Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1902-12-12
FOURTEEN MEN PERISH ~ SUI.
! location IN "A CHICAGO
MOTEL FIRE.
Night Clerk Tries to Arouse Guests,
but the Smoke Was So Dense and
Increasing in Volume So Rapidly
. He Was Compelled to Desist-Fire
men Save Many Persons by Garry.
ina Them Down Ladders.

s o'clock in the Lincoln hotel, 176
Madison street. Thirteen of those
who lost their lives were stifled while
lying in their beds. One was taken
from the building before life was ex-
tinct, 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 veritable fire-trap and should
never have been used for hotel pur-
poses. Chief Musham declared that
there were such wide cracks in the
floor that the smoke poured through
the building in clouds, rendering es-
cape extremely difficult. There were
no fire escapes 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 q number of people slid
to the pavement after all escape ,hu
the stairway ha1 been Ut Of.
The dead are:
l. G. YOCUM, Davenport, la.
SAMUEL YOCUM. Davenport, Ia
A. B. COON, Marriage. Ill.
F. L. EWING, Marietta. O.
B. F. BOSWELL, Chicago.
T. V. SLOCUM, Waconda, Ill.
H. K. WOODS, Lebanon, Ind.
EDWARD TONER. Milwaukee.
F. w. COREY, Bucyrus. o.
WARD LOWREY, Sschlerville. Wis.
M. M. HARDY, Evansville, Wis.
c. p. COWAN, st. Louis.
GEORGE D. GRAVES, Chicago.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN.
The hotel was four stories in height
and contained an unusual number of
rooms for a hotel of it's size. After
the fire Chief Musham of the fire de-
partment declared that they we're 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 up
per floors of the hotel would have been
greatly increased.
Many Saved by the Fjremen.
F. A. Smith, proprietor of the hotel,
declared that there were as nearly as
he could judge without his books, I25
people in the hotel 1t was in fact
filed to it's utmost capacity, and
many applicants for rooms were
turned away the previous night with
the information that they could not be
accommodated. Night Clerk E. c.
G. Weber discovered the smoke pour
ing through the halls shortly before 6
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 unable to arouse all of
them, and was 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 the men,
turned back by the smoke in the hall
| way which prevented them from find
ing the stairs, swung down on the
ropes placed in the front of the build
! ing by the workmen who were erecting
the fire escape. The firemen, who ar
rived with great promptitude, saved
many lives by carrying people down
the ladders from the windows. The
| smoke on the inside of the building
was SO thick and so pungent that the
firemen were unable to do more than
to take the people from the windows
Those who were not able to reach
| the windows in few minutes after the
| fire broke out were suffocated A
| portion of the third and second floors
! were burned, and the blaze was extin-
guished within forty minutes after the
| first alarm. AS soon as the smoke
| permitted the firemen to live inside the
| building a careful search was made of
! all the rooms, with the result that thir-
| teen men were found to have been
stifled before they were able to leave
| their beds. All of the dead had rooms
on the third and fourth floors.
Of the people injured it was neces-
sary to take only three to the hospital.
The others. suffering from slight cuts
| and bruises or from the inhalation OF
| smoke, were cared for at neighboring
! drug stores and departed without
their names being reported to the po-
lice. One Of the injured taken to the
hospital is w. G.. Thomas of Cedar
Rapids, a., who was badly cut and
burned.