Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-06-20
SUMMER RESORT BURNED.
The Mineral Springs Hotel at West
Baden, Ind, Totally De-
stroyed by Fire.
THE LOSS WILL REACH HALF A MILLION
The Guests. of Whom There were
Two Hundred and Twenty-Five,
All Escaped, But the Most OF
Them Lost All Their Efects-It
Was q F~aVorite Resort.

1neh AOst All AACAE
Was q Favorite Resort.
West Baden, Ind, June 15.-Nearly
three hundred lives were Imperfect by
the fire which destroyed the cele-
brated Mineral Springs hotel at this
place, early yesterday. The alarm of
fire came at one o'clock in the morn
ing. To add to the terrors of the
panic-stricken guests, the electric
light plant of the hotel failed a few
minutes after the alarm of ire was
given, and those guests who did not
face the flames were left to groFe
their way in the darkness out of the
: great four-story, wooden structure.
d. Though there were many narrow
escapes, it is believed hal not a sin
gle life was lost. The register and
books of the hotel were burned, but
during the day the management ac-
counted for 26S persons who were in
the great building, and is confident
that there were nc others.
The loss on the building is $25O,OO0,
with an insurance of $4,000. Most
of the guests lost all of their clothing,
and many of them lost diamonds and
jewelry. The aggregate of these
losses, it is believed, is fully $50,G00.
In the hotel safe, which lies under the
sInouldering ruins. is fully $4,000
which had been deposited by guests
for safe keeping.
Many of the guests have hurried to
their homes, and those remaining
have found shelter at French Lick.
The conflagration had it's origin in
the kitchen, which was on the ground
floor of the hotel, Immediately under
two rows of sleeping rooms, all of
which were occupied. The night
Waterman attempted to eStinguish the
blaze with hand grenades, but, seeing
that his attempts were in vain, he
rushed to the office, notifying the
hight clerk, and together they ran
rapidly through the halls, kicking
open doors and %arousing the sleep
! ing guests. They had proceeded but
partly through the building when the
electric lights went cut, owing to the
burning out of the feed wires.
Within halt an hour the entire
building was in flames. The building
was provided with fire escapes, and on
the front of the building, extending
from the ground to the roof, was an
escap built in a spiral fashion. It
was through this that many of the
guests got out. During the rush for
safety four ladies became wedged in
this spiral escape, and while in this
position someone on the upper doors
started a small trunk on its rapid
descent down the winding shoot. The
ladies were scratched and bruised
and were not relieved from their
perilous position until one of the
guests ran up the shoot, and, after a
vigorous tug, succeeded in relieving
the tension, permitting all four ladies
to slide to the ground in safety.
One gentleman from ST. Paul, Mimi,
whose name could not be learned, is
said to have locked his door and lost
his key. He CROPPED around in the
dark, and when nearly suffocated by
smoke, his door was burst in by Hen
ry Allenburg, of Elwood, who carried
him in safety to the lawn. He arrived
from Minnesota Thursday night in a
pitiable condition from the effects of
rheumatism. He was conveyed to the
French Lick hotel, two miles away
Supt. Clark of the Elwood plate
glass works, with his wife, was among
the guests. After gathering a few
personal effects together, Mr.. Clark,
in h excitement, grabbed a woman
he supposed TO be his wife, and car
ried her screaming from the build
ing. On reaching the lawn in front
of the hotel he discovered his mistake
and ran pack into the burning build
ing, and in a few moments appeared
with his wife.
One woman frantically appealed to
those about her to save her trunk, and
vainly offered S $1,000 to anyone who
would risk his life in an attempt
to drag it from the building.
Fifty or sixty female employees of
the hotel, VINO were quartered in the
rooms on the upper floor of the new
bath house, which had just been COM
pleted at a cost of $4,000, escaped
uninjured. This building also was de-
stroyed.
The guests were loud in their praise
of the Monon railroad. They boarded
the trains with absolutely nothing eX-
cept the few articles of wearing APP
parel which they had saved from
the flames. The officials had been no.
titled of their destitute condition,
their tickets and money having been
destroyed, AND it was but a short time
until a message was received from
the general superintendent, inviting
all to proceed to Chicago or any other
point on their line free of charge.
It was a noticeable fact that ev-
eryone seemed perfectly contented
with the awkward surroundings after
the fire. Women dressed in their night
robes, mems overcoats, hats and
shoes, mingled in the crowd congrat-
ulating each other
The proprietor of the little county
store at West Baden did a thriving
business after The fire. The guests, or
those of them who saved enough
money, soon cleaned out his little
stock. Women purchased mems sweat
ers, shirts and other articles of cloth
ing, and seemed to be perfectly con-
tented with those.
A Score of Houses Burned.
Conroe, Tex, June 15.-Fire, which