The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1904-04-21
The Occidental Hotel, -lndianapO-
lis, Ind, Was Gutted Early
Sunday Morning.
LOSS IS ESTIMATED At $3.50
Flames Broke Out in the st. Vincent
Hospital and u Panic Among
Inmates Took Place.
Patients Who n ad Just Undergone Op.
erations Rusl ed From Their Beds
and Tried to Throw Them.
selves From Windows.

Indianapo'is Ind. April 1S-Firc.
when for most two hours threatened
to destroy . principal retail district.
was discoy 'cd at an early hour Sun.
day morniL in the Occidental hotel.
Every fire company in the city, as weSl
as those from the outlying suburbs.
was summo The house was fille'i
with guests lnd panic was narrowly
averted. There were many narrow es.
capes from the flames and suffocation,
the inmates being compelled to leave
the building clad only in their nigh,
robes. The hotel. which front for half
block on Illinois street south Of
Washington, is valued at 500. 900 ami
Is gutted. The loss Is estimated at
$4,000.
While the city fire department was
being taxed to its utmost fighting the
Occidental hotel fire Sunday morning
an alarm was turned in from st. Vim
cents hospital. When Che first fire
company arrived one life had been
lost. and several were seriously injur.
ed in the panic that followed.
At every window, on the third and
fourth floors. were crowded the panic
stricken men and women, screaming
for help to those on the street below
who were for more than 90 minutes
prevented from entering the building
because Of the dense smoke.
The panic that ragged on the third
and fourth floors continued until long
after the fire had been quenched Pa
tients who had just undergone surgical
operations rushed from their beds to
the windows and attempted to throw
themselves to the ground. Harriet
Leahy, an old employe Of the hospital
leaped from a window on the fourth
floor and when picked up was dead.
In the rear men and women were
making ropes of bed clothing by which
they escaped to the ground below
Katherine Beach. less fortunate than
the rest. lost her hold and fell from
the third floor and is now in a critical
condition from internal injuries sus
tanned
As an unusual number of surgical
operations were performed in the hos.
ptal on Saturday many OF the patients.
carried from their beds by the rescl.
ers, were In a critical condition and
the physicians in charge fear. that
many fatalities may ensue. The pa
tients were carried to the male ward
which is on the first floor. and was not
seriously affected by the panic which
ragged in the upper floors. Improvised
cots and mattresses were brought into
use and a general call for medical as
sistance sent throughout the city.
Within short time about hundred
physicians arrived and the patients
were cared for.
Henry Nichols. who underwent an
operation for appendicitis a few hours
before the outbreak of the fire. jumped
from his bed and ran down four flights
of stairs into the street His condition
is critical
James Dawson, an emaciated patient,
worked heroically among the panic.
stricken men and women on the third
floor. One after another he pulled
away from the windows. those who
were preparing to Jump to the street
below and piloted them through the
smoke to places of safety on the first
floor. After saving q nurses and pa.
tients from possible injury, in this
manner he lost consciousness and was
carried into the male ward where med.
ical attention was given him For
time 1t was thought that he could NOT
undergo the terrible strain tn whjcl,
he had been subjected