The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-05
Fire Escape Was Incomplete, and
Exit by the Single Narrow Stairway
Was Soon Cut on by FIame&
ONE VICTIM FROM INDIANA
HENRY X. WOOD, OF BOONE COUNTY
AMONG THOSE WHO PERISHED.
One of the Injured n Resident of Leb-
mount-A Panicky Scene.

CHICAGO, Dec. 4.-Fourteen men met
death by suffocation this morning in fire
which occurred at o'clock in the Lincoln
Hotel, No 17s Madison street. Thirteen of
those who lost their lives were stihed while
lying in their beds One was taken from
the building before life was extinct but
died in the ambulance on the way to the
nearest hospital.
Coroner Traeger, after inspecting the
building. united with Fire Chief Musham
in declaring that the building was a verita-
BILE trap and never should have been used
for hotel purposes. Chief Musham declared
that there were such wide cracks in the
floors that the smoke poured through the
building in clouds. rendering escape ex-
tremely difficult for those on the upper
floors.
There was no fire escape on the front Of
the building, although one was in process
of construction. The scaffolding was up
and from it dangled several ropes, down
which a number of people slid to the pave
ment after all escape by the stairway had
been cut off,
The Dead
L. c. YoCUM. fire insurance agent. prom
inent in Davenport.
SAMUEL YOCUM. son of /. c. Yocum,
Davenport, Ia
A. b. COON. lawyer. Marengo. Ill.
F. L. EWING. mail clerk. Marietta. o.
b. F. BOSWELL. Chicago.
T. v. sLOCUM, machine dealer. Waucon-
da. Ill.
HENRY K. WOODS. farmer. Lebanon.
Ind.
EDWARD TONER. printer. Milwaukee.
F. W. COREY, twenty-nine years of age,
railway postal clerk, Bucyrus. o.
WARD LOWE, railway postal clerk,
Seechlerville. Wis.
L. L. HARDY travelling salesman. James
vile, Wis.
C.. p. COwAN. collector on the Wabash
Railroad st. Louis.
GEORGE b. GRAVES. compositor. Chi
cago.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN, five feet eight
inches. 165 pounds. forty-five years old. thin
brown hair and mustache-
The Injured
J. s ALLISON. Richland Center, Wis
cut about the hands.
EDWARD DAVENPORT. Chicago. in
5ujured internally by jumping from fourth
story to roof OF adjoining building.
w. G. THOMAS. Cedar Rapids, Ia. bad
ly cut and burned.
Ia, bruised by falling down stairs.
MRS. JUNE SHEPHERD, Chicago, back
strained. arms and hands cut and bruised.
ROBERT c. HAMILTON. Lebanon, Ind.
hands cut.
CLIFF WARD. Battle Creek Mich. cut
about head and hands lacerated.
FRED c. BAKER, Nashville. Mich, feet
burned.
IRWIN wEsTERLAND. Chicago. feet
burned.
oLoF oLDoRF. Chicago. hands lace
rated.
ROOMS WE'RE SMALL.
The hotel was four stories in height and
contained an unusual number of rooms for
hotel of its size. After the fire Chief
Mursham of the fire department. declared
that they were the smallest rooms he had
ever seen in any building. Had there been
fewer partitions. he declared. the chances
OF life for those sleeping on the upper
floors Of the hotel would have been greatly
increased.
Night Clerk z. c. Weber discovered the
smoke pouring through the halls shortly
before o'clock, and did his best to alarm
the guests. but the smoke was so dense and
increased in volume so rapidly that he was
able to arouse only a 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
escaped without serious injury. A number
OF men. turned back by the smoke in hall
ways, which prevented them from finding
the stairs. swung down on the ropes placed
In the front of the building by the work.
men who were erecting the fire escape
The fremen, VINO arrived with great
promptitude. saved many lives by carrying
Ia fheaI IQd
The smoke on the inside of the building
was thick and so pungent that the fire
men were unable TO do more than take the
people from the windows. Those who were
not able TO reach the windows in a few min.
utes after the fire broke out were suffo
Gated The fire in itself amounted to yer,
little A portion OF the third and SECOND
floors burned and the blaze was ex
tinguished within forty minutes after IN,
first alarm As soon as the smoke per
mitted the hremen 10 live inside the build
Ing a careful search was made OF all tn,
rooms with the result that thirteen mer
were found TO have been stified before the,
had been able TO leave their beds. All O
the dead had rooms on the third and fourth
floors.
GUESTS FROM OUT OF TOWN.
All but fourteen OF the guests at the hote
were out-of-town persons Most of then
came TO Chicago TO attend the internationa
live stock show Up to 10 o'clock las
night guests were taken in at the hotel
and in every room or place in which CO
could be erected IL is said they were &C
commodated. The hotel was filled. A
that time a large number OF stock mel
with their families were turned away.
Shortly after the fre broke out the fire
rushed up the stairway into the plac
and began the work OF rescue. Men. WON
en- and children were carried down ladders
IRE escapes and smoke-filled halls. In on
instance a fireman OF engine company Nc
2 saved a woman from running 10 the rea