Gilpin observer., 1903-02-26
NINE DIE~INxA ! FIEE
CLIFTON HOTEL lN-cE1AR RAP
IDS BURNS TO GROUND.

Hotel Register IL Destroyed and as
House Was Filled With Guesss
Namea Of All the Dead May Never
Be Known.
Cedar Rapids. Ia Feb. 21-Fire ear
ly yesterday morning destroyed the
Clifton hotel, cremated nine 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 the debris
four bodies have been recovered. 1t
Is now believed that five more bodies
remain in the ruins of the hotel The
building. which is said to have been
fiimsy structure, was crowded with
delegates to the state Young Mems
Christian association convention and
the district convention of the Kniehts
of Pythias. The hotel register was
destroyed, thus making it difficult to
ascertain the number of missing per-
sons. Forty men have been working
in the ruins all day and night and
will continue to dig for the remains
of the burned persons. The property
loss is $4,000.
Some Of the Victims.
The dead: w. A. Mowrey, What
Cheer, Ia; E. c. Young. Minneapolis.
two unidentified men. bodies reco9-
cred; L. C. Burnett. Nebraska City;
four bodies still in the debris.
The injured: P. Strickland. Clinton,
Jumped from third story window; DR..
s. C. Grove. Cedar Rapids, terribly
burned while hanging to fire escape;
Lizzie Kelly, waitress; F. c. Outing
Center Point; Emma Smith, waitress,
H. w. Bremen. Lyons, Ia; Beatrice
Netolicky. Shueyville, Ia; F. R. Moore.
Chicago; A. U. Winnegar, Waterloo
face burned and right wrist sprained;
A. 8. Farrow. Boone. Ia; F. G. Gard
iner. Woodburn; D. F. Tailor, Daven-
port; g. c. Thompson, Cedar Rapids.
badly burned; A. M. Larsen, Oelwein
foot bruised and lungs burned; c. w.
Roberts. Cedar Rapids; L. o. Vernon.
Delta, Ia; May Reel, waitress. badly
burned; NJ. P. Hoover, Tama, Ia; D.
P. Hawes. Decorah. Ia; F. o. Red
mon, mail clerk. rama, Ia; Z. D. Tenn
pleton. Monticello, Ia; ]. M. Dunbar.
Monticello; Celia Williams, waitress,
badly injured; o. j. Lamb, Center
Point. Ia. seriously burned; G. F.
Kaesser. Walker. Ia, face and hands
burned; c. A. Roseman, Independence
The hre started at 2:30 a. m. The
flames started in 4 pile of rubbish in
the basement, presumably ignited by
defective electric light wires. The
night clerk was on the third floor
when the cry Of hre, 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 for the stairways 1t
was then that the crowd already col
lected in the street heard heartrend-
ing cries Of anguish and desperation,
for the fire. feeding ravenously on the
tinder-like material of the lower floor.
had completely cut OF escape. There
followed stampede for the windows,
the only means of exit left.
Widest Terror Rsisns.
In thirty minutes after. the alarm Of
hre the widest terror reigned about
the hotel and in the streets about the
burning buildings. From every win
dow could be seen white, imploring
faces. To leap meant almost certain
death and to remain was sure crema-
tion. In front, thirty. forty and fifty
feet below, was escape from the seeth-
ing mass of flames, but death might
be met on the solid stone pavement
Many shrank from the windows and
struggled through the smoke and
flames to place of safety. Others
turned back to perish in the building.
Miss Burns, head waitress. was one
Of the last to receive the alarm Her
room was in the rear OF the building
on the third floor, reserved for the
employees. Every avenue of escape
was cut or when she left her room
and she ran shrieking to the window
opening upon the street. The flames
were sweeping along the caves of the
room and even licking her in the face
when someone below shouted for her
to leap. Casting one look upward the
woman raised herself to the sill and
then leaping far out swept through
the air to an improvised net. She
was picked up unconscious and at
first believed to be dead.
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