The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-03-18

1i tne Ire e1gines were not loz3 In ap-
pear .hg upon the sceneI
"a ADDITION 10 the rsgular guests Of the
btIel, ths windows wero crowded by n
ateo nEmber OIL SPECTATORS. residents Of
TINS ciy, who m.d uongregated 70 Wit
NESS tne parade. soon after the first
alarm was givGl. peonla in ths lower
no irs Of the hotel those no had e.sv ac-
cess to the street and stairway comS1enced
- pour out oi fhe building in great num-
psls' Nue 10 cry soon became apparent
that great majority of the occurants OF
the hotel were either panic stricken or
were unabFJ to make their way Ia the
ground iioeE Windows were throgn up
on every side of the tuilding guests.
mostly women, in all stages Of terror.
inaoe Jheir appearance and commenced
10 maze frantIo appeals for sssistapce
10 the crowd stsnuinx bslow As the
nnmes gathered about chem, they t1cans
more and more terror stricken and nres-
entity several Of them stood upon thu mar
row window sIls and beGkoned 60 tho
spectators below that they were absut to
Tap to tho street. The men collected up-
on the sidewalks ready to offer any assis.
Jaucu that they could and In ths Iaenn-
time number of women left the window
sills and dropped TO the street. In most
OF the cases the eHorts to catch them and
break their awful fell were unaYailinl
for they struck the sidewalk and in mosC
cases broken , Jnbs were the result
AS soon as tbe hremen could get their
scaling ladgers Into position they climbed
the sides of the building and entered Mt
every window where there was an un-
fortunaVe guest appealing for assisapnce
ana msny cases Of heroic rescue were
witnessed by the throEg in the street At
the corneriof 41th street and Fifth ave-
nue., directly across from the hotel, Ia the
home OF NiGs Helen Gould and at her
alreclon many of the injured were car
q ear,H 49,,
ar nursss whom she had sent for.
In the. meantime the chief Of police had
teleph'lned to every hospital in the city
asklrg that assistance be sent 10 the
sun srers. Ambulances forced th ir way
tn cough the crowd as quickly as possible
IND the injured people who had made the
friGhtful leaps from the hotel windows
We're placed in them and removed to the
hospital. Several occupants of the ho.el
Appeared at the windows of the sixth
ard seventh stories and even on the roof
and made their leaps to the streets from
those POINTS Very few of them escapsd
either instant death or injuries which
resulted in .heir death IA short time later.
In the tnea5tlme the entire building was
being e1velopsd in flames which shot
out from every window and formed IL
picture which struck terror to ali thoso
who vere witnessing IT. Within 40 OF
10 min ltes after the lire broke oat, the
walls Of the Fifth avenue side showed
every iI1ication of falling, and presently
with m awful crash they struck the
asphalt covering of the street In front OF
the hotal and caused the hundreds
of pectie who were standing there to
scatter IN every direction. This weakened
the walls on the z6th and 47th street
sides an6 they followed moment later.
" hen the walls fell the brick and NOR
tar and twisted girders and corrugated
iron fillel the streets on three sides of the
hotel.
The dosfsteps and iron fences in front
of the houses on the opposite side of the
street frcm the hotel were wrecked by the
falling walls ana the amount of debris
piled in the streets was so great that
travel WI be impeded for several days.
The northeast wing of the hotel con-
tinued TO burn half an hour after the
walls of The other part of the building
fell, Tho dremen continued to play
streams upon the flames and also upon all
the adjoining buildings. including Miss
Gould's residence. which seemed in iIu-
minent danger Of catching lire, but tine
flames were brought under control before
they could reach any of them.
There were many thrilling scenes in
tho hotel during the early stage OF the
lire. AS soon as it broke out hall boy
discovered tine flames while passing along
tho fourth floor. Immediately over the
rooms occupied by President McKinley's
brother, Abner. and his family. Ihe
boy pulled chain attached to the fire
alarm, but the chain broke and then he
cried out an alarm of fire and ran to tho
floor below.
The blaze was then licking up everything
on the Fifth avenue end OF the building
and the lad when he got to the floor
above the main hall ran into the Ame-
rican dining room and gave the alarm
there. Only a few persons were in the
dining room and they escaped. W5en the
.Ns.sv -
Leland, tho proprietor Of the hotel, was
in the rear Of the long hall and tho boy
shouted TO him that the building was on
fire. On Nr. Lelandis Instructions the
clerks tried to save all the books and pa
pGrs and the BOY then rushed down the
basement stairs and alarmed the women
who were ut work in the laundry. 1t is
believed all OF them escaped.
One OF the most daring resoues wAs ef-
fectedby iremen occupied on theifth floor
of the Fifth av nue front. An elderly
woman was seen at window, and two
lremeu succeeded in reaching the win
dow Immediately underneath. One of
them climted tu the coping over the
window on which she was standing and
then stepped over 10 where the woman
was waving her hands desperately. de
then swung the woman clear of the win
dow ard landed her safely in the arms
of his companion who. with the assis-
taDce of several others, passed the woman
down to the street,
The first horror oc CURED jHst 10 min
utes after the fire broke cut. hand
some woman appeared at the window OF
u room on the fourth floor. She held out
her arms to the crowd below. Then she
raised her hands as If in supplication
and in IA moment climbed to the window
and leaped. She turned about like top
and struck thu iron railing in front of
the hotel Her body seemed to be impaled
Ell IsgF. 81,
She was dead. The woman was identl-
fed rs Mrs Amelia Paddock of Irvington,
\. Y. One of the most thrilling scenes
of the ire at a time when the building
was u seething cauhlron Of flane, was
the h. role rescue Of several women from
the upper stories. One hat been carried
down from the 1fth story. Mrs. a. ii.
Fuller of Pittsburg, Pa, then appeared
with her maid at the wind NV Of the
fourth story. 1t seemed like an age te-
fore the ladder WAS lowered. tiTemen
ran up with great dilicnlty and brought
Z he, 81 rs sha rotten ont