The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-07

Eight men lost their lives in the fire at
lis Washington avenue s., Minneapolis,
yesterday mornlrp me men were over
come by smoke in the Harvard hotel,
which occupies the second, third and
fourth floors of the building, as told in
the G o b e of yesterday, and death in
every instance was due to suffocation.
When the men were found in various
parts of the house Erickson was dead,
the others unconscious, and all in such
condition that there was no hope of re-
suscitating any except possibly Jacobsen.
He died yesterday noon al the Minneapo
lis city hospital.
That there was a fire in the building
was first discovered by Charles Hanson,
as he was about to go to his room on the
second floor. There was then some smoke
in the hallway, and he Immediately
alarmed George O'Conror, the night
clerk. and the two men set about to
awaken the dodgers.
Hanson devoted his attention to the
second floor, and O'Connor rushed up
stairs 1t was then about 1:45 o'clock
and the dodgers were all asleep, and it
was with the greatest difficulty they
were aroused.
In several instances it was necessary
for OConnor to break in doors. In
the meantime he kept crying fire. and
the alarm soon spread. O'Connor was
finally forced to beat a retreat because
of the smoke
1t was a case of every man fighting
for his own life. Nineteen Of the TWEEN
ty-seven dodgers were successful, but the
others were unable to beat their way
through the thick smoke and sue
eumbed.
FINDING OF THE BODIES.
The first man found was ]. N. E.ick-
son, of Alexandria, he being perfectly
lifeless. He was still in bed, and the
smoke had evidently rushed in on him
in such a mass that he was overcome
before awakening. The body was taken
to the morgue by the central patrol
wagon.
Erickson occupied a front room on the
third floor, which was the first room en-
tered by the fiji emen after the smoke
had somewhat cleared away il was
several minutes before it was possible
for the f1remen to enter the rear doors,
because of the density of the smoke.
HOPED TO SAVE THEM
1t was evident to all that there must
still be men in the building, and it WAS
a fight to reach them in the hope of still
saving life. Three more men were found
on the third floor, and four on the sec
ond. All were outside OF their rooms.
and it was evident that they had been
aroused, and were making a great bat
tie against the smoke, when they be-
came insensible. Some lay PROSTATE in
the Railways, and others again had fall
en- while making their way down the
stairs.
All were still breathing, but a painless
death was rapidly overtaldng them. AS
soon as it became known that there were
unconscious men in the building, ply
sician was summoned, and DR.. w. B.
Murray was soon on the scene. The
men had already been carried in to the
front rooms of the floors on which they
were found, and the firemen were dill
gent in applying the first aid to the in
jured, in which they have recently re-
ceived instruction, But the work Of the
smoke was thorough, and nothing could
be done. DR.. Murray Immediately rec
ognized this, but urged the firemen to
continue their work, in the hope that
something miraculous might be accom-
plished. DR. Murray stationed one
fireman with each victim, and, after CIV
ing hurried instruction in the proper
method of inducing respiration, passed to
the next Dr. Murray at the time de-
clared that there was no hope for saw
ing the lives of any but Jacobsen, and
every effort was bent upon resuscitating
him. He never regained consciousness,
the city hospital, where he died ten
hours afterwards.
HAD STAYED TO DRESS.
1t was evident from the manner in
which several of the men were dressed
when found that they did not appreciate
the great danger upon being aroused.
Several of the men had stopped to com
pletely dress. Skidmore was found with
his overcoat and overshces on, and
Rudey was dressed for the street. Mon
ahan also had his overcoat on.
The fire, which ended with such great
loss of life, at first was an insignificant
one and even for several minutes after
the fire department arrived at the scere
the real danger was not fully appre-
ciated. The fire had it's origin in the
rear store, and under a stairway that led
up to the second floor, when the store
room was used for saloon purposes.
There was a considerable amount of oils
and varnishes here to feed the flames
The fire burst out at the rear, and to
this part of the building the department
directed it's attention. Only small vol
ume Of smoke was at the time issuing