Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1902-02-14
HORROR IN ST, LOUIS.
The Empire Hotel Burns in the Mid
die of the Night.
Ten Men and One Woman Lose Their
Livcs-sevcrnI other Persons Are
Injured - Many Narrow Es-
cnpes Reported.

| hObtt, lai NuiCC-SbOiJ iObSihS
house at 2700 and 2702 Olive street,
caused the death OF II persons, ten
men and one woman, and dangerous
ly injured eight others. Ten or more
who had narrow escapes from death
in the fire were more or less injured
by being frost bitten. 1t is estimated
that there were between 35 and 40
persons in the building Saturday
night, and il is believed all have been
accounted for. The financial loss is
nominal. 1t is thought that $4,000
will cover the damage to building and
contents, which were totally de-
stroyed.
The Victims.
The dead are:
Morris Yall, senior member firm Yall,
Clark & Cowen, manufacturers of fine
cut glass; formerly of Chicago; burned to
q crisp
Tobe Davis, man about town. suffocated.
John C. Lueders. father of Deputy City
Marshal Leo Lueders, skull fractured in
jumping from third-story window.
George Thompson, swtchman Terminal
yards burned to death.
Sarah Harris, colored chambermaid,
burned.
b. f. woodley, employe Hamilton Brown
Shoe company, burned.
]. A. McMullen, carpenter, burned
S. I. Corey, telegraph operator, Mer-
chants Terminal association.
Vance Marlin, hosting engineer, Green
field, o., burned.
A. ]. Allen, Sedalia, Mo, stonemason
burned.
Unknown man, who died at city hospital
from burns.
Five men are missing.
The injured: Harry Cline, medical stu
haS htar, ,ad
and ankle sprained; Walter Johnson, en-
ploye Hamilton-Brown Shoe company,
hands burned, both legs broken, and in
1ured Internally; Henry Robinson (colored),
night porter, badly burned: George Lane,
medical student, of Rich Hill, Mo-, ankle
sprained in jumping from secondstory
WINDOW; = Sturgeon, dental student, back
sprained In jumping from second-story WIN
dow; Harry Thompson, medical student,
Nashville, ILL.,, ankle sprained In jumping
from second-story window; ]. j. Lally
manager Empire hotel, back badly sprained
while escaping from building; Con Ryan,
burned about face. About ten or twelve
others less seriously injured, being bruised,
burned or suffering from exposure.
Soon n Seething Furnace.
The fire started about $3.50 a. M,
when but few persons were abroad,
and gained considerable headway be-
fore it was discovered and the alarm
given. There was considerable delay
| in turning in an alarm, and when the
. engines finally reached the scene the
, whole front of the building was in
flames and the interior was a seeth-
ing furnace. BY that time all who
. escaped death had gotten out of the
building by jumping from the win
{ dows and climbing down ropes made
of bed clothes. A few escaped from the
ground floor through the front door.
Some of the escapes were very mar
, row. Almost everybody who got out
suffered some injury or was frost
bitten. The guests barely had time
, to get out when aroused, the flames
! had spread so rapidly. Some saved
, their clothing, which they carried in
their hands, but others were not so
fortunate, losing everything. After
some delay nearby houses were
-, opened to the unfortunates, and they
:, were given shelter from the biting
= cold weather. 1t was one of the cold
r est nights of the winter, the ground
being covered with ice and snow, and
everyone suffered from exposure. The
a suffering ones were put under the
: care of physicians.
-. Bodies Found.
After short fight the firemen got
!. the flames under control and, assist
Z ed by the police, made a search OF
+ the ruins. The first body found was
;. that of John C. Lueders, who was
d killed by jumping from the third
n story. His head was crushed in
9 The body of Lueders and those OF
g the others found later We're taken
d to the morgue, where friends and
O relatives later identified them. Sarah
t Harris was found on the first floor
s Marrow Escapes.
l. r. A. Woolsey, medical student
e whose home is in Galesburg, Ill.,, had
e a room on the second floor. Finding
C the regular exits cut off, he slid tc
the ground safely with the aid OF
two sheets tied together. Harry
o Cline, of Marion, ILL.,, who is n stu
J. dent in the medical department ot
l. Washington university, had a narrow
1t escape from death. He roomed OF
a the second floor with Harry Thomp
= son, of Nashville, ILL.,, a student al
r the same college. Cline was aroused
l. by cries of fire. He awakened Thomp
l. son, and together they attempted tc
escape through the hall. They found
d the stairway on fire and the hal
IT filled with smoke and flames, which
y drove them to the window in theil
1t room. Thompson jumped first ant
If hurt his ankle, but before Cline coulc
ID get out the flames burned him ter
4 ribly about the hands, with which h,
's shielded his face. He is now at tn,
b. hospital suffering from his burns ant
badly-sprained ankle.
= Galveston Bankrupt