwin
Hit Hard.

~
tremendous confiagration that has ever
happened in San Francisco burst forth
in the Baldwin hotel shortly after 3
O'Clock this morning. From the very
interior of the building a shaft of fire
assembled with tremendous volume, and
the sky burst forth into thousands of
falling sparks.
Terrified inmates of the hotel rushed
from the building and crash after
lcrash was heard as explosives in the
theater told the progress of the fire and
the imminent danger of those who were
within the structure. The flames roar
ed and twisted and mounted scores of
feet above the building, and long be-
fore the firemen were at the scene the
building was hopelessly lost.
The tremendous fire. having its orig
in in the theater, attacked what is
known as the Baldwin annex, and then
|spread with inconceivable rapidity to-
ward the Ellis street side of the Bald
win hotel In very few minutes the
fremen were at the scene, and on Ellis
Istreet they saw the figure of a woman
outlined against the sky and the seeth-
ing mass of crimson flames as she
IsougnI, almost hundred feet above
the ground, to escape with her life.
The ladders of the firemen were
placed with inconceivable rapidity
against the side of the building. The
shadowy figures of men mounted the
ladders. The woman, who was stand
ing on the very verge of the tremen-
dous fiery furnace, was grasped in
somebody's arms, while a thousand
voices gave vent to a tremendous cheer
as one life was saved from the build
ing
While this incident attracted the at
tention Of thousands on Ellis street
glass was crashing, walls were falling,
floors were tumbling and the boom of
each resounding crash told of the
crumbling of the great structure on
Eddy and Market streets Men and
women were rushing from the build
ing with what clothes they could gath
er amid the hasty warnings OF ap-
preaching death, and the waters of the
engines were plying Intellectually upon
the terrible furnaces that ate the heart
out of the building.
At fifteen minutes to 5 O'Clock part
of the two upper stories of the Baldwin
hotel crashed outward and a tremen-
dous sheet of fame descended to the
street.
The police had warned the thousands
that had gathered around the building
to retire to Powell street, and no one
was injured in the crash. Flames burst
forth from Powell and Ellis street, and
at each moment it seemed as if the
great cupola would crumble.
The scene as the side wall on the
Powell street side of the building
crashed to the ground was magnificent.
myriad of stars spangled into the air,
and it seemed as if the very heavens
were falling in sparks. From adjoin-
ing buildings stream after stream was
poured upon the burning building, but
each jet of water seemed to add fury to
the flames, and great masses OF black
smoke arose to serve only as back
ground for new jets Of living fire that
twisted and turned and licked the SUI
perstructure until it crumbled and
spread in glittering masses of flame on
the streets.
| There has never been in San Fran
! cisco confagration of such dramatic
interest where the lives of so many
men and women were involved and
where so many escaped unscathed from
a furnace that surged upward until the
very sky itself seemed in flames.
SAN FRANCISCO, November "a
The number of lives lost in the Bald
win hotel fire will not be definitely
known until the debris has been clear
ed away. SO far the death list contains
! only two names, but at least six people
who were known to have been asleep
lAnXious friends and relatives have
searched increasingly since yesterday
morning but no traces of the missing
ones have been found. 1t seems almost
certain that they persisted Every eff
fort within human power was made to
awaken all the 600 people who slept
over the awful crematory, and every
one hoped no further fatalities would
be reported
Estimates place the aggregate loss
Iby the fire at s2.0OO,0O0 to s2,5oo,oOO,
with light insurance.
E. J. Baldwin is the heaviest loser,
land the severity of the blow may be
greater than he can bear. 1t is beliey-
ed that his o1d-tine friends. men whom