Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-04
By Associated Press.


By Associated Press
FORT WAYNE, Ind, May 3.-No
fewer than twelve persons lost their
lives in fire that destroyed the Ave-
line hotel here today.
The entire L.terior OF the hotel is a
smouldering mass of ruins, and how
many dead are concealed by the debris
can only be conjectured.
The hotel register was consumed by
the fire and there are no accurate
means of determining who are missing.
The known dead are:
r. s. JOHNSON, Pana, Ill.
m. HIRSCH, New York.
Y J. B. MILLER, Sheboygan, Wis.
j. E. ELLIS, employe of Carson,
Pirie, Scott & Co., Chicago.
w. A. PITCHER, Fort Wayne, sales
man for s. F. Boyster & Co.. Fort
Wayne.
G. w. DEvINY, salesman for Craw-
ford & Lehman, Philadelphia.
Three unidentified men.
The known missing are:
Max Wessem, wrestler, Fort Wayne
formerly of st. Louis.
q. B. Atty, Wabash, Ind.
Charles Benjamin, salesman for De-
troit neckwear company.
Mrs. Sarah Hathaway, Mishawaka,
Ind.
An unknown woman, companion of
Mrs. Hathaway.
The complete destruction of the inter-
ior of the hotel makes the work of re-
covering Lodies difficult task. con-
fused heap of charred wood, bricks and
twisted girders is piled up between the
bare walls to the second story. Piece
by piece this must be removed before
the roll of the dead can be completed.
Some of the bodies taken out are man
gIed and char-ed beyond recognition.
Militia In Control
Infantry company D and battery B, In
diana national guard, are on duty aid
ing the fire and police forces to clear
away the debris.
The fire was discovered at $3.50 o'clock
this morning in the elevator shaft by
Night Clerk Ralph Hopkins. 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.
The hotel was erected half century
ago and the woodwork was dry as tim
der 1t burned like matchwood and
within a few minutes from the time the
fire was discovered the whole of the ho-
tel was a mass of flames that filled the
corridors and rooms with suffocating
clouds of smoke and laid fiery barriers
across all means Of escape save by the
windows.
The fire department rescued many
persons by means of ladders, but some.
frenzied by the onward rush of the fire.
leaped from high windows to the paved
streets below.
Jumps to Death
r. S. Johnson of Pana, ILL.,, jumped
from the fifth story His body struck
a. balcony and bounded far into tho
street. He was a crushed ana bleeding
mass when picked up, and died snort
time later in ST. Joseph's hospital.
AS tie flames increased men and
women were seen in the windows of
their rooms. where they wildly implored
help. Those who left their rooms be-
fore the flames cut off their retreat
were able to make their way to the
fire escapes and so were saved with
comparative ease. Soon the names
curled about the fire escapes. Some OF
the more hard.r ones braved the fiames
and made theil way through smoke ana
fire down the iron stairways.
There were many thrilling escapes
Claude H. Varnell of the Fort Wayne
baseball team, his sister, Mrs. John
Hendricks, and John Hendricks OF
Chicago. manager of the Fort wayne
team with Master Hendricks, aged 3,
barely escaped with their lives. Var
nell lost all of his personal belongings,
valued at several thousand dollars.
Hendricks. with his wife ahead OF
him and his boy in his arms, was de-
scending the fire escape from the fifth
floor. At the third floor the fire broke
out below them. He swung Mrs Hem
bricks over the railing and she dropped
to the platform of the story below. he
then dropped his son into the waiting
arms of his wife and all made their
way to the ground.
other rescues were thrilling and es-
capes as narrow were numerous.
When the fire was at its height a
man at a third story window was seen
wildly waving his arms. He shrieked
my God, men. save me! Will no one
save me?" and then leaped from the
window and went swirling to the pave
ment below. He was picked up fatally
hurt. He was e. M. Matthews OF Co
lumbus. Ohio.
Women Jump
A score or more of women employed
in the hotel were in the upper rooms
in the rear of the hotel. Most OF them
escaped without injury, but some OF
them in their fright leaped to the alley
and were more or less injured.
That there are still many bodies in
the ruins In is the belief of Fire Chief
HiIbrecht and Chief of Police Ancken-
bruck. Chief Anckenbruck gives the
number of dead in the ruins at twenty.
At 6 o'clock eight bodies had been re-
covered.
A guest on the fifth floor who was
aroused at the outbreak of the fire
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