The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-21
Two Fatally Injured and
TWo-Score Injured.
HOTEL DESTROYED
BY FIERCE FLAMES
Many of Those Who Escaped Death
! Owed Their Lives to the Telegraph
Wires, Which Broke Their Fall.
Shout Of Fire Was Followed
by atStampede for
the Windows.
tBy Associated press.)

(By Associated Press.)
CEDAR RAPIDS, la. February 90
Fire early this morning destroyed the
Clifton Hotel, cremated t1ine OF the
guests and caused injuries to forty-two
persons. who were scorched or forced to
Jump to the frozen street from second
and third story windows. After an all.
day search In tho debris. four bodies have
been recovered. It is now beloved that
fave more bodies remain In the ruins OF
the hotel. which is said to have been
himsy structure and filled With delegates
to the State Young Mems Christian AS.
ISOLATION convention and the district con.
vention OF tho knights Of Pythias. Thu
hotel register was destroyed. thus max
ing It difficult to ascertain the number
Of missing persons. Forty men have
will continue to dig for tho remains OF
the burned persons all night. Tho loss
is $4,000.
The dead:
w. A. MOWDRY. What Cheer. Ia
e. G. YOUNG. Arlnneap potts.
TWO UNIDENTIFIED MEN. bodies
recovered
FIVE BODIES STILL IN DEBRIS.
Nearly all those injured were young
people. While their, injuries are severe in
many cases. no one Is fatally hurt
BURNED LIKE FINDER.
The work of learning the names OF the
dead Is rendered difficult by the loss OF
the hotel register, which was burned. The
hotel, three-story brick veneer struc-
ture. Is said to have been q veritable
fire trap. The flames started In pile Of
rubbish in the basement, presumably ig-
l!ted by detective electric light wires.
The night clerk was on the third floor
when the cry Of fire, raised by a bell boy.
startled him. He took up the cry, and
in an instant the Railways were choked
With frightened guests. A rush was made
fer the stairways. 1t was then that the
crowd already collected In the street
heard heart-rending cries of anguish and
desperation, for the fire. feeding ravenous-
~ on the tlnder-1ike material Of the lower
floor. had completely cut of escape.
There followed a stampede for the Win
dows, the only means OF escape left. The
street below was filled with a crowd
scarcely less frantic than the despairing
ones In the fast burning building. Tho
victims were literally driven by the flames
to jump. Nearly every one Of them lin
gercd to the last moment. urged by the
people below to walt as long as possible
| III tIle nope Ol assistance. ! HeU Il cry
would tell that the fire had some one or
| tie smoke had made It impossible to
| breathe, and one after another jumped
to the street, and some. more fortunate.
to the roofs of buildings adjoining.
| MANNED AND DYING.
In short space of time the street was
| filled with men and women. bruised. bat
tered, broken-limbed and half crazed. All
were in their night garments. In an hour
| ST. Luke's Hospital contained fifteen In.
| jured, while many more, chiefly those
| who had escaped with compare lively
! slight hurts. were being cared for In
! buildings near the scene OF the tragedy.
| Some who jumped owe their lives to the
| fact that their falls were broken by the
| telegraph wires. which interposed in their
| downward flight
| number Of the guests who were able
to converse calmly following their escape
declared that they stumbled over pros
trate bodies as they rushed to the win
dows The flames literally were chasing
them and the smoke made 1t almost I'm
possible to breathe.
/ The proprietor of tho hotel placed his
estimate Of the number Of people In the
building when the alarm was raised al
between seventy and eighty. Many OF
| them were delegates to the State conven-
t'oE Of the Young Mems Christian Asso.
ciation, which began here yesterday.
Those who were first to escape. where
they Were not too severely injured, stood
for some time barefooted In the snow,
chained to the spot and rendered uncon-
scicus Of the cold by tho horror OF the
I scene. Many of them had to be led away.