The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-02-21
HOLOCAUST IN
CEDAR RAPIDS
Iowa Town the Scene of the
Latest Hotel Horror.
SEVERAL LIVES WERE LOST
MANY PERSONS INJURED JUMP
ING FROM WINDOWS.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Ia, Feb. 2o-Ten
" lives, according to the best in
formation obtainabIe under diff
culties, were lost in a fire which this
morning destroyed the Clifton hotel in
this city. The fire started at 2:30
o'clock and at 10 O'Clock the shoulder
ing debris furnished so fierce a heat
that search for bodies was impossible.
The list of the dead may prove larger
than the number given, but it is hoped
that the information which accounts
for all but this number is correct.
Two persons were fatally injured and
two score or more injured. more or less
severely. mostly by jumping from win
dows. The work of learning the names
of the dead is rendered difficult by the
loss of the hotel register, which was
burned.
Hotel a Firetrap.
The hotel. a three-story brick
veneer structure. is said to have been
, a veritable firetrap. The flames start
ed in pile of rubbish in the base
ment, presumably ignited by defective
electric light wires The night clerk
was on the third floor when the try
OF IRE, raised by bell boy, startled
him. He took up the cry and in an
instant the Railways were chOked with
AA46 HlcA1CQ GUESS a IuSH was l'tdQc
Tor the stairways. 1t was then that
the crowd already collected in the
street heard heartrending cries of an
guish and desperation, for the fire,
feeding rapidly and ravenously on the
tinder-like material of the lower floor,
had completely cut off escape. There
followed a stampede for the windows,
the only means of exit left. The street
below was filled and the crowd was
no less frantic than the desoairing
ones in the fast burning building.
1T was like a picture OF inferno
sprung to life" said one spectator in
describing the scene. The flames, look
, ing blood red from reflection against
the snow, lit UP the pale drawn faces
of the people in the windows with a
glow that was unesrthly.
Compelled to Jump.
The victims were literally driven by
the flames to jump. Nearly every one
of them fingered to the lasF moment,
urged by the people below to wait as
long as possible in the hume of as
sistance. Then cry woald tell that
the fire had reached them. ar the smoke
had made ii impossible 10 breathe, and
one after another jumped, some to the
street. and some. more fortunate. to
the roofs of buildings adjoining. In
short space of time the street was
filled with men and women bruised.
battered, broken-limbed and half
Ynents. In an hour St. Luke's hospital
contained fifteen injured. while many
more, chiefly those who had escaped
with compare lively slight hurts. were
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
which iuterpOsed in their DOWN. ard
flight.
number of guests who We're able
to converse calmly following their eS-
cape declared that they had stumbled
over PROSTATE bodies as they rushed to
the windows. The flames literally were
chasing them and the smoke made IT
almost impossible TO breathe. The pro-
prietor 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 yes
terday.
Barefooted In the Snow.
Those who were first to escape. where
they were not too severely injured
stood for some time barefooted in the
snow chained 10 the spot and rendered
unconscious of the cold by the horror
of the scene. Many of them had to be
led away. At II O'Clock the only one
of the missing whose name was
known, was A w. Mowry of What
cheer, Ia.
Fatally Injured.
Nina Burns. head waitress. jumped
from third story.
L. c. Burnett, Nebraska City. Neb-,
badly burned
DR.. S. c. Grove. Cedar Rapids. ter
ribly burned while hanging to fire es-
cape: probably fatal.
P. E. Strickland Clinton. Ia. jumped
from the third-story window; leg
broken and injured internally. probably
The injured.
Slnda Williams. waitress. face badly
burned, leg injured; Lizzie Kelly, wait
ress; F. c. Outing. Cedar Point. left
arm sprained; Emma Smith. waitress;
n. w Bremen, Lyons Ia; p. +. Strick-
land. Clinton, conductor, Northwestern
railroad. left ankle broken, internally
injured: F. r. Moore. Chicago: Beat
rice Netolicky. Shueyville. Ia; j. T.
NVinniger. Waterloo. face burned and
right wrist sprained; J. z. Anderson,
Chicago. back sprained; A. S. Farrow,
Boone, Ia. F. G. Gardiner, WOODBURY.;
ID. T. Taylor, Davenport, head injured,
elbow fractured, hip injured and body
burned DR.. w. A. Grove. dentist Ce-
OAR Rapids. burned on the body; Louis
Thompson. Cedar Rapids. badly
burned; A. NJ. Larsen, Oelwein. foot
bruised and lungs burned. c. G. Rob-
erts. Cedar Rapids: L. O Vernon. Del
ia, Ia, cut and right side burned: Nav
Reel. waitress, badly burned; NJ P. I
Hooper, Tama. Ia; p J. Daily. Canton,
Ills; J. A Eylar. Davenport, slightly
hurt; c. l. Benedict, body burned; D. !
p. Halves. DEBORAH. Ia; F. o. ,Redman.
mail clerk. Tama, Ia; Ed Templeton.
Monticello. Ia; George Taggart. ST,
Paul hands and face burned: Jim
Lewis, cOlored porter, slight: John
Lewis, Ottumwa, bruised, not serious
": J. NJ. Dunbar, Monticello.
The bodies of w A. Mowrv and an
unknown woman were taken from the
ruins shortly after II O'Clock. The bod |
: les were frightfully charred. Search |
ers are now at work.
Three more bodies were removed |
from the ruins shortly before 2 O'Clock.
Their condition was such as to pre-
clude Identification. Three. Of the four
injured are believed to be dying.