The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-05
DEATH IN FIRETRAP
FOURTEEN LOSE THEIR LIVES IN A
CHICAGO HOTEL.
ONE OF ClTY'S WORST FIRES.
GUESTS WE'RE sMOTHERED OR
JUMPED TO THEIR DOOM.


a Lighted Cigar Dropped on the
Carpet-Inenectual Means of Es-
cape AHOrded-Fire Escape Gave
Way while 1t Was Being Used-IcS-
perts Called the Place a Firetra u.
Will BE an Investigation.
Chicago, Dec. fourteen persons,
among the scores crowded into the
Lincoln Hotel at 176 Madison street,
met death shortly before O'Clock this
morning in a fire which will pass into
local history as one of the most hor-
rible Chicago has ever experienced.
Death came suddenly to a few, but
with awful slowness to Others who
We're penned in the death trap and suf-
focated or burned to death. Some died
in their rooms, some CHANGED all in
jumping, and lost; others were found
in the Railways, where they had ex-
pired with their fingers dug into the
cracks of the floor. All the bodies
were recovered, as the hotel was not
destroyed.
The dead:
I. C. Yocum. fire insurance agent,
prominent in Davenport, Ia: Samuel
Yocum, son of I. C. Yocum. Daven-
port; A. B. Coon, lawyer. Marongo,
ILL.,; F. L. Ewing, mail clerk. Mariet-
ia, o.; r. F. Boswell, Chicago T. V.
Slocum, machine dealer, Wauconda,
H.; II. K Woods, Lebanon, Ind; Ed
ward Toner, printer, milwaukee,: II.
W. Corey, 29 years old, railway postal
clerk, Bucyrus, O.; Ward Lowe, rail-
way postal clerk, Seichlervile, Wis;
NJ. NJ. Hardy, travelling salesman,
Janesville, Wis: c. p. Cowan. collec-
tor on the Wabash Railroad. ST Louis;
George r. Graves, compositor, Chi
cago; unidentified man, 5 feet inches
165 pounds, 45 years old. thin brown
hair and nustache.
Two Others including one who died
on the way to the hospital, have not
been identified.
The victims were taken to Rollston's
morgue, and all day the place was fill
ed with anxious people interested in
the dead or seeking to assure them
selves of the safety of friends or rela-
tives.
Rushed to the Exits.
The building was a fire-trap of the
worst kind, according to the experts.
There We're but two exits. narrow
SldtA Wdt tSdull5 ruOWIl LtlE liOOTS Ol
the building, and an incompleted fire
| escape in the rear.
The fire started on the second floor,
presumably from a lighted cigar drop
ped on the carpet. Guests occupy ing
upper rooms in the front part of the
hotel were aroused by the screams of
a woman and Were able to escape
down the stairway, and about thirty
people reached safety by means Of the
| fire escape. To add to the horror, how
ever, this gave way while Others were
| attempting to escape. and three men
were dashed to death on the pave
| ment of the alley below.
For the people still in the rear rooms
there was now no escape. save by
| jumping. The stairway was in flames,
| and the fire escape gone. Horror
| stricken faces appeared at the win
dows, and there were frantic cries for
help. Firemen called back to them to
wait until nets or mattresses could be
brought, and those who did in most
| cases escaped with slight injuries. But
some, crazed with fright. jumped to
| the pavement, and were either killed
| or badly hurt.
Died in Their Night Robes.
With great difficulty, the fire, al
though comparatively a small one, was
subdued, but it was some time before
rescuers could penetrate the dense
bank of smoke which filled the pla &C.
1t was an awful scene which met their
gaze. The dead or unconscious were
lying stretched on the floors or in
some cases, on their beds. Some had
attempted to slip on a garment before
making for the street. but had been
overcome. Most of them, however,
were in their night clothes.
I'd faIe ;y,t nj gotf,
filled with men and women who had
escaped in only their night robes.
An investigation will be made.
A fire wall around the freight eleva-
tor and other precautionary altera-
tions had been ordered some time ago.
but the matter had been neglected.
OF the people injured. it was neces-
sary to take only three to hospital
Others suffering from slight cuts and
smoke, were cared for at neighboring
drug stores and left without their
names being reported to the police.
E. c. Weber, the night clerk, was
one of the first persons TO discover
smoke on the second floor. It is be-
lieved that the fire began in this sec
ton of the building. Weber refused
to make any statement, and after he
had secured possession of the hotel
register, he was taken to the entral
station, where he is being detained
Statements About the Fire.
F. A. Smith, proprietor of the hotel,
says:
II am certainly not to blame for
this awful catastrophe. Three weeks
ago the agents of this building Were
notified to place a stairway in the rear
of the building, and also to build a
firewall around the freight eleva tor
shaft in the rear. The contrac tors
came and looked over the building,
but nothing was done"
Chief Musham of the fire department
said that in some ways 1t was the
worst fire he had attended during his
career as a fireman, and that so thick
was the smoke that II was impossf BILE
TO reach the imprisoned guests, who
died like rats in a cage.
THE building said the chief was
one Of the worst fire traps have ever
seen. The floors in places had era cks
in them large enough to drop a penny
through, and the smoke just sifted
through and suffocated the inmates Of
the rooms before they had time 10
make their way into the Railways"
jury was empaneled this after
noon by Coroner Traeger 10 ascertain
the causes Of the disaster and 10 fix
the guilt for negligence. After Viewing
the bodies Of the victims Of the FIRE
the fury went 70 the hotel, where an
examination was made Of the premises.
The Jurors were then dismissed 70
meet for the inquest which VIII begin
Dec, ~.
Al the conclusion of the inspection,
Coroner Traeger eaid,
THE IRE undoubtedly was caused