Waterbury Democrat., 1901-07-02
SUMMER INN BURNED.
Guests Lost Much of Their Belongings
 Nh Wafer Available

Allenhurst, N. J., July 2.-Fire last night destroyed, in a brief space or time, the Allenhurst inn, one of the. biggest hotels along the Jersey coast. The huge frame structure was swept away as if it were made of paper. The flames reached three cottages close by, and these, too, were burned in what seemed only few minutes. The loss is $175000.
 The local force of firemen is small, and they could do little toward check ing the spread of the fire. Urgent messages were sent to Asbury Park, Ocean Grove, Elberon and Long Branch, and engines from those places came as quickly as they could.
 But by the time of their arrival the flames had full possession of the big and little structures, and the work or the firemen was hopeless. Ships lar out at sea saw the glow in the sky as the big hotel blazed up. In two hours only great piles of ashes marked the spot where merry summer crowd had gathered.
 As the fire was early in the evening none of the 165 guests of the hotel and cottages was in bed, and at no time was there any danger of loss of life.
 The inn faced the ocean and was landmark, standing out amid its clus- ter of cottages so that it could be seen for miles. It had been refitted com- i pletely this spring. It could accommo- date easily 400 guests.
 The fire started in the basement in the quarters of the bell boys, on the Corlies avenue side of the building. Che of the boys was cleaning clothes with benzine, when the fluid exploded and set fire to the furnishings. IT T ,I,11 | the fire could have been put out by the hotel employees. But plumbers had cut l off the entire supply in that section of | the hotel. William F. Daly, the head waiter, ran with his men from point | to point searching for water, but all l the plugs were dry.
 ! When the water was obtained from | another section it was too late. The ] flames had got hold which defied fire men who then were arriving. | The majority of the guests were at | dinner when the alarm was given. The light baggage and furniture was saved, as we'll as much of the larger stuff. Brady and Murray two bell boys, earned $25 by going through the smoke | to the rooms of E. R. Walter of New York and saving his jewels. But they failed to findsa diamond pin valued as | $2,0O0t s a
 c. J. Johnson of Asbury Park risked his life to save two women from the second floor. His shirt was burned off, his hair singed and his face and hands iblistefed | fs1 s7s1
 From the hotel the flames leaped to fhsa cottages,e9 and there the firemen made their stand. Three of these Buildings were destroyed. They were occupied by Frank J. Matthews of Jersey City, W. Johnson Quinn of the Hotel Empire, New York, owner of | the inn, and a MT Burns.
 The firemen were handicapped badly by the heat. Away from the fire 1t was bad enough, but close in it was an inferno. Man after man had to be carried out and revived
 AIei. many of them well dressed and apparently guests at other hotels, loot ed the rooms openly. Some went so far as to search baggage which had been carried from the hotel.
 The loss by the guests was great. Many of these had. come to spend the entire summef at the inn and had brought along many trunks.