The Tupelo journal., 1903-02-27
Nine Lives Lest in the Burning of the
Clifton Hotel at Cedar
Rapids La.
TWO SCORE INJURED. FOUR FATALLY,
III Fire Started I'm the Basement
and Soon Cut on Escape by ANY
Other Way thar the Windows.
whence tho Frenzied Victims
Jumped to Their Manning.

II iiibdy bioih ihS dCotlOJ GU LDe
Clifton hotel, cremated nine of the
guests and caused injuries to AZ per-
sons, who were scorched or forced to
jump to the frozen street from sec
and third-story windows. After an
all-6ay search in the debris four bod
les remain in the ruins of the hotel.
The building, which is said to have
been a fiimsy structure, was crowded
with delegates to the State Young
Mems Christian association conven-
tion and the district convention of the
Knights of Pythias. The hotel regis
ter was destroyed, thus making it diff
ficult to ascertain the number of mis-
working in the ruins all day, and will
continue to dig for the remains of
the burned persons all night. The
property loss is $4,000.
The dead:
w. A. Mowery, Watcher, la.
e. c. Young, minneapolis, MINI.
W. dlIhlCItIiItd IiNhs DObitS ltNON-
Five bodies still in debris.
! List of the Injured.
Nina Burns, head waitress; jumped
from third story; fatally.
l.. c. Burnett, Nebraska City, Neb.;
fatally burned.
Sinda Williams, waitress; face bad
ly burned; leg injured.
Lizzie Kelley, waitress.
F. c. Outing, Centre Point; left arm
sprained; hands burned.
Emma Smith, waitress.
H. w. Bremen, Lyons, Ia.
F.. II. Moore, Chicago.
Beatrice Netolicky, Schueyville, la.
j.. U. Winniger, Waterloo; face
burned and right wrist sprained.
j. E. Anderson, Chicago; back
strained.
a. S. Farrow, Boone, Ia.
F. G.. Gardiner, WOODBURY..
D.. F. Taylor, D.venport; head in
jured, elbow fractured, hip injured
and body burned.
Louis 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, III.
j. A. Eylar, Davenport; slightly
hurt.
c. L. Benedict; body burned.
d. p. Pawes, DEBORAH, Ia.
L. o. Redmon, mail clerk, Tama,
Ia.
Ed Templeton, Monticello, Ia.
George Taggart, st. Paul; hands
and face burned.
Jim Lewis, colored porter; slight.
John w. Lewis, Ottumwa; bruised;
not seriously.
j. NJ. Dunbar, Monticello.
DR.. S. c. Grove, Cedar Rapids; ter
ribly burned while hanging to fire
escape; probably fatal.
p. Z. Strickland, Clinton, Ia, jumped
from third-story window; leg broken
and injured internally; probably IA
tai.
Celia Williams, waitress; badly in
jured.
c. F. Hamburg, Leroy, Mimi; limbs
badly burned.
r. c. McConahy, Aurora, ILL.,; hands
and face burned.
o. j. Lamb, Centre Point, la; Sc
riously burned.
G. f. Kaiser, Walker, Ia; face ana
hands burned.
c. A. Roseman, Independence, Ia;
legs and arms sprained by jumping
from third floor; strucl, wires and
landed in a snow nix.
L. A.. Chase, halls injured.
Jumped from
Four persons were fatally injured
and two score or more injured more
or less severely, mostly by jumping
from windows.
The hotel, a three-story brick We
neer structure, is said to have been a
veritable fire-trap. The flames start
ed in a pile of rubbish in the base
ment, presumably ignited by defective
electric light wires. This night clerk
was on the third floor when the cry
Of fire, raised by a bellboy, startled
him. He took up rhe cry and in an
instant the Railways were choked
with frightened guests.
Driven by the Flames.
The victims were literally driven by
the flames to jump. Nearly every
of them fingered to the last moment,
urged by the people below to wait nc
long as possible in the hope of assist
ance,
Then a cry would indicate 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 for
%tunate, to the roofs of buildings adj
joining. In a short space of time the
street was filled with men and wom-
en-, bruised, battered, broken limbed
and half-crazed.
In an hour, st. Luke's hos
pital 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.
Killed by a Train.