Arizona republican., 1899-03-18

other was turned in. The engines caused a wild scramble among the pa
 raders and spectators as they rushed
 along the street and fell into position
 for service.
 In addition to the regular guests of
 the hotel the windcrws were crowded by a large number of spectators, resi- dents of this city who had congregated
 there to witness the parade. Soon
 after the first alarm was given people
 in the lower floors Of the hotel, those
 who had easy access to the street and
 the bar, commenced to pour out of
 the building in great numbers, but it
 very soon became apparent that a
 great majority of the occupants of the
 hotel were either panic stricken or un-
 able to make their way to the ground
 floor.
 Windows were thrown up on every
 side of the building and guests, mostly
 women, in all stages of terror, made
 their appearance and uttered frantic appeals for assistance to the crowd be-
 low. AS the flames gathered about
 them they became more and more ter TOT stricken, and presently some of
 them stood upon the marrow window sills and beckoned to the spectators
 that they were about to leap. Men collected on the sidewalks ready to render any assistance they could and in the meantime some of the women left the window sills and dropped to the street. In most instances the ef- forts to catch them and break their awful falls were unavailing, for they struck the sidewalk and in most cases broken limbs were the result.
 As soon as the fremen could get their scaling ladders into position they climbed the sides Of the building and entered at every window where there was an unfortunate guest ap- pealing for assistance, and many cases of heroic rescue were witnessed by the th1Ong in the streets.
 At the corner of 47th street and Fifth avenue directly across from the hotel was the home of Miss Helen Gould and at her direction many of the injured were carried there and treated by phy- sicians and nurses whom she had sent for.
 Iii the meantime the chief of police had telephoned to every hospital in the city asking that assistance be sent 1 forced their way through the crowds as quickly as possible and the injured people who had made ! frightful leaps from the hotel windows 1 were placed in them and removed to | the hospitals Several occupants of the hotel appeared at the windows of | the sixth and seventh stories and even | on the roof and leaped to the streets from those points. Few escaped in 5tant death.
 The northeast wing of the hotel | continued to burn for half an hour after the walls of the other buildings | fell. Miss Gould's residence seemed in imminent danger of catching fire but the flames were brought under control | before they could reach her home.
 hall boy discovered the flames on the fourth floor over the rooms oc- ;upied by President McKinley's broth er, Abncr Mckinley and family. They The boy 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 build ng and the lad when he got to the floor above the main hall, ran into the main dining room and gave the alarm o the guests there. Few persons here escaped. The boy then rushed Town the basement stairway and alarmed the women who were at work n the laundry. It is believed all es- ;aped.