New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-03-18
THE WINDSOR HOTEL HORROR.

The Windsor Hotel fire IS Mt once horror
and a lesson. The measure or the uageu!
* the measure of the warning that may not ~
unheedcd Yesterday morning 1t would nave
been thought impossible that great ana care
fully managed hotel could burn so rapidly 'Ha'
in midday when everybody was up ana ABOUT
scores OF people would be unable 70 make ther
cscape Hotel fires with great loss OF HE are
M now thing But they commonly happen AT
NIGHT when the guests are hard TO arouse ana
orn dazed by the situation, and when the names
have q chance to get we'll started before being
roticed Rut il would seem as if with any
edoouote vatchfulness and qucltncsS OF alarm
tba neonle nj the Windsor might have walked
safely to the street, even il the building was
,he most veritabe tlnderbox. Something more
than the fac: that the hotel antedated 1reprool
construction is needed TO explain this iearIui
slaughter.
That the hotel was tinderboX appears ne
,.ord disnuto Within a few minutes after the
Grst flames were seen the whole building was
ohloze and within an hour It was ruin lever
with the street Yet there was scarcely any
wind no frozen water pipes, nothing except inc
ror,ouS oncumhrance of n crowd IN the streets
70 nrevent effective fire-hghtlng. What a con
Home Life Insurance Building. which rev
roots ago triumphantly went through fierce
fire on n cold. windy night, when 1t was made
tho erc for . furnace draught. Il Is evident
that the Windsor was n dcath-trap. and only
,,o,,a fortune can account for the long immunity
~ those who were led TO trust their lives TO us
keeping. How far its owners obeyed or as
ohevcd the building laws is matter Tor future
II
decided lack of fire-escapes on the Ffth-aVe
s,dn % tho buildinc. where the greatest loss of
no occurred. and il is limited that this lack was
in defiance of official regulations. II So the
nunlshment should be sure and severe
Uo cannot NV studying the defects Of the
Ui,deor nrjn. its victims back TO life or
oseroce the pain Of their friends, but we can
learn from 1t to guard against similar dangers
II IS to be feared that hotels STU s'ahu III ul7
citv which are no safer They should be eX-
amlned. and. if necessary. closed UP. Inc
possibilities Of hreprOof construction are 700
we'll known TO make fire traps longer chduIa
BILE for hotels. Public safety is superior 10
nriyate claims and if owners OF hotels VIII not
nrotect the lives of their patrons they should
be compelled TO give up the business ana turn
their buildings to less dangerous uses
The question Of actual freproof material IN
the structure is most important in this matter
lut that Of discipline and subsidiary precau-
t,ons is only less important. Here 1t IS mat
the Windsor managers seem to have been most
conspicuously at fault Everybody knew the
| building was not fireproof. 1t might have been
| expectcd TO burn with more or less rapldlty II
II caught fire Where were the watchers,
where the alarm apparatus, where the dl'
ciplinc to meet the danger there was every
reason 10 fear and guard against: 1t looks as
! If the guardians Of the hotel had left Their
posts Perhaps they had gone TO view the ST
| Patricks Day procession. 1t IS said that the
servants had been allowed 10 invite theiI
friends 10 come in and make merry with them
If So that accounts for great deal 1t cX
plains how the fire could have got beyond con
troll before discovery. 1t explains the break
down Of the system Of warning guests. But II
does not excuse the servants whose duty II
was 10 be on the alert for the wants and tho
safety of guests at all times in every part OF
the house, and it does not excuse the man
ayers who allowed such neglect. ON then
rests heavy responsibility. Were they trust
ing 10 chance the lives committed TO thCil
charge. letting their servants leave their fires
INTENDED and their posts unmatched while
carelessly gaping ut show As we'll nigh
an ocean captain leave his bridge untcnanteC
to watch a school Of pOrpoSe thinking tia
the sea was smooth and no danger was il
sight.