Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1899-03-23


o'clock in the afternoon, just as the
| In few moments the fire had leaped
| to the roof and enveloped the entire
| Fifth avenue and Forty-seventh street
fronts. Ten minutes later the flames
| were roaring through the interior of
the hotel and all escape by means of
| stairways and elevators was cut off.
The widest scene of excitement pre-
vailed within and without the build
ing. Hundreds of guests and employees
were in the hotel when the fire broke
out and for many of them escape with
safety was impossible. The flames
could not be checked, and in two hours
! from the time the fire broke out the
entire structure was in ruins and the
! streets on three sides Of the building
were filled with debris from fallen
walls and chimneys. The streams of
water being poured upon the interior
of the ruins had no other effect than
| to fill the air with clouds OF scalding
steam making it impossible for any
one to approach near enough to search
for the bodies of those who persisted.
Many thrilling scenes were enacted in
the hotel during the early stages of
the fire. A hall boy discovered the
flames while he was passing along
the fourth floor, Immediately over the
rooms occupied by President McKin-
ley's brother, Abner Mckinley, and his
family. The boy pulled chain at
! tached to the fire alarm, but the chain
broke, and he then cried out in alarm
and ran to the floor below. The blaze
was then licking up everything on the
Fifth avenue end of the building and
the boy, when he got to the floor
| above the main hall, ran into the din
! ing room and gave the alarm to the
| guests there. Only few persons were
| in the dining room at the time and
they escaped.
When the boy reached the main floor
! Warren f. Leland, the proprietor of
| the hotel, was in the rear of the long
hall. On Mr.. Leland's instructions the
! clerks tried to save all the books and
/ papers, while the boy ran down the
basement stairway and alarmed the
women who were at work in the laun-
dry. 1t is believed that ali of them
Rescue OF Aged Woman.
One of the most daring rescues eff
fected by the flremen occurred on the
fifth floor on the Fifth avenue front
! An elderly woman was seen at a win
| dow and two firemen succeeded IN
reaching the window Immediately un-
derneath. One of them climbed to the
coping of the window on which she
was standing and then swung the
woman clear of the window and land
ed her safely in the arms of his COM
panion, who, with the assistance Of
several other firemen, passed her down
to the street.
Woman Guests Fatal Leap.
The first horror occurred just fifteen
minutes after the fire started. A hand
some woman appeared at the window
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
about like a top and struck the iron
railing in front of the hotel. Her body
seemed to be impaled there, but II fell
off and into the areaway She was
dead. The woman was identified as
Mrs. Amelia Paddock of Irvington
n. Y.
Another Thrilling Scene.
One of the most thrilling scenes of
the fire-at a time when the building
was a seething cauldron of flame
was the heroic rescue of several women
from the upper stories. One had been
carried down from the fifth story
Mrs. A. H. Fuller of Pittsburg then
appeared with her maid at the window
of the fourth story. 1t seemed an age
before the ladder was lowered. Fire
men ran up and with great difficulty
brought down Mrs. Fuller and her
maid. Just as she was gotten out Of
the window middle-aged woman APP
peared at a window just north of that
at which the ladder was placed. The
woman, fearing she would not be
rescued, prepared to jump. She was
| WarHeu 10 Keep DdCh anu DeCdIue 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. Selling her
! by the waist and holding tightly to the