The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-03-18
Could Not BE Checked.

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 We're filled with debris
from fallen walls and chimneys. while
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 impossi-
BILE for any one to approach near
enough to search for the bodies of those
who perished. The fire was the most
spectacular that could be imagined
When it broke out Fifth avenue was
crowded with people watching the ST.
Patrick's day parade and every window
in the front of the hotel facing Fifth
avenue was filled with spectators
AS soon as the flames were discovered
shooting from the windows that part
of the procession which was near the
building came to a halt and in a few
minutes the parade was dsbanded for
the police came rushing from every di-
rection and, where they We're able,
drove the people from the streets. One
fire alarm after another was turned in.
The engines caused a wild scramble
among the paraders and spectators in
the streets as they fell in position for
work.
In addition to the regular guests of
the hotel the windows were crowded by
large number of spectators. residents
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 unable to
make their way to the ground floor.
Women Terror Stricken.
Windows We're 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 terror
stricken and presently some of them
stood upon the narrow window sills and
beckoned to the spectators that they
We're about to leap. The men collected
on the sidewalks ready to render any
assistance they could and in the mean
time some of the women left the win
dow sills and dropped to the street. In
many instances the efforts to catch
them and break their awful fall were
unavailng, for they struck the side
walk, and, in most cases, broken limbs
We're the result. AS soon as the firemen
could get their scaling ladders into po-
sition they climbed the sides of the
building and entered at every window
where there was an unfortunate guest
appealing for assistance, and many
cases of heroic rescues We're witnessed
by the throng in the streets.
At the corner of FOrty-seventh street
and Fifth avenue. directly across from
the hotel. is the home of Miss Helen
Gould, and at her direction many of
the injured were carried there and We're
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 assist
ance be sent. Ambulances broke through
the crowds as rapidly as possible and
the injured people who had made the
frghtful leaps from the hotel windows
were placed in them and removed to the
hospitals. Several occupants of the ho-
tel appeared at the windows 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 death short time
later.
Enyeloped in Flames.
In the meantime the entire building
was being enVcloped in flames, which |
shot out from every window and formed
a picture which struck terror to all |
those who were witnessing it, Within |
40 or 45 minutes after the fire first |
broke out the walls on the Fifth avenue
side showed every indication of falling.
and presently, with an awful crash, |