The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1902-02-28

found the body of an unknown
|. elderly lady. It was found near
the elevator shaft and was so badly
burned @as to be almost "unrecogniz-
able. Charles U: O'Connor and Fred
S. Holly died of their injuries in the
hospital to which they were taken.
Their deaths and the finding of the
unidentified woman increased the
number of knownsdead to IS. One of
the bodies awaiting Identification was
recognized by Henry Newman, of
this CITY,, as that of his niece, Miss
Esther Schlesinger, of Chicago, who
had come to New York to buy goods
for her employers in that city.
Rear Admiral Miller Not Hurt.
Rear Admiral Joseph N. Miller, re-
tired, who was reported mortally
hurt in the fire.. was not hurt at all.
He was found by a reporter at ten
o'clock in the morning and said he
was in his usual health.
Mrs. Reed, wife of the hotel pro-
prietor, was rescued early and taken
to neighboring residence. Later
search was made for her, and when
she could not be found there were
fears that she had persisted. She
was not hurt.
How the fire started in the hotel
is a mystery. Many of the police
and fire officials declare that in their
opinion the blaze in the hotel was
entirely independent of that at the
armory; that it was only a coinci-
dence that the two fires occurred so
near together.
Explosions in the ArmOry.
In the headquarters of the Fifth
brigade, in the Thirty-fourth street,
and Park avenue quarter of the
armory, large quantity of ammuni-
ton, both blank and bullet cartridges,
was stored. These cartridges soon
began to explode and added to the in
tense excitement. Shortly after these
explosions had ceased the wall of the
Thirty-third street side fell inward.
This crash was followed by the ex-
plosion of about 1000 pounds of pow
der stored in the basement of the
armory. The defamation was terrific,
but fremen had been warned of the
danger and none of them were in
jured. Ambulances were called from
every hospital in the district, and the
firemen turned their entire attention
to the hotel. A line of hose was
quickly rushed up to the third floor,
xyb i1a Sonrac Of &c L fro,,,
the windows by other fremen on the
outside. The fremen inside found
that the hotel was rapidly filing with
smoke and the, firemen for a time
dropped their hose and hurried
through every portion of the build
ing in search of guests who might
have been overcome by smoke. Their
search was rewarded. for on nearly
every floor and in the Railways scores
of persons were found who had been
overcome before they could reach the
open air.
Cause of the Fire.
It was established with a fair de-
fire at the Park Avenue hotel orig
mated at the base of the north eleva-
tor shaft. From this point it crept
up to the fifth and sixth floors and
spread in every direction, completely
quitting the upper floors.
Police Captain Delaney said that
when he was notified that the hotel
was afire there was no thought of
the structure being endangered from
the armory blaze.
The Park Avenue hotel was built
by A. r. Stewart, who spent $3,00O,-
900 on it's construction and furnish
ings. The building occupies the en-
tire front of the block on Park ave-
nue. from Thirty to Thirty
third streets, with depth of half
block. 1t is seven stories in height
and encloses on four sides a court
containing $4,000 square feet of space.
At the time of it's construction it was
the largest hotel in the country
with the exception of the Palace
hotel of San Francisco.
Mr.. Stewart designed the hotel
originally as a home for working
women, but when it was found that
it could not be managed on the plan
adopted by it's founder, it was con-
verted into a commercial and family
hotel