Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1901-01-08
EIGHT NIT DEATH
Several Inmates of Harvard
Hotel in Minneapolis Suf-t
foCated by Smoke.
Nineteen Of the Twenty sever
Lodgers Manage to Make
Their Escape.
ey cAp,v kAnnNiNc plh7E
AN EARLY MORNING BLAZE
The Fire Occurred Near TW
O'clock and the Victims I,
Were Asleep.
Fatality the Worst Since TIL
Mill Explosion a Score of
Years Ago.

MINNEAPCIIS, Jan. 7.-Etght men
loss their lives in the fire Mt Is Wasn-
inglon avenue south Sunday mornin,,,
The men were overcome by smoke il
-. .-k-e5 =. e
second, third and fourth floors Of the
building, and death in every instance
was due to suffocation.
The dead are Nathaniel Perley, O. y.
ckioimore, j. S. Bentley, b. scofieki,
George Rudey, Michael Monahun and
- jacobson all OF Minneapolis, andJ.
N. Erickson of Alexandria, MIN. III
When the men were fou.4d in va.
rious parts Of the house Erickson was
dead, the Others unconscious. and ill
III such condition that there WAS no
hope of resuscitating any except pos.
siOly jacobson. He died at noon at the
city hospital.
That there was fire in the building
was first discovered by Charles Han.
SOL, as he was about to 60 to his room
on the second floor. There was then
smoke in the hallway and he imme.
diately alarmed George O'Connor, tae
night clerk and the Two men set about
to awaken the lodgers.
Forced to Retreat.
Hanson devoted his attention to the
second floor, and O'Connor rushed tp
stairs. 1t was then about l:45 o'clock
and the lod gers were all asleep, andtit
was with tho greatest difficulty they
were aroused. III several instances !,
was necessary for O'Connor to break
in doors. In the meantime he kept
crying ''fire,'' and the alarm soon
sread. O'Connor was finally forced to
beat retreat because of the smoke.
1t was case Of every man fighting
for his own lite. Nineteen OF the ~
were uuabie to freak their way
through the thick smoke and sue.
cum bed. 's..s $#
lne ii1e which eut,cd with such
great loss g! lie at frst was insignit fl.
cant and even icr several mluUies
a ter the tire H;HpnrtiIle ut arrived at nc
Sccne the re4l uan:- :-er was not fully
nDpreclatcd The .l.o had its origin
iii tnc rear storo, and nnder a stair.
WY that leo Up ro the second floor.
There Wps a considerable amount Of
OILS aud varl!!sh acre 10
..A ."ul !,,a Flames.
The FIRE burst out at the rear, aud tc
this part vi TIE building tho depart.
ment direc,ed It's attention Only d
small volume o. smoke was at the
time issuing from the front windows
of the store and very little from the
upper windows. II.
The loss OF hio might have been cn.
tirely averted had it not been for the
fact that immcd lately above the stairs
was a 45 gallon tank of kerosene.
When the flames reached this there
was one big puff OF smoke and it was
this that spread throughout the hotel
portion of the building. The smoke
was white and very thick. K
The death list makes the fire next to
the worst in the history Of Minneapo.
lis In the mill fire in 1873 IS lives
were lost, and up to Sunday. The
Tribune fire of II years ago held the
second mortuary record, In that fire
seven lives were lost, which is ex.
ceeded by one, in the Harvard hotel