Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-02-25
Flimsily- Built Hotel in Cedar Rap
ids, Ia, Burns. =
NINE PERSONS LOSE THEIR LIVES,
Four Bodies Recovered, But Only
Two 1dentined-The Injured Num-
! Der Forty-Two-MsnyJ Jump
l. from the Windows.

x
ries to AZ persons, who were scorched
OF forced to jump to the frozen street
from second and third-story win
dows. After an all-day search in
the debris four bodies were recov-
cred. 1t is now believed that five
more bodies remain in the ruins of
the hotel, which is said to have been
flimsy structure, filed with dele
gates to the state Young Mems Chris
tan association convention, and the
district convention of the Knights Of
Pythias. The hotel register was de-
stroyed, thus making it difficult to
ascertain the number of missing per-
sons. Forty men have been working
in the rubbish all day, and will con-
tinue to dig for the remains of the
burned persons. The loss is 100000.
The Victims.
The dead are: w. A. Mowery. Of
Watcher, Ia; f. G.. Young, Of -
two unidentified me1., bod
les recovered; five bodies still III
debris.
The fatally injured: Vina Burns,
head waitress, jumped from third
story; L. C. Burnett, Nebraska City,
Neb., badly burned.
The seriously injured: Sinda Williams,
waitress, face badly burned, leg in
jured; Lizzie Kelly, waitress, burned;
F. C. Outing, Center Point, left arm
sprained, hands burned; Emma Smith,
waitress; H. w. Bremen, Lyons, Ia;
F. r. Moore, Chicago; Beatrice Neto-
licky, Shueyville, Ia; j. U. Winniger,
Waterloo, Ia, face burned and wrist
sprained; J. E. Anderson, Chicago, back
strained; A. S. Farrow, Boone, Ia; F.
G. Gardiner, WOODBURY., Ia; D. F. Tay-
lor Davenport, Ia, head injured and
elbow fractured, hip injured, and
burned about body; Louis Thompson,
Cedar Rapids, badly burned; A. NJ. Lar
sen, Oelmein. feet injured and lungs
hurt; C. w. Roberts, Cedar Rapids; L.
0. Vernon, Delta, Ia, cut and right
side injured; May Reel, waitress, badly
burned; NJ. P. Hoover, Tama, Ia; T. j.
Zally, Canton, ILL.,; j. A. Flear, Daven-
port; C. L. Benedict, body burned; G.
P. Halves, DEBORAH, Ia; F. O. Redmond,
mail clerk, Tama, Ia; N. O. Templeton.
Monticello, Ia; George Taggart, St.
Paul, hands and face burned; James
Lewis, colored porter; F. M. Gardner,
Woodburn, Ia; D. S. Taylor, Daven-
port; j. Fl. Dunbar, Monticello; John
w. Lewis, .Ottumwa, bruised; DR.. S. C.
Grove, Cedar Rapids, terribly burned
while hanging to fire escape, probably
fatal; P. E. Strickland, Clinton, Ia,
jumped from third story window, leg
broken and injured internally, prob
ably fatal; Celia Williams, waitress,
badly burned; C. F. Hamburg, Leroy,
Mimi. limbs badly burned; r. C. Nc
Conahy, Aurora, Ill.,, hands and face
burned; O. J. Lamb, Center Point. Ia,
seriously burned; G. F. Kaesser, Walk
er, Ia, face and hands. burned; C. A.
Roseman, Independence, Ia, legs and
arms sPrained by jumping from top
foor, struck wires and landed in a
snow banks; F. A. Chase, hands in
jured.
Hotel a Firetrap.
The hotel, a three-story brick We
neer structure, is said to have been
a veritable firetrap. The flames
started in a 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 fire, raised by
bell boy, startled him. He took up
the cry and in an instant the hall
ways were choked with frightened
guests. rush was made for the
stairways. It was then that the
crowd already collected in the street
heard heartrending cries of anguish
and desperation, for the fire, feeding
ravenously on the tinder-like mate
rial Of the lower floor, had complete
1y cut off escape.
Then followed 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-burn-
ing building.
1T was like Dore picture of In
ferno strung to life," said one
spectator in describing the scene.
''The flames, looking blood-red from
reflection against the snow, lit up
the pale, drawn faces of the people
in the windows with the glow that
was unearthly." =
Victims Forced to Jump.
The victims were literally driven by
the flames to jump. Nearly every
one of them fingered to the last mo-
ment, urged by the people below to:
wait as long as possible in the hope
of assistance. Then cry would tell
that the fire had reached them, or
the smoke had made it impossible to
breathe, and one after another
Jumped, some to the street and some,
more fortunate, to the roofs al
buildings adjoining. In. a short space
OF time the street was filed with
men and women bruised, battered,
broken-limbed and half crazed. All
were in their night; garments. In an
hour st. Luke's hospital contained is
] injured, while many more, chiefly
those who had escaped with compare
80