The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1903-02-28
FATAL HOTEL FIRE
NINE PERSONS LOSE LIVES
IN A TERRleLE BLAZE AT
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA.

Guests Are Forced to Jump From Sec
ond and Third Story Windows to
the Ground and Forty.two Receive
Serious Injuries-Register Is De
stroyed and Exact Number of Miss
Ing May Never Be Known.
Cedar Rapids, Ia, Feb. 21.-Nine
persons lost their lives and forty-two
were injured in a fire that destroyed
the Clifton hotel here early in the
day. The injured were scorched or
forced to jump to the frozen street
from second and third story windows
After an all day search in the debris
four bodies have been recovered. 1t
is now believed that five more bodies
remain in the ruins of the hotel, which
Is said to have been a flimsy structure
filled with delegates to the state
Young Mems Christian association
convention, and the district convention
of the Knights of Pythias. The hotel
register was destroyed, making it diff.
ficult to ascertain the number of miss.
ing persons. Forty men have been
working in the debris all day and will
continue to dig for the remains of the
burned persons all night. The loss is
100000. The dead are:
w. A. Mowery, Watcher, Ia; E.
G. Young, Minneapolis; two unidenti-
fed men, bodies recovered; five bodies
still in debris.
Fire Originated in Basement.
The fire originated 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 bellboy and had al
ready gained considerable headway.
notified and the work of sounding the
from the ground floor.
Instantly there were several faces
at every window of guests clad only in
their night robes, calling wildly for
help. The facilities of the fire depart
ment were meager and each moments S
delay increased the panic that already
prevailed. One after another the hu-
man forms were seen to hurl them
against the pavement below. Limbs
were broken and the writhing mass
OF humanity that rapidly accumulated
constituted sickening sight. Those
who jumped from the third story Win
dows had little hope Of surviving the
frightful leap, but few hesitated as
the flames came nearer and nearer.
The Work Of Rescue.
Miss Vina Burns 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 carried forward
rapidly. A vast crowd was attracted
by the flames and wilyly sought in
formation concerning friends in the
burning structure. The hotel was a
seething furnace and it was impossi-
BILE to attempt to rescue by entering
the building. The injured were con-
veyed to adjoining business houses
that had been converted into i'm
promptu hospitals. The fire depart
ment confined it's efforts to preventing
the spread Of the flames. Several
times the National hotel caught fire,
but the fire there was extinguished.
A number of the guests who were
able to converse calmly following their
escape declared that they stumbled
over PROSTATE bodies as they rushed
to the windows. The flames were lit
orally chasing them and the smoke
made it almost impossible to breathe.
Those who were first to escape,
where they were not too severely in
jured, stood for some time barefooted
in the snow, chained to the spot and
rendered unconscious of the cold by
the horror of the scene. Many of
them had to be led away,