Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-21
Many Escape Flames Only to Meet Death Oh
Pavement Below.
T. N. C. A. DELEGATES AMONG VICTIMS
Young Men Attending State Convention
Caught in Holocaust,
NEBRASKA CITY SOLDIER BOY WILL DIE
Philippine veteran Faces Bullets, hut
succumbs to Fierce Flames While
Peacefully Selling Hides
as Drummer.

according to the best information obtainable |
under diffieulties, we're lost in fire which /
this morning destroyed the Clifton hotel in |
this city.
The FIRE started at 2:30 and at 10
the smouldering debris furnished so |
fierce heat that search for bodies was
impossible The list of the dead may prove |
longer than the number given, but it is
hoped that the information which accounts |
for all but this number is correct.
Two persons we're fatally injured and |
forty-two more hurt more or less severely. |
mostly by jumping from windows. The |
work OF Identification is complicated by |
the loss OF the hotel register. which was
burned.
Hotel f. a Fire Trap.
The hotel. three-story veneer struc-
ture, is said to have been a veritable ire |
trap. The flames started in pile Of rub
bish In the basement, presumably ignited |
by defective 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 we're choked with |
frightened guests rush was made for |
the stairways. II was then that the crowd
already collected in the street heard heart |
rending cries Of anguish and desperation,
tinderlike material Of the lower floor. had
completely cut off escape.
There followed a stampede for the win
dows, the only means of exit left. The
street below was now filled with a crowd
scarcely less frantic than the despairing
ones in the fast burning building.
Like n Picture of Inferno.
'It was like Dore picture Of Inferno !
sprung to life" said one spectator in de-
scribing the scene THE flames, looking
blood-red from reflection against the snow.
1T up the pale, drawn faces OF the people
in the windows, with a glow that was
unearthly."
The victims we're literally driven by the
flames to jump. Nearly every one OF them
fingered to the last moment, urged by the
ueople below TO wait as long as possible in
the hope Of assistance Then a cry would
tell that the 6re had reached them or the
smoke had made II impossible to breathe.
an6 one after another jumped, >some to the
street and some, more fortunate, to the
roofs of buildings adjoining. In a short
space of time the street was filled with
men and women, bruised and battered, with
broken limbs and half crazed All we're in
their night garments.
In an hour st. Luke's hospital contained
fifteen injured, while many more, chiefly
those who had escaped with comparatively
slight hurts, were being cared for in build
ings near the scene of the tragedy.
Some who jumped owe their lives to the
fact that their falls were broken by tele-
graph wires which interposed in their down
ward flight. A number Of the guests who
were able to converse calmly following their
escape declared that they had stumbled over
prostrate bodies as they rusned TO the win
dows.
Literally Chased by Flames.
The flames literally we're chasing them.
and the smoke made II almost impossible
to breathe. The proprietor of the hotel
placed his estimate of the number OF people
in the building at between seventy and
eighty. Many Of them we're delegates to the
state convention of the Young Mems Chris
tian association, which began here yester-
day. Those who were first to escape, where
they we're not too severely injured. stood
for some time baretooted in the snow,
chained to the spot and rendered uncon-
scious Of the cold by the horror of the
scene. Many Of them had to be led away.
some of the victims.
The dead:
w. A. MoWREY. What Cheer, la.
f. c. YOUNG. Minneapolis.
TWO UNIDENTIFIED MEN; bodies re-
covered.
Five bodies still in debris.
The injured:
vina Burns. head waitress. jumped from
third story.
L. G. Burnett, Nebraska City, Neb., badly
burned.
sinda williams. waitress. face badly
burned and leg injured.
Lizzie Kelly. waitress.
F. c. outing. Center Point, left arm
sprained and hands burned.
Emma Smith. waitress.
II. w Bremen Lyons. la.
F. r. Moore. Chicago.
Beatrice Netolcky, shueyyille, la.
J. o. Winninger, Waterloo face burned
and right wrist sprained.
j. E, Anderson, Chicago back strained.
A. S. Farrow. Boone la.
F. G. Gardiner, woOdburn.
d. f. Tailor. Davenport, head injured.
elbow fractured, hip injured and badly
burned.
G. C. Thompson. Cedar Rapids. badly
burned.
A. NJ Larsen, oelwein. foot bruised and
lungs burned.
c. W. Roberts. Cedar Rapids.
L. o. Vernon. Delta, Ia, cut and right
. side burned.
May Reel. waitress, badly burned.
NJ. p. Hoover. Tama. la.
p. J. DAILY, Canton, Ill.
J. A. Eylar. Davenport. slightly hurt.
c. L. Benedict. body burned.
%, p. Halves. DecOrah. la.
+. o. Redmon, mail clerk, TAma, la.
y. ID. Templeton. Monticello. la.
George Tagart. ST. Paul. hands and face
burned.
Jim Lewis, oolored porter. slightly.
II. w. Bremer Lyons
John W. Lewis. ottumwa. bruised. not
seriously.
j. NJ. Dunbar. Monticello.
Dr. s c. Grove. Cedar Rapids. terribly
burned while hanging to fire escape;
probably fatal.
.C.,.,.,.... -. la.,..a r,-...n