The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-02-23

This passage was attended bv much
danger owing to the icy condition of
the roof.
Six alarms were turned in for the
fire, but in spite of quick response the
armory was soon doomed to destruc-
ton. The prevailing gale made it inn
possible to check the flames. Several
hundred pounds of ammunition stored
in the tower of the armory detonated
in a series of minor explosions, par
TALLY wrecl1ng the portion of the
walls near which it was stored. This
added terror and caused fear of great
er explosions to those who were fight
ing the flames.
1t was not until almost o'clock that
flames were discovered in the Park
Avenue Hotel, directly across from the
armory. Manager Reed of the hotel
had been on the roof watching the
fire in the armory with guests from
the hotel. He had descended to the
first floor and was standing talking to
a guest when a burst of flame came
up through the elevator shaft. I'm
mediately he ordered his men to go
through the hotel to give the alarm
The lights almost Immediately went
out and the hotel corridors were in
darkness. The flames leaped through
the elevator shaft upward and seemed
floors, filling the halls with dense
smoke and making exit by means of
the stairWays almost impossible.
Manager Reed ran up to the fourth
floor and there entered the elevator
which descended. He alighted at the
first floor and soon after the elevator
was a wreck.
IncOndiarism, Says Manager.
Various opinions were given as to
the origin of the fire in the hotel. The
manager claims that it was of incen-
diary origin. Others hold that the fire
originated from sparks from the burn
ing armory building swept by wind in
the direction of the hotel, descending
the air shaft, which was directly
alongside the elevator and igniting the
debris which was piled up in the base
ment and near the elevator shaft. The
idea of incendiary origin is secuted by
guests of the hotel and by Chief
Croker Another theory is that the fire
started on the fifth, and sixth floors
and thus resulted in the damage to
those floors more than to any other
portion of the building. The theory ad-
vanced by the majority as to the air.
shaft is confirmed by many of the fire
captains.
The flames mounted rapidly and the
fire extinguishers made little impress
sion. The guests on the fifth and sixth
floors had been aroused and those who
had not lost their heads started for
the stairways clad only in wrappers
and some with only sheets thrown
over them. Scores of people were taken
from the windows of the third, fourth
and fifth floors of the house by firemen
and by police, many of the rescued
being made hysterical from fright.
woman Leaped TO Death.
At the windows on the Park avenue
side of the hotel many persons ap-
peared. Women were screaming
frantically for help. A Mr.. and Mrs.
Bradley, guests of the hotel who were
to leave to-day on the transport Nc
Clellan for Manila, appeared at fifth
floor window on the Thirty-third street
side, screaming loudly. A Mrs. Char
lotte Bennett and her husband, of AL
ALBANIA, stood on the fifth floor on a
ledge directly over the portico and
main entrance of the hotel. Mrs. Ben
nett, evidently thinking that no one
was going to rescue her, struggled
from her husbands grasp and shout
ed that she was going to jump. The
firemen gathered in a circle below and
stretched out their arms. She broke
away from her husband and flung her
self out of the window while the flames
had almost enveloped her. She was
picked up and taken to Belle
vue Hospital. Her injuries are very
severe"
Her husband rushed into the hall and
made his escape, though ne was slightly
burned and almost overcome by smoke.
Col. Burdette's Fatal Leap.
Col Burdette, after making a des-
perate attempt to save his life, met
death in a shocking manner. His skull
was split open and he was found
shortly after o'clock lying in the
court yard of the hotel. He had fallen
six stories Col. Burdette was a guest
on the fifth floor of the hotel Soon
after the alarm of fire reached him all
escape was cut off. He dragged the
mattress from his bed and dropped it
to the roof of an extension over the
hotel dining room, three stories below
Then, by tying the sheets together he
made a rope and secured ii to the win
dow. His object was to land on the
mattress and thus break his fall. He
miscalculated his distance and fell to
the court.
Sad Death of "Tombs Angel
One of the saddest Incidents of the
fire was the death of Mrs. Salome
Foster, "the Tombs angel" who for
fifteen years has been in service in
behalf of female prisoners in the
Tombs and other city prisons. Mrs.
Foster was the widow of John w. Fos-
ter, and had lived for the last five years
at the Park Avenue Hotel. Her income,
which was at one time considered large,
was for the most part expended upon
IL.