The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1902-02-22
Park Avenue Hotel.
Filled With Guests.
Destroyed by Fire.
SEVBNTY-FIRET'S ARHORY BURNED
Explosion Wrecked Military
Building and Fires
the Hotel.
THE FIREMENPOWERLE
Blaze started in the Armory and
Were Made TO COnhne It.


imeut ArmOry, al Thirty-f0urth Street
+ and Park Avenue. and the Park Avenue
Hotel, at Tbirty-third street and Park
Avenue. and took the lives Of fifty or sixty
I persons-an Of them guests OF employees
Of the hotel
Among those known 70 be dead o. IA
tally injured are:
Admiral Miller L. 5. n. retired.
Abraham Pepper. Louisville, Ky.
Started IA the AFmOry.
The eoRnagration started in the ar
mOry. and was discovered shortly after
o'clock; and Immediately It was diseov-
cred a general alarm was sent in.
To this alarm the department made
speedy response. but in spite Of their
haste. the big granite structure was en-
veloped in flames before the aremen
reached the scene
Albeit, an endeavor to conhne The FIRE
to the armOry was put under way By the
fremen- and for time il looked as though
the effort would be successful
Flames Began 10 Spread.
This hope. however began. after a lit
tie while. 70 fade. and messages Of warn
ing we're sent 10 the hoteI-in which
building there were. at the tine. some
six hundred guests
Meanwhile streams were turned upon
the hotel by the hrenen, and every pre-
caution taken TO prevent its ignition.
Great flames were then aaring from the
armoFy roof and windows. casting an in
tense and highly dangerous heat uDou sd-
joining structures. and as many as eleven
streams were being thrown upon the hotel
b. the hremen to prevent thai building
from kindling.
Ammunition ExpIOdes.
This critical situation lasted for a con-
siderable period. and then the flames ex-
ploded ammunition stored in the armory.
Whereupon the outer walls Of the armorv
fell with crash. and the fire redoubled
IFS energy. and despite all opposition.
crossed 10 the hotel
AT the third floor OF that structure the
through the upper stories and 10 the roof
The march Of these flames the fremen
made desperate efforts to stop. rushing
in time after time TO combat them az close
quarters. and time after time they we're
driven back and their endeavcrs made
utterly useless.
Panic in the Hotel.
Meanwhile, beginning an instant after
the explosion in the armory and the igui-
tion OF the hotel. and continuing while
the hremen battled. there was a panic
among the hotel guests. They. these
guests, began to wildly rush 20 and fro N
search Of safety. and dozens Of them
poured excitedly out into the streets.
adding excitement to the already exCis5s
and immense crowd which had gathered
10 watch the splendid and terrible work
Of destruction.
Bishop Sudden. Mgr. Kennedy. and a
number OF Catholic priestC from Syraec-a:
James n Payne, Of Connecticut. and C.
N. StOckweI OF Troy. \. Y. were among
those who thus escaped.
Vninly Seeking 90 Escape.
While these dozens were pouring into
thc street. up in the hotel there we're
others who were dashing vi .dIy about.
unable to find the direction in which
safety lay. The crowd in the street saw
the figures OF two men appear far up on
the roof and plunge down to ne side
walk. one OF them was dead before he
could be picked up. and the other viii
q ia rrFfh = .rT
his companion are.
Then. a few minutes later. q woman.
clad only in nightdress. Ieape9 r-t OF a
ffth-story window ara struck on The por-
ticO over the main entrance With thud
that fatally injured her.
Admiral Miller Found
Later on, hremen discovered an uncon-
sciOus figure in one Of the halls. and TOOK
IT out, and thereupon discovered it. tho
figure. to be Admiral Miller. L. :. y. re-
tired. He had passed unscathsd through
the great Windsor Hotel FIRE in 1893. ard
through the recent tTnneI explosion. and
then, IN trying to escape death n the
Park Avenue Hotel flames. had been
/ overcome, and viii, Il is thought die
After Admiral Miller was found four
I other bodies. all dead, were discovered,
and taken out. One OF them was Identi-
I fed as Abram Pepper. Of Louisville.
Including these. fifty or sixty people.
in the opinion OF Fire Chief Croker, per-
! ished in the hotel
! The flames were under control shortly
/ after o'clock. The armory was COM
pIetely destroyed and the hoteI prae,i-
/ caliy so.