The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-02-26
HOTEL HORROR
At CEDAR RAPIDS
A Number of Persons Victims
of a Conhagration.
TOTAL LIST
OF DEAD MANY.
Heartrending Scenes Witnessed by
Vast Multitudes,
FRENZIED GUESTS
LEAPED TO GROUND.
Nettie Curns the Head Waitress, Was
the Last Individual to Leave
the Doomed Building
and She Scorched.

Cedar Rapids, Ia, Feb. .21.-Fifteen
or twenty persons were burned to
death, and twice that number serious
ly injured in a fire that destroyed the
Clifton hotel at 2 yesterday morn
ing.
There were 120 guests in the hotel
when. the fire broke out and most of
the dead are buried in the debris Ow-
ing to the destruction of the hotel reg
lister the names of the missing are
hard to obtain.
Fatally injured: l.. G. Burnet, Ne
braska City, badly burned. Nettie
Curns head waitress jumped from the
third story window. The fire original
ed in the basement, presumably from
an electric wire. Night Clerk Wilson
was on the third floor at the time The
flames were discovered by a bell boy
and had already gained considerable
Roadway. By the time the night clerk
had been notified and the work of
sounding the alarm had begun, escape
was cut off from the ground floor. In
stantly there were several faces at ev-
cry window. the guests being clad on
ly in night robes. and wildly calling for
help. The facilities of the fire depart
ment were meager and each moments
delay increased the panic that had al
ready prevailed. One after another Of
human forms were seen to hurl them
selves from the upper windows, and
were dashed against the pavements
Limbs were broken and the writhing
mass of humanity that rapidly accum-
ulated constituted a sickening sight
Those who jumped from the third
story windows had little hope of sur
viving the frightful leap. At the last
q few hesitated as the flames came
nearer and nearer. Nettie Curns was
the last to leave the burning structure
and had sustained terrible burns be-
fore she sprang from the window.
Outside the work of rescue was car
ried forward rapidly A vast crowd
was attracted by the flames and wildly
sought information concerning friends
In the burning structure. The hotel
was a seething furnace, and it was
impossible to attempt rescue by en-
tering the building. The Injured were
conveyed to adjoining business houses.
that had been converted as improvised
hospitals
i was early apparent that Burnet
and Miss Curns could not recover.
while the recovery of several others
Is doubtful
The fire department confined its eff
forts to preventing the spread of |
flames Several times the National ho- |
tel caught fire, but the flames there
were extinguished.
The state Young Mems Christian as
ISOLATION convention was in progress
IN Cedar Rapids at the time and the
district knights of Pythias' conven-
ton also. Delegates of these conven- /
tons constituted most of the Injured |
and missing. 1t was stated there must /
be fifteen or twenty bodies in the de-
bris. as large numbers of persons were
seen to fall back from the windows /
into the flames. The proprietors Of the
hotel also estimate there must be close
TO this number unaecounted for. The
work OF identification Of missing.
however. is necessarily difficult
Seriously injured: Conductor Struck
and Of the Northwestern, Clinton. Ia;
Jumped from second story. leg broken.
injured internally; E. C. Outing, Cen
.er Point, Ia, hands and arms burned:
= w. Bremen. Lyons, Ia, internal in
lurles; e. r. Moore. Chicago, liga-
nents OF leg torn; J. W. Winner, Wa
.erioe. Ia face burned; j. F. Ander-
son. Chicago. back strained; A. S.
Morrow. Boone. Ia. bruises; e. M.
Gardiner. WOODBURY.. Ia. head cut.
back injured.
Death List Is Nine