The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-21
nine DIE IN CEDAR
RAPIDS HOTEL
FIRE
One Is E. G. Young, Of Min
neapOlis-Over Two Score
Are Injured-Guests Com
PEELED to Jump-The Ho-
tel a Flimsy Structure.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, Feb. 90
Nine persons lost their lives and for
ty-two were injured in a fire that de-
stroyed the Clifton hotel here early
today. 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 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 regis
ter was destroyed, making it difficult
to ascertain the number of missing
persons. Forty men have been work.
ing in the debris all day and will con-
tnue to dig for the remains of the
burned persons all night. The loss is
100000. The dead:
W. A. MOWERY, Watcher, Iowa.
e. G. YOUNG, Minneapolis
TWO UNIDENTIFIED MEN, bodies
FIVE BODIES STILL IN DEBRIS.
The Injured.
Linda Williams, waitress, face badly
burned leg injured
Lizzie Kelley. waitress, burned
Emma Smith. waitress.
F. O.. Outing, Center Point. left arm
egained, hands burned
4. ". Bremen, Lyons. Iowa.
Beatrice Netolicky. shueyville. Iowa.
and wrist sprained.
J. z. Anderson. Chicago, back strained.
a. 9. Farrow, Boone. Iowa
b. u. Gardner, WOODBURY., Iowa
4rsd F. aI Tdayi s25o Davenport rd iowa head in
and burned about the body.
burned.
A. N, Larsen. oelwein, feet injured and
6. W. Roberts. Cedar Rapids.
/. O. Vernon. Delta. Iowa. cut and right
Nay Reel. waitress. badly burned.
T. ]. sealiy, Canton, iii.
J. A. Fair, Davenport.
@. L. Benedict, body burned.
G. T. Halves. DEBORAH. Iowa.
2. Q. Redmond. mail clerk, Tama, Iowa.
y. o. Templeton, Monticello Iowa.
George Taggart. st. Paul.
James Lewis, colored porter.
a. gardner. Woodburn, Iowa.
J. NJ Dunbar. Monticello.
DR.. 8. e. Grove. Cedar Rapids. terri
bly, bnrn sar, %hile hanging g1g to fire escape
from third-story window; leg broken and
injured internally.
eng WliIams. waitress, badly burned.
G; F, Hamburg, LIE Roy. MINI, limbs
r. c. McConahy. Aurora, ILL.,. hands
and face burned
o. j. Lamb, Center Point, Iowa, Sc
riously burned.
G.. F, Kaesser. Walker, Iowa. face and
hands burned.
G. A. Roseman, Independence, Iowa,
legs and arms sprained by jumping from
top floor Struck wires and landed In a
snowbank.
F. A. Chase, hands injured.
None Of these are fatally hurt.
Beginning of the Fire.
The flames started in pile of rub
bisb in the basement, presumably ig-
nited by defective electric light wire.
The night clerk was on the third floor
when the cry Of fire, raised by 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. It was
then that the crowd already collected
in the street heard heart-rending cries
of anguish and desperation, for the fire,
feeding ravenously on the finder like
material Of the lower floor, had COM
pletely cut off escape.
There followed a stampede for the
windows, 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.
ut was like a Dore picture of In
ferno' sprung to life," said one specta-
tor in describing the scene.
Driven by Fire to Jump.
The victims were literally driven by
the flames to jump. Nearly every one
of them fingered to the last moment,
urged by the people below to wait as
long as possible in the hope Of assist
ance. Then a cry would tell that the
fire had reached them, or the smoke
had made is impossible to breathe, and
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 filed
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 injured, while many more, chief
ly those who had escaped with com
paratfvely slight hurt, We're 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 telegraph wires.
A number Of the guests who were