The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-02-20
Near a Score of Persons Lose
Their Lives
In a Hotel Fire at Cedar Rapids,
Iowa.
BROKE OUT IN NIGHT.
Started in Basement From Elec-
tric Light Wire.
Escape From Upper Stories Was
Quickly Cut Off.
Many Leaped From Windows
and We're Badly Hurt.
FELL BACK IN FLAMES
Many We're Seen to Tumble
Backward from Windows.
Register Was Destroyed MAX
ing Names Hard to Obtain.
FELL BACK IN FLAMES
Many We're Seen to Tumble
Backward from Windows.
Register Was Destroyed Max
ing Names Hard to Obtain.

Des Moines. Ia, Feb 20.-Fifteen to
20 persons We're burned to death and
twice that number seriously injured in
the fire that destroyed the Clifton hotel
at Cedar Rapids at o'clock this morn
ing There were 120 guests ia the hotel
when the FIRE broke out and most of
the dead are buried in the debris. Owing
to the destruction of the hotel register.
the names of the missing are hard to
obtain.
THE FATALLY INJURED.
J.. G.. Burdett, Nebraska City badly
burned
Nettie Curns. head waitress; jumped
from third story.
FATALLY INJURED.
Vina Burns. head waitress. jumped
from third story.
L. c. Burnett, Nebraska City. Neb.,
badly burned
THE SERIOUSLY INJURED.
Cinda Williams, waitress, face badly
burned, leg injured.
Lizzie Kelly, waitress
T. c. Outing. Center Point, left arm
sprained, hands burned.
Emma Smith. waitress.
H. w. Bremen, Lyons, Ia.
Z. r. Moore. Chicago.
Beatrice Netolicky. Shueyvilie. Ia
j. C. W1nnger. Waterloo Ia, face
burned and right wrist sprained.
j. T. Anderson. Chicago, back
A. S. Farrow. Boone. Ia
r. c. Gardiner, Woodburn.
ID. F. Taylor. Davenport. head injured,
elbow fractured, hip injured and body
Louis Thompson. Cedar Rapids. badly
burned.
A. NJ Larsen. Oelwein. foot bruised
and lungs burned.
c. w. Roberts. Cedar Rapids. Ia.
L. O. Vernon, Della, Ia, cut and right
side burned.
May Reel waitress. badly burned.
M. p Hoover, Tama, Ia.
i. J. Daley, Canton. Ill
J. A. Eylar, Davenport. slightly hurt.
G. l. Benedict. body burned
ID. r. Hawes. Decorah Ia
f. O. RedmOn mail clerk, Tama. Ia
u. ID. Templeton. Monticello, Ia
George Iaggart St Paul, hands and
face burned
Jim Lewis. colored porter. slight
John w. Lewis, OttumWa, bruised, not
seriously
j. NJ Dunbar, Monticello.
Dr. S. c. Grove, Cedar Rapids terri
bly, burned while hanging to fire escape;
probably fatal.
F. e Strickland, Clinton, Ia. jumped
from third story window; leg broken
and injured internally. probably fatal
Celia Williams, waitress, badly in
G. r. Hamburg. Leroy MINI, limbs
badly burned.
r. G. McConahy. Aurora, HI, hands
and face burned
o j. Lamb Center Park Ia seriously
burned.
g. F. KAISER. Walker. Ia. face and
hands burned
O. A. Reeseman, Independence. Ia.
legs and arms sprained by jumping
from top floor. Struck wires and land
ed in a snow bank.
&. A Chase, hands injured
ORIGIN OF THE FIRE
The fire originated i'm the basement
presumably from an electric wire
Night Clerk Wilson was on the third
floor a { the time. The flames were dis
covered by bell boy and had already
gained considerable headWay- BY the
time the night clerk had been notified
and the work Of sounding the alarm
had begun. escape was cut off from the
sround floor.
Instantly there were several faces at
every window, of guests clad only in
their night robes, wildly calling for he
The facilities of the fire department
were meagre and each moments delay
increased the panic that already pre-
vailed
One after another the human forms
were seen to hurl themselves from the
windows and dash against the pave
Inent below. Limbs were broken and
the writhing mass of humanity that
rapidly accumulated constituted sick
ening sight Those who jumped from
of surviving the frightful lean but few
hesitated as the flames came nearer and
nearer.
Miss Nettie Curns was the last to
leave the burning structure and had.
sustained terrible burns before she
sprang from the window sill on which
she had sought refuge.
Outside the work of rescue was car
rled forward rapidly. A vast crowd had
been attracted by the flames and wildly
sought information concerning friends
In the burning structure. The hotel
was a furnace and it was impossible to
attempt to rescue by entering the build
ing
the injured were conveyed to adjoin-
ing business houses that had been con-
Ferted into impr0vlsed hospitals 1t was
early apparent that Burdette and Miss
Curns could not recover. while the re-
covery of several oGsars was doubtful
The fire department confined its efforts
to preventing the spreading of the
flames. Several times the National hotel
caught fire, but the fire there was ex-
tinguished.
The state Y. NJ. C. A. convention was
an progress i'm Cedar Rapids at the time
and district knights of Pvthias con-
vention. Delegates to these conventions