Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-05-05
THIS COMPRISES ONLY THE,
KNOWN LIST OF FATALITIES
SOME OF MISSING MAY BE,
AMONG THOSE LOST.
MANY TRAVELLING
MEN LOSE LIVES
DID HOTEL BURNED LIKE TIM
DER AND MANY OF THE GUESTS
LOST THEIR LIVES BY JUMPING
FROM UPPER WINDOWS.

i
Fort Wayne, Ind, May 4-The
death roll in the New Aveline hotel
fire this morning stood at eleven
known dead with several persons still
unaccounted for. The revised list Of
dead follows:
List Of the Dead.
ELLIS, j. E., 6122 Monroe avenue,
Chicago; salesman for Carson, Pirie,
Scott & Co.
HIRsCH, MORRIS, Chicago; sales
man for Pacific Coast Borax Co.,
brother Of Isaac Hirsch, Howard club
Chicago.
MILLER, ]. B., Sheboygan, Wis;
travelling man for Landow & Brown,
garment mahmfacturers at Pittsburg.
BURKETT. MISS MARY, Misha-
waka, Ind, assistant matron of Or
phans' Home.
HATHAWAY, MISS SARAH, agent
for Orphans Home at Mfshawaka.
PITCHER, WILLIAM A., Duluth;
travelling man for Bowser Oil Tank
{ Works at Fort Wayne.
JOHNSON, ROBERT S., Pana, Ill,
travelling man for Watson, Plummer
Shoe Co., Chicago.
DEyINEY, JOSEPH W., Camden,
N. j., salesman for Crawford & Leh-
man, Philadelphia.
TWO UN1DENTIFTED MEN; one
supposed to be hotel porter named
Burke.
Five Known to be Missing.
The known missing:
Wassem, Max, wrestler, Fort
Wayne, formerly of st. Louis.
Baxter, Frank, attorney, Auburn,
Ind.
Companion of Baxter.
Atty, e. B., Wabash, Ind.
Benjamin, Charles, salesman for
Detroit Neckwear Co., Detroit, Mich.
The injured.
Matthews, E. NJ, salesman for Kim.
ball-Matthews Co., Columbus, O., will
die.
Davenport, S. D., s25 Potomac ave.
nue. Chicago, salesman tor Watson
Plummer Shoe Co.
Gill, George, Chicago.
Foster, James w., Chicago
A dozen persons seriously injured by
burns are doing well at the hospitals
except e. H Matthews of Columbus,
Ohio, whose death is hourly expected
The fire department, police and two
companies of militia, aided by many
laborers, worked throughout the night
burrowing into the ruins in the seach
for dead. 1t was daylight before an
other body was recovered. There are
number of persons yet missing
though how many and the identity OF
some Of them is altogether proble
matical, owing to the burning Of the
register and the other guest records
of the hotel. The total number Of
deaths cannot be determined until the
debris has been completely searched.
Difficult to Reach Bodies.
The complete destruction of the in
terror of the hotel makes the work OF
recovering bodies task of extreme
difficulty. A mass of charred wood
bricks and twisted girders is piled UP
between the bare walls to the second
story. This must be removed piece
by piece before the roll of the dead
can be completed.
Infantry company D and battery E
of the Indiana national guard are
aiding the fire and police forces tc
clear away the debris.
The fire was discovered at 8 80 yes
aleTudy moTlHlS Id Ln6 elevator Snaf1
by Night Clerk Ralph Hipkins He
rushed to the upper floors alarming
the guests, until the flames, which
had spread with appalling rapidity
drove him back His efforts, however
saved many lives.
Hotel Burns Like Tinder.
The hotel was erected half a cen
tury ago, and the woodwork was dry
as tinder 1t burned like matchwood
and within few minutes from the
time the fire was discovered the
whole interior of the hotel was g
mass of flames that filled the corri
dors and rooms with suffecatins
clouds of smoke and laid fiery bar
riers across all means Of egress ex
cept the windows
The fire department rescued many
with ladders, but some, frenzied by
the onward rush of the flames, leaped
from high windows to the paved
street.
Jumps from Fifth Story.
r. S. Johnson, Pana, H., jumped
from the fifth story. His body strucl
balcony and bounded far into the
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