The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-03-18
LEADS MA NORTH CAROLINA DAlES M NEWS AND CIRCULATION

1Ip uOlel. Is lHe uUlllc VI MISS
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 meantime the chief of police
had telephoned to every hospital in the
city. asking that assistance be sent to
the fire sufferers. Ambulances forced
their way through the crowds as quickly
as possible, and the injured were re-
moved to the hospitals. Several occu-
pants of the hot6l appeared at the win
dows of the sixth and seventh stories
and even ON the roof and leaped to the
streets from those points. Very few
of them escaped either instant death
or injuries which resulted in their death
a short time later.
Within forty or forty-five minutes
after the fire broke out the walls on the
Fifth avenue side showed every indica-
tion of falling shortly, and soon with
am awful crash they struck the asphalt
covering of the street in front of he
hotel. This fall weakened the walls on
the Forty7Sixth and Forty Seventh
streets sides, and they followed mo-
ment later. When the wallis fell the
bricks and mortar and twisted girders
and corrugated iron filled the streets on
three sides of the hotel
The doorsteps and iron fences in front
of the houses on the opposite sides OF
the street from the hotel were wrecked
by the falling walls. and the amour.
of debris piled in the streets was 50
great that travel will be mpeded for
several days. The northeast wing of
the hotel continued to burn for half an
hour after the walls of the other part
of the building fell. Firemen continued
to play streams upon the flames and
also upon all the adjoining buildings.
including Miss Gould's residence, which
seemed in imminent danger of catching
fire. but the flames were brought under
control before they could reach any
of them.
\ hall boy discovered the flames while
he was passing along the fourth floor,
Immediately over the rooms occupied by
President McKmley's brother, Abner
Mckinley, and his family. The boy
pulled a chain attached to the fire alarm,
but the chain broke, and then he or
dered out am alarm of fire and ran 70 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 thera.
Only a few persons were in the dining
room at the time, and they ESCAPED.
Whom the hoy reached the main floor
Warren L. Leland, the 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.. Lelands 5
instructions the clerks tried to save all
the books and papers. The hoy then
rushed down the basement stairway and
alarmed the women who were ut work
in the laundry. 1t is believed tina: all
of them escaped.
One of the most daring rescues eff
fected by the firemen occurred on The
fifth floor on the Fifth avenue front An
elderly woman was seen at a wondoW,
and two firemen succeeded in reaching
the window Immediately underneath.
One Of these climbed to the c6ping of
the window on which she was standing
and then stepped over to the woman. He
swung her clear of the windows and
landed her safely in the arms Of his
companion. who, with the assistance of
several tiremen, passed the woman down
to the street.
The first horror occurred just fifteen
minutes after the fire broke out. 4
handsome woman appeared at the Win
dow of room on the fourth .iDor. She
held out her arms to me crowd below
Then sic raised ha. hands as if in sup
plicarion, and IN Il moment climbed to
the window and ,olpe,. She turned
about like a top, and strucl; the Irol:
railing in front of the hotel. Her body
seemed to be inpa'eti there, but il
fell off and into the area way. She
was dead. The woman was i,i.,ntifi. /
as Mrs. Amelia Paddock, OF lrvington,
n. Y.
One of the most thrilling scenes of tne
fire-at a time whal the building was a
seething caullron Of flame was tile
heroic rescue Of several women from the
upper stories. One had been carried
down from the fifth story Mrs. A. III.
Fuller, of Pittsburg, then appeared with
her maid at the window of the fourth
story. 1t seemed like an age before
the ladder was lowered. Firemen ran
up and with great difficulty brought
down Mrs. Fuller and her maid. Just
as she was gotten out of the window
1t Hlluulc dStu WollitH dpDtdIcu at thS
window just north of that at which the
ladder was placed. The woman, fear
ing she would not be rescued, prepared
to jump. She was warned to keep back
and became panic-stricken and stepped
back into the dense smoke.
A hook and ladder man, seeing the
desperation of the woman, seized a
scaling ladder and went up story after
story through the binding smoke. He
climbed to the coping just as the woman
reappeared. The fireman seized her
by the waist, and, holding her tightly
to the wall of the building, crept slow
ly or the coping and passed the fainting
woman to another fireman who had
braced himself to receive her. There
was a dreadful suspense as the firemen
drew the woman toward him and finally
had her safe on the ladder. A tremen-
dous cheer went up from the crowd.
Fireman John Hanna, of the fire boat
Zephar Mills, rushed through the smoke
to the top floor and found Night Watch
man MacNicholas half asphyxiated.
Hanna lowered him by means of wire
to the fire escape two stories below and
let himself down the same way. His
hands We're badly cut by the wire.
Then Hanna assisted the old man down
the fire escape.