The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-15
GUESTS HAVE A CLOSE CALL Hotel at West Baden, Ind,
 is Burned. MANY NARROW ESCAPES Women and Men Save Only
 Their Night Robes.
Loss on Hotel wili BsI saso,ooo, While the Personal Property of Guests Destroyed wnI
 Amount to s5o,ooo.

West Baden, Ind, June 14.-Of the 268 persons who were in the Mineral Springs Hotel fire this morning. 1t is now believed that every one escaped with his life.
 Nearly all the guests are at French Lick. The loss on the hotel building Is estimated at $250,00 with insurance ag7 gregating $110,000. In addition to this. the loss in diamonds, jewelry and clsth- ing belonging to the guests, will, 1t Is estimated, reach $50,000.
 The hotel will be rebuilt as soon as possible.
 Sixty persons left this morning for Chicago, many of them dressed in odd pieces of clothing picked up from as many sources.
 The fire started in the hotel kitchen, which was located on the ground floor. immediately under two rows of sleep ing rooms, all of which were occupied. The night watchman attempted to ex- tinguish the blaze with hand grenades. but seeing that his attempts were in vain, he rushed to the office, notifying the night clerk, and together they ran rapidly through the halls, kicking open doors and yelling fire at the tops of their voices. To add to the great ex- citement 1t was but few moments af- ter the discovery of the fire that the
  and the panic-stricken guests groped around in their rooms for wearing ap- parei and other personal property. Out of the 268 guests who had registered at the hotel the evening before, only twelve succeeded in escaping from the burning building with all of their per- sonal property.
 Amy Leslie, the theatrical critic of The Chicago News, escaped with noth- t~.r h.xk loEk T tesfss traveling wardrobe of today consisted of a night dress. gentleman's shirt. which she purchased at ,.the village store. and her bath robe. Her little niece was provided for by an old coll ored woman who presented her with one of her little daughters dresses. Fifty or sixty female employees of the hotel who were quartered in the rooms on the upper floor oe the new bath house, which had just been completed at cost of $7o.000, escaped uninJured. This building with the hotel was also destroyed. The fire was discovered shortly after 1 o'clock and by 1:30 the entire build ing was a mass of ruins. The building was provided with fire escapes and in addition on the front was spiral eS- cape.
 It wes through this that many of the guests got out. During the rush for safety, four women became wedged in this spiral escape and while in this position some one on the upper floor started a small trunk on It's rapid ds- scent down the winding chute. The ladies were scratched and bruised and were not relieved from their awkward position until one of the guests ran up the chute and after a vigorous tug succeeded in relieving the jam and all four women slid to the ground in safety.
 Colonel Wing, Police Commissioner of Cincinnati. occupied a room directly over the kitchen. He had a very nar- row escape, saving nothing but the night shirt on his back. Colonel How ard General Agent of a life insurance company of New York barely escaped in his night clothing.
 A St. Paul man locked his door and lost his key. He groped around in the dark and when nearly suffocated by smoke his door was burst in by Henry Allenburg of EImwood. who carried him in safety to the ground. He ar rived frcm Minneapolis last night and a pitiamble condition from the effects of rheumatism. He was conveyed to the French Lick Hotel, two miles away. Superintendent Clark of the Elkwood Plate Glass Works. and his wife were among the guests. After gathering few person effects together. Mir. Clark.
 in the excitement, grabbed woman supposing her to be his wife, and car ried her screaming from the building. On reaching the lawn in front of the
 hotel he discovered his mistake aAd ran back into the burning building and in few moments appeared with his | wife