Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1902-12-11

SUFfOCATED IN BED.
Fourteen Men Lose Their Lives In
4 Hotel Fire.
TIE PLACE AVERITABLE DEATH TRAP


Chicago, Dec. S.-Fourteen men met
death BY sutfocation yesterday
morning in a fro which occurred ct
six o'clock in the Lincoln hotel, ITO
Madison street. Thirteen Of those
who lost their lives were stihed
while lying in their beds. Ono was
taken from the building before life
was extinct, but died in the am
bulance on the way to the nearest
hospital.
Coroner Traeger, after inspecting
the building, united with Fire Chief
Musham in declaring that the build
ing was a veritable trap and never
should have been used for hotel pur-
poses. Chief Musham declared that
there were such wide cracks in the
floors that the smoke poured through
the building in clouds, rendering es-
cape extremely difficult for those Oh
the upper floors. There was no fire
escape on the front Of the building,
although one was in process of con.
struction. The scaffolding was up
and from 1t dangled several ropes,
down which number Of people slid
to the pavement, after all escape by
the stairway had been cut off.
The hotel was four stories In
height and contained an unusual
number of rooms for hotel Of its
size. After the fire Chief Musham,
Of the fire department, declared that
they were the smallest rooms he had
ever seen in any building. Had
there been fewer partitions, he de-
clared, the chances Of life for those
sleeping on the upper floors Of the
hotel would have been increased.
F. A. Smith, proprietor Of tho hc-
tel, declared that there were, as
nearly as he could Judge without his
books, about l25 people In the hotel.
II was, In fact, filed to its utmost
capacity and many applicants for
rooms were turned away Wednesday
night with the information that they
could not be accommodated.
Night Clerk Z. c. Weber discov.
cred the smoke pouring through the
halls shortly before six o'clock and
did his best to alarm the guests, but
the smoke was SO dense and In
creased in volume so rapidly that he
was unable to arouse only . small
number and was then compelled to
grope his way to the street to avoid
suffocation.
The guests came pouring down the
one stairway Of the building in all
stages Of undress and several leaped
from the windows Of the second
story to the sidewalk below and e.
capped without serious injury. A
number Of men turned back by the
smoke in Railways which prevented
them from finding the stairs swung
down on the ropes placed In the
front of the building by tho worls
men who were erecting the fire es
capes. The fremen, who arrived
with great promptitude, saved many
lives by carrying people down the
ladders from the windows. The
smoke on the inside of the building
vas SO thick and SO pungent that
vnc nremen were UNABLE TO 10 NOR,
than take the people from the win
dows. Those who were not able tc
reach the windows In few minutes
after the fire broke out were suffo
Gated. The fire in itself amounted
to very little. A portion Of the third
and second floors was burned and
the blaze was extinguished within
40 minutes after the first alarm
As soon 40 the smoke permitted the
flremen to 60 inside the building q
careful search was made Of all the
rooms, with the result that 10 meu
were found to have been stiAed be-
fore they had been able to leave
their beds. All Of the dead had
rooms on the third and fourth floors
The building was some time age
condemned by the city building in
spectors as unsafe for hotel pus'
poses and the owners were three
weeks ago ordered to place a stair
way In the rear and also to build
a Ere escape on the front Of the
building. Beyond the preliminary
work for the fire escape nothing had
been done, however.
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