The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-02-25
EIGHTEEN LIVES LOST IN PARK
AVENUE HOTEL.
THE HOUSE WAS CROWDED
Went Out and Bewildered
Guests Jumped From Windows
or Rushed into Flames.

time since New Years day Park ave-
nue., this city, was the scene of loss
of human life. First was the collision
in the New York Central tunne1 at
~Fifty-sixth street and Park avenue;
second came the dynamite explosion
in the Rapid Transit subway at Forty
first street, and the third, today, was
a fire which started in the Seventy
first Regiment armory at Thirty-third
street and then spread to the Park
Avenue hotel, where IS persons were
killed and many injured. 1t wa sthe
worst hotel fire since the Windsor
was destroyed.
The following list Of per-
sons who lost their lives in the Park
avenue fire or who died from injuries
received in it was compiled late to-
night:
Acton, Norman, died in Bellevue
hospital. lived in Colorado Springs,
millionaire mine owner.
Burdett, Colonel Chas. L.. Hartford.
Conn.,, commander of the First Regi-
ment Connecticut Volunteers, killed
by fall in fire.
Bernhard, William j., IS years old,
killed in hotel, home Chicago.
Bernhardt, Mrs. VIM. j., died in
Bellevue hospital.
Conrad, Lee G., 81 years old, drafts
man of this city.
Hovey, Fred S., 35 years old, of
Lyons, N. Y. died at West Thirtieth
street station house.
Hames, J. R. (not certain, may be
Thomas Horne) lived in Denver, Colo,
and was an agent of the H. B.. Claf1in
company.
Ivison. John. died in hotel. lived in
Denver. Col e, agent of H. 3. Claflin
& Co.
Ligget, Minnie E.. 40 years old,
dressmaker of Denver, Colo, where
she was employed by Daniels & Fisher
company.
McManus, Mrs. J.
O'Connell. Captain Charles Under
wood, died in New York hospital, was
formerly clerk in supreme court.
Ribins, Ex-Congress CASTOR A.. of
Savannah. Ga.
Schlessinger. Esther. SO years old.
of Chicago, buyer.
SPAIN, Jacob, so years, Rochester,
New York.
Walker, John G.. 35 years I'D. Of
Columbia. Tenn.
Piper, Colonel Alexander NJ. U. S.
A. retired, 70 years old.
Foster, Mrs. Salome, known as "The
Tombs Angel"
Unidentified body Of woman. may
be that of wife of Rev. William 5.
Bordman. who is a patient in Belle
vue.
This list Of Is may be cut to II, as
one body has been identified as that
Of William J. Bernhard and as that
Of Lee G. Conrad.
The fire was first seen at about 100
in the morning, in the armory, and in
a remarkably short time that building
was afame from end to end, the fire
men made their way as best they
could through the streets, deep with
slush and did all possible to confine
the fire to the armory, but after they
had been at work nearly an hour the
discovery was made that the hotel was
on fire. The hotel was crowded with
guests who had come to attend the
festivities in honor of Prince Henry.
More than 500 persons were in the
house. The fire was confined princi-
pally to the fifth and sixth floors near
the elevator shaft. About the time the
hotel was found to be on fire the
lights went out and the corridors were
filled with smoke. The guests, unable
to find their way through the darken-
ed hallway jumped from windows or
ran directly into the flame swept por-
tons of the building. 1t is this fact
that accounts fOrthe large loss of life,
although the hotel was not destroyed.
Inc IRE III lHe dlHlOly Stdfleu Oh
the third floor, on the Thirty-third
street side, where there was a tier of
rooms occupied by the different COM
panies of the regiment. Within five
minutes the whole structure was be-
yond saving and 10 minutes later the
roof fell in with a terrific crash. There
was no one in the armory at the time
except a %janitor and his family. They
escaped by going through a scuttle
hole in the roof and thence along the
battlements on the Thirty-fourth
street side to safety or the roofs of
houses to the east. This passage was
attended by much danger owing to