The evening times., 1899-03-18
SATURDAY. MARCH is, 1899.
The Hotel Horror

Ia lOlla LLAAALAS AAANA q f-A4S4N>4 '-N@A
thrown a burning match on lace curtain,
the walls OF the Windsor Hotel in New
York fell into the streets, the roof and
floors having dropped earlier Although
the fire occurred in the afternoon, more
than a dozen lives were lost-exactly how
many is not known-a large number OF per-
sons were injured. and but for eXtraordi-
nary heroism. amounting to rashness in
some cases. the death list would be much
longer. Yet this was a leading and fash
ionable hotel of the largest city in America,
where visiting royalty, the moneyed aris-
tocracy, the President OF the United States
have been guests. Its proprietor was one
OF family OF famous hotel keepers. That
the building was not freproof is obvious.
There was, however, freproof tower in
The centre. with iron stairs running from
the top 10 the Office floor, having doors on
every side. In each room was a rope for
use in case OF fire and there was one fire
escape, at least. outside. II is certain that
if the fire had broken out twelve hours
later hundreds Of lives would have been
lost.
The fifteen or twenty persons are d. -ad
for several reasons. The first is the ra-
pidity with which the house was destroyed.
In ten minutes after the cry Of fire vas
heard, escape was difficult. This means
that the hotel which was most attractive
in its elegant simplicity and its tasteful
furnishings. was a fire-trap no safer than
the cheapest tenement house in New York
The guests did not suspect this. bat the
fire department officials knew it as we'll as
the proprietor The bellboy who first dis
covered the flames undertook to ring the
alarm bell. but the chain broke For just
such an occasion the hotel was prov dei
with flre-fighting apparatus, for operat-
ing which there were pumps equal in pow
e. to six Of the best fire engines. but it
was not used at all. Guests who attempt
ed to save themselves by the ropes found
them rotten and unfit to bear thsir weight.
Either they did not know of the central
tower or were too panic-stricken to re-
member ii or could not find their way 10
ii because of the smoke. Another circum-
stance was that the Office floor was pack
ed with curious people who ran in from
the street. while the main street. Fifth
Avenue, was filled with the ST. Patrick's
Day procession and the crowd of specta-
tors. All this made exit difficult.
In every hotel fire account must be
taken of panic People have been known
in their frenzy TO leap from windows near
which were fre-escapes. In one such fire
man and his wife jumped from one of
their windows to certain death, although
hon h,l ,gs,
from another window they could step TO a
fire-escape and easily descend to the
ground As soon as the guests of the
Windsor heard the cry of fire many of
them became frenZied and rushed about
the corridors screaming. although they
might have descended the stairs easily.
This defect in human nature should be
taken into account in the arrangements of
hotel. Apart from this, however, there
has been negligence on the part of the
proprietor, who has paid heavy price in
the death of wife and daughter. and on
the part of the inspectors and fire Off
cials. There are laws enough covering
hotels TO afford the best measure of Sc
curity possible, but their spirit if not their
terms, We're violated in this. case. There
was a lack of outside fre-escapes: the
ropes required for the rooms were as
worthless as many of the life preseryers
on passenger steamers; the fire-fghting ap-
paratus was not in a condition to be used.
or there was no one assigned to the duty
OF working il; the chain of the alarm
bell was defective; there had been no fire
drill of the hotel employees. All this is
made vastly more blamabIe by the in
fammable character of the building. which
was constructed at least thirty years ago
II is a characteristic OF Americans to
take chances. Every guest of the Windsor
took il for granted that the danger from
fire was as slight as the proprietor could
make it, and that the presence of his own
family insured this. IL was assumed that
The authorities of the city caused a thor
ough inspection and required the abso-
lutte enforcement of all the laws govern
ing hotels Therefore. people went TO the
house without fear and made no personal
investigation. Indeed, a man who should
insist on looking into all the arrangements
sor preventing or fighting fire, would be
regarded as crank. For few weeks AFT
er this, most OF US win be extremely cau-
tious. We shall want rooms on the lower
noors and near a fre-escape, shall see IL
the alarm bells are in order, and all appii-
snces ready for operation. Then there