The San Francisco call., 1899-03-18
THE WINDSOR
THE SCENE OF
A HOLOCAUST
Flames Rapidly Spread, and q
Score Of Lives LOST and Twice
That Number Injured.
Special Dispatch to The Call

I many cases Of heroic rescue were wit
messed by the throng in the streets.
At the corner Of FOTty-Seyenth street
and Seventh avenue, directly across
from the hotel, is the home Of Miss
Helen Gould, and at her direction many
Of the injured We're carried there and
were treated by physicians and nurses
whom she had sent for. In the mean
time the Chief Of Police had teleDhoned
10 every hospital in the city asking
that assistance be sent. AmbulanceS
forced their way through the crowds as
quickly as possible, and the injured
people who had made the TrfEhtful
leaps from the hotel windows were
placed in them and removed TO the hos
pitfalls.
Several occupants of the hotel ap-
peared at the windows Of the sixth and
seventh stories ard even on the roof.
and leaped TO the streets from those
points. Very few Of them escaped either
instant death or injuries which result
ed in their death in a short time later.
In the meantime the entire building
was being enVelOped in flames, which
shot out from every window and
formed a picture which struck terror
TO all those who were witnessing II.
Within forty or fOrty-five minutes af-
ter the fire broke out the walls on the
Fifth avenue side showed every tndI-
cation Of falling, and presently, with
an awful crash, they struck the as
phalL covering Of the street IN front
Of the hotel and caused the hundreds
Of people who were standing there TO
scatter in every direction This fall
weakened the walls on the FOrty-SIXth
and Forty-seyenth street sides and
they followed q moment later. When
the walls fell the brick and mortar and
twisted girders and corrugated iron
filed the streets on three sides of the
hotel.
The doorsteps and iron fences in
front Of the houses on the opposite side
Of the street from the hotel were
wrecked by the falling walls and the
amount Of debris piled in the streets
was so great that travel viii be I'M
peded for several days. The northeast
wing Of the hotel continued TO burn Tor
half hour after the walls OF the other
building fell. The freInen continued to
play streams upon the flames and on
the adjoining buildings. including Miss
Gould & residence, which seemed IN I'M
minent danger of catching fire, but the
flames were brought under control be-
fore they could reach any Of them
There were many thrilling scenes in
the hotel during the early stages OF the
fire. \ haIlbOy discovered the names
while he was passing alCng the fourth
floor. Immediately over the rooms oc-
cupted by President McKinley's brother,
Abner Mckinley, and his family. The
boy pulled a chain attached to the fire
alarm. but the chain broke, and then
he cried out an alarm of fire and ran
to the floor below. The blaze was then
licking up everything on the Fifth
avenue end Of the building, and the lad,
when he got to the floor above the main
hall, ran into the American dining
room and gave the alarm to the guests
there. Only a few persons were in the
capped. When the boy reached the main
floor Warren r Leland, proprietor of
the hotel. was in the rear of the long
hall, and the boy shouted TO him that
the building was on fire. On Mr.. Le-
lands instructions the clerks tried 10
save all the books and papers, and the
boy then rushed down the basement
stairway and alarmed the women who
were at work in the laundry. 1t is
believed that all Of them escaped
One of the most daring reScues made
by the fremen occurred on the fifth
floor on the Fifth-avenue front. An
elderly woman was seen at a window
and two dremen succeeded in reaching
the window immediately underneath.
One OF them climbed TO the coping of
when he got into the American dining
and then swung the woman clear of the
window and landed her safely in the
arms Of his companion, who, with the
assistance OF SeVerdI otAer nFeTnen,
pushed her down to the street
The first horror occurred just fifteen
minutes after the fire broke out. A
handsome woman appeared at the win
dow of a room on the fourth floor. She
held out her arms TO the crowd below.
Then she raised her hands as if in sup
plIcation and in a moment climbed TO
the window and leaped. She turned
a bout like a top and struck the iron
railing in front of the hotel Her body
seemed to be impaIed there, but it fell
off and into the area way. She was
dead. The woman was identified as
Mrs. Amelia Paddock Of Irvington,
N Y.
one of the most thrilling scenes of
the fre-at a. time when the building
was a seething caldron Of fame-was