The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1899-03-23
Fifteen PERISH IN FLAMES.
The Magnificent Hotel Windsor
Destroyed by Fire.
FORTY PEOPLE INJURED.
Loss % the Hotel About Si.0oo. o.0oo-0rigin
Of the Fre-0iher Buildings Seriously
Damaged.

New YORK Especial. PLANES which
originated from the iguiting OF lace
curtain. burst forth from the second
floor of the Windsor Hotel at Forty
seventh street and Fifth avenue short
~ after 3 o'clock Friday afternoon, aud
in few minutes they had leaped up
TO tho root and enye!oped tue entire
Fifth aveuue and y-ssventh street
fronts Of the hotel. Ten minutes later
the flames were roLring through the
interior Of the hotel, and all means Of
ESCAPE by way Of stairways and eieva-
tors were cut of, and there was the
widest scene OF excitement within and
without the building. Hundreds OF
guests and employees were III the hotel
when tho fire broke out, aud for many
of tber, escape with safety was i'm
possible. Probably from ten to fifteen
lives were lost within q hGlfLour. and
thirty or forty other persons were In.
jured III jumping from windows and In
rushing through the flames III the cor.
ridors and Oh the stairwavs. Many who
were injured died later at nearby resi-.
dences or at hospitals, and others who
made wild leaps TO The stone widewalk
were so badly injured that they arc
still lowering between life ana death.
The fire was the most spectacular that
could be imagined. When IL broke out Fifth
Avenue was crowded with people watching
the st. Patrick's day parade, which was
passing the building at that moment. and
every window III front Of the hotel facing
Fifth Avenue was liled with spectators,
Watching the marching men aud the floats.
An unusually large number OF people were
on the streets, and lnterfered not little
with the movements of tho iiremen aud po
loo In n}, a 70 tn ilstP nf
the hotel. the windows were crowded by a
large number Of spectators. residents Of the
city Hho lad .OngreSatea there to witness
the par ade.
Within 40 or As minutes after the flre broke
out the walls Of the Fifth avenue side showed
every indication Of falling. and shortly. with
an awful crash, they struck the asphai. cov-
ering Of the street. This fall weakened the
walls on the Forty-siXth and Forty seventh
street sides, aud they followed a moment
later. When the walls fell the bricks and
mortar and twisted girders and corrugated
iron Allied the streets on three sides of the
hotel. The doOrslels 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 i'll the streets vas 50 great that travel
will be impeded for several days.
Meanwhile TERRIFYING scenes were being
enacted 10y fren2ied men and women on a.
| most every fl nor Of the great building. How
many persons are buried in the ruins is no:
known, but at least three or four PERSONS
| were seen to jump, whose bodies have not
| been recovered. Eye-witnesses say they saw
| q woman throw IL child from a window, and
| fall a moment later herself, just before the
! collapse Of the walls. AS yet no trace Ol
| these bodies has been found.
The loss ON the contents Of the building Is
I almost com plete. The salvage men managed
| TO save $50 600 worth Of paintings on the
| first floor Of the hotel. Many OF the guests
| who lived at the Windsor regularly lost val
| liable jewery and bric-a-brac and other fur.
| nishings. among them being +. F. Flower
! a naphew Of Ex-Governor Flower, who
/ among other thing, lost package of jeweirS
valued at $1,000 The loss on the hotel 1:
| estimated at ut least 81 100000. Severa
| adjoining buildings were damaged consider
| ably, but the loss on these Is comparatively
| small. There was 5000, 900 insurance on tht
building and $4,000 Oh the contents.
| Regarding the origin Of the fire, The Her
| waiter In the hotel was passing through th'
| hal! on the parlor floor, the first above th'
| street. He was making his way to place
| where no could catch a moments sight o
| the parade. In front Of him walked man
patron OF the hotel. Tho waiter did no
know him. Passing thus one behind tn
| other, they had nearly gained the angle o
the passage near Fifth avenue and Forty
sixth street, when the patron drew natc
| and lighted cigar or cigarette. IL
| tossed the match aside. 1t was still blazin'
| and FELL into the folds Of a lace curtain. Il
| an instant the filny fabric was nbaze, ant
inst antiy the flames shot to the surrounding
draperies. This from all accounts was In
origin of the holocaust in which many hu
man beings rerished and others were Sc
| verely maDgIed, while helpless thousand
looked on ia wild horror.