The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-02-22
HOTEL GUESTS
MEET DEATH.
Park Avenue Hos elry in New
York Is Burned.
SCORES OF VICTIMS
Known Dead Fifteen and Twenty
three Injured.
FATAL LEAPS FROM WINDOWS
Col. Charles Burdett, One OF the
Killed, Originator of the Sig
nal Corps Of the Army.

Killed, Originator of the Sig
nal Corps OF the Army.
New York. Feb. 22.--Fire early this
Seventy-flrst regiment armory, this city,
caused the loss of fifteen lives, the injury
of twenty three others, and the destruction
Of property valued at $3.50, 900. The dead
persons were all guests of the hotel.
Flames were first discovered in the
armory, and forty-hve minutes later it
was found that the hotel was on fire. A
list Of the dead follows:
NORMAN ACTON. Alabama
COLONEL CHARLES L. BURDETT, Hart
ford, Conn. colonel First regiment of the
national guards Of that state.
MRS. ELLEN FOSTER. Tombs prison
missionary.
FRED S. HovEY. Lxonss N. Y.
THOMAS P. HORNE, Denver.
JOHN Fl. CURZON. Denver.
UNKNOWN WOMAN.
CHARLES UNDERWOOD O'CONNELL
died of his injuries in a. hospital
COLONEL ALEXANDER PIPER, u. IA,
retired, resident of the hotel.
G. A. ROBBINS, a lawyer of Selma, Ala. i
MISS ESTHER SCHLESINGER, Chicago.
JACOB SPAIN, a lawyer Of Rochester.
N. Y.
JOHN E. WALKER, Columbia, Tenn
WILLIAM H. BARNHART of Chicago. Mr..
| Barnhart had come to New York to take
charge of the furniture business OF q depart
| inent store.
UNKNOWN WOMAN. body found on the
sixth floor, wore five rings on the left hand.
MRS FOSTER, missionary to the Tombs
prison.
MAJOR JACOB SPAIN of Rochester. N. Y,
| lawyer.
| Admiral Miller Escapes.
Among those who escaped were Adj
miral Miller, U. s. N. (retired), Bishop
| Ludden, Monsignor Kenny and number
of Catholic priests from Syracuse. N. y;
James M. Payne of Connecticut and c. II.
Stockwell of Troy.
| Notwithstanding the fact that every
body in the hotel had ample time to get
out, it was necessary for the hremen to
carry large number OF women down the
ladders.
| fire was discovered bursting tHsEtssthe
roof Of the Seventy first regiment: afmory.
| The flames had gained tremendous mead
way, and by the time the firemen arrived
/ on the scene it was impossible to 90
{ anything toward saying the magnificent
building Several times flames were COM
municated to the car barns of the Met
! ropoitan Street Railway, but they were
successfully extinguished there.
The heat Of the burning armory be-
! came more and more intense and shortly
after 2 o'clock flames were discovered
| running along the windows and wood
| al nNrthPHSt
! corner of the Park Avenue Hotel, dag
onally across the street from the armory.
This was entirely unexpected and the po-
lice up to that time had bent their efforts
towards removing the inmates of ad-
| jacent houses on the cross streets
| Frightened occupants of the motel soon
appeared at every window, and many
were rescued by means of ladders set up
| by the fremen. In some unexplained
| manner fire got into the basement of the
elevator shaft and made its way thence
upward to the roof. Most of the dam
age to the hotel was done in rooms sur
rounding the elevator shaft.
| Ammunition Explodes.
| In the headquarters of the Fifth brigade
! in the Thirty-fourth street and Park aV-
enue quarter Of the armory, large
quantity of ammunition, both blank and
-bullet cartridges was stored. These
|
| added to the intense excitement.
Shortly after these explosions had
ceased the wall Of the Thirty-t third street
side fell inward. This crash was followed
by the explosion Of about 1000 pounds OF
I powder stored in the basement Of the
armory The defamation was terrific, but
| firemen had been warned of the danger
and none of them was injured.
! Ambulances were called from every hos
| pital in the district and the fremen turned
their entire attention to the hotel. A
| line of hose was quickly rushed up to the
third floor while scores of guests were
! taken from the windows by other fremen
on the outside. The fremen inside found
that the hotel was rapidly filing with
smoke and the hremen for time dropped
| their hose and hurried through every
portion of the building in search of
guests who might have been overcome by
! smoke.
| Scores Rescued.
| Their search was rewarded, for one
! nearly every floor and in the Railways
scores of persons We're found who had
been overcome before they could reach
the open air. Hospital records show that
twenty-six persons were taken to the
New York and Bellvue institutions.
Nearly double that number were injured
in their panic stricken endeavors to es-
cape and were given medical aid on the
! spot. OF the scores taken from the win
| dows Of the third, fourth and fifth floors
many were slightly burned and were hys-
terical from shock.
| OF the dead, three were women. Death
was caused by burns or suffocation with
one exception. A man jumped from the
fifth story window to the inner court.
| His skull was crushed and death was in
| stantaneous.
! When the fire started in the armory
scores of guests in the Park Avenue were
awakened by the clang of the engines
and crowded to the hotel windows. 1t
was about forty-five minutes after flames
were discovered in the armory before they
spread to the hotel, but in spite Of this
many Of the guests were in their rooms,
dressed in their night clothes and some of
them were in bed. The fremen, as soon
as they learned that the hotel was in
1 danger, decided to devote all of their eff
forts to the rescue of its occupants. Men
/. and women appeared at the windows of
the Park avenue side Of the hotel and
called for help.
Fell Seven Stories.
Colonel Charles I. Burdett of Connectf-
cut, met death in a terrible manner. His
body, with the skull split open. was found
lying In the courtyard within the hotel.
He had fallen seven stories. Colonel
! Burdett had room on the eighth floor