The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1899-03-25
A HOTEL HORROR.
WINDSOR HOTEL IN NEW
YORK CITY BURNED.
IS Dead. 46 Missing and 50 Mounted.

The y Y sun Of Saturday last says
The Windsor Hotel, for nearly 80 years
one Of the most famous hotels IN this eouu-
try. If not in the world. was compleatly des-
troyed by fire yesterday afternoon. Many
persons were burned to death and more
than half hundred were injured There
is an omiuous list Of missing. Al but one
were women who had leaped from the win
dows Of the hotel or had fallen Mrs
Warren + Leland and her daughter are
two Of these The others, with one eN-
ccptiou. were guests at the hotel. One
woman whose body the Coroner cannot 10
cate Is reported to be dead in a private
house OF the fifty one who are known
Ia have been injured aud whose names the
police have, more than half the number
are guests. the Others are or were seryenis
IN the house Many persons injured were
cared for by friends There were rescues
hy the score. some Of them the most thrill
ing imaginable Among the rescued were
Mrs. Abncr Mckinley, wife Of the brother
Of the President, her daughter Mable, and
Miss Helen Mckinney, the sister Of the
President. The Mckinleys were living at
the hotel
The fire occurred in the middle of the
day, in what was. for the time being, the
most crowded part OF the city, for Fifth
avenue was jammed with sightseers and
from curb to curb with St Patrick Day
paraders To this fact Is due, perhaps
some Of the loss Of life aud good deal OF
serious injury to person, for the crowd in
terterel with the police and the dremen;
but SO suddenly did the fire start and so
quickly did it sweep through the biz
hotel, that if there had been no crowd
and nothing to hamper the work Of the
fremen. there would still have been many
accidents and fatalities 1t is the worst
hotel fire that New York has had for many
wears
With such awful rapidity did the fire
spread, once it had started, that people no
higher up in the building than the floor
above the street had TO fly for their lives.
/ That there are many bodies in the ruins Is
almost certain There were stories By the
score while the fire was going on Of persons
seen at various windows who disappeared
from them Just moment before flames
shot out followed by volumes Of black
smoke. Five or SIX of these stories ap
peared to be true for the same things
were seen at the same windows by people
/ Il h. stapfltnur fa
gether, and in those eases there could be
no mistake. In one or two other cases
similar stories were told by persons whose
word can be trusted Only after a search
of the ruins will the extent of the disaster
! be known and SO complete was the wreck
wrought BY the fire that this will be long
! and tedious work Most OF the guests of the
! hotel have been or will be accounted for,
| though there are several whose fate is un-
certain. The bodies yet to he recovered, 1t Is
thought, will be mostly servants in the hotel
who were caught on the upper floors and who
did not have a chance TO reach either fire
escape or the stairway before the flames
/ had taken possession of them.
The fire started in dining room on the
second floor. 1t was due to the careless
tossing of match into a lace curtain,
| Although the act was witnessed, before an
alarm could be sent in to the Fire Depart
ment the building was doomed. Had it
been 4 tinder box the fire could not have
taken hold quicker and completed the
work of demolition in less time. Yet the
| building had been called fireproof. 1t was
fitted, according to the building and the
fire officials with all the equipment for use
in case of fire that the law requires. 1t
had sufficient fire escapes and the halls
were equipped with electric alarms and
with colored globes that should have
shown everybody how to reach the es-
capes Yet they might almost as well
not have been there, for of all the persons
rescued not more than half dozen were
taken down by means of the stationery
fire escapes, while scores jumped or slid
down murderous rope escapes, only to
meet death or injury at the bottom
Eight ladies were rescued from the bath
rooms. They were furnished with cloth
ing and taken out. Fully 81, goo, 900
in clothing, jewels, &c, were lost by the
guests, many of whom had resided in the
hotel for from 70 to % years
| Within two hours of the discovery of