Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1908-05-04
Nine Bodies Have Already Been
Rescued from the Ruins.
SEVERAL KNOWN TO BE MISSING
Register is Destroyed and Guest List
Uncertain Quantity.
MANY THRILLING ESCAPES
Clerk, who Discovers Fire, saves
Many Lives by Rushing Through
the Building Giving
Alarm.

4
twelve persons lost their lives in fire
that destroyed the Aveline hotel here early
| toady.
| The entire interior Of the building is a
| smoldering heap 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 ac-
curate means of determining who is mis-
sing. The known dead arc:
r.. s. JOHSON, Pana III.
| NJ HlRSH. New York
J. B. MILLER. Sheboygan, wis.
j; f, ELLIS, Carson, Ptrie. Scott Co.,
w. A. PITCHER. Fort Wayne, salesman
for s. f. Boyser & Co. Fort Wayne.
! j. w. DEVINEY, salesman for Craw-
| ford & Lehman, Philadelphia,
THREE UNIDENTIFIED MEN.
The known missing:
Max wassem, wrestler, Fort wayne for
| merry Of ST. Louis
Frank Baxter, attorney, Auburn, Ind
Companion of Frank Baxter OF Auburn
E. b. Atty, Wabash Ind.
Charles Benjamin, salesman for Detroit
| Ncckwear company, Detroit.
Mrs, Sarah Hathaway Mlshawka, Ind.
Unidentified woman companion of Mrs
| Hathaway.
Debris PiIed ON Bodies.
The complete destruction of the interior
of the hotel makes the work of recover
| ing bodies difficult task. confused heap
Of charred wood, bricks and twisted grid
ers is piled up between the bare walls to
the second story. Piece by piece this must
| be removed before the roll of dead can b.
completed Some of the bodies taken out
are manged and charred beyond recogni
tion. Infantry company ID and battery b
OF the National guards are on duty and
aiding the fire and police forces to clear
away the debris
! nj, Q.on -
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 great
rapidity, drove him back His efforts. how
! ever, saved many lives. The hotel was
! erected half century ago and the wood
work dry tinder. II burned like
matchwood and within few minutes from
! the time the fire was discovered the whole
| interior of the hotel was mass OF flsmgs
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 res
cued many by means of ladders but some.
frenzied by the onward rush OF the flames
| leaped from the windows to the paved
street r. S. johnson of Pana. ILL.,. jumped
from the firth story. His body struck a
balcony and bounded far into the street.
! He was a crushed and bleeding mass when
picked up and died a short time later in
st. Josephs hospital
Many Are Cut on.
As the flames increased, men and women
were seen in the windows of their rooms,
where they wildly implored help. Those
who got from their rooms before the flames
cut off their retreat we're able to make
their way to the fire escapes and 80 were
safe with comparative case. Soon the
flames broke from the windows and curled
about the fire escapes. Some Of the more
| hardy ones braved the flames and made
their way through smoke and fire down the
iron stairwsys.
There were many thrilling escapes
Claude II. Varnel of the Fort Wayne base
ball team his sister, Mrs John Hendricks,
and John Hendricks OF Chicago the man
ager of the Fort Wayne team, together with
Master Hedricks. aged years, barely es-
capped with their lives. Varnell lost his
personal belongings valued at several thou
sand dollars Hendricks with his wife
ahead of him and his boy in his arms was
descending the fire escape from the fifth
floor. At the third floor the fire broke
out below them. He swung Mrs. Hendricks
over the railing and she dropped to the
platform Of the story below. lie then
dropped his son into the waiting arms OF
his wife and all made their way to the
ground. other rescues as thrilling ard es.
capes as narrow were numerous.
When the fire was at its height a man
at a thrd-stoTy window was seen wildly
waving his arms He shrieked: MY God
men, save me, will no one save met and
then leaped from the window to the pave
ment below. He was picked up desperately
hurt. He was E. NJ. Matthews Of Colum-
bus. o.
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 in their fright
leaped to the alley and were more or less
injured.
Hotel Register Destroyed.
In the excitement the hotel register was
forgotten and there is no accurate means
OF ascertaining the names OF the missing.
That there are still many bodies in the
ruins is the belief of Fire Chief Hilbrecht
and Chief Of Police Auekenbruek Chief
Auckenbruck basing his estimate on the
reports OF the police, gives the number OF
! dead in the ruins at o'clock at twenty
: At that hour eight bodies had been re-
moved.
; A guest on the fifth floor who was
aroused at the outbreak OF the fire and
escaped, says he believes very few on the
fifth floor escaped. Other bodies are be-
: lieved to be at the foot of the elevator
shaft. Among the missing are two aged
women, Miss Hathaway and her companion
! Of Mshawka. Ind. They came here 10 re-
! ceive some children for an, orphaBage with
which they are connected at Mlshawka.
) Their bodies are still in the ruins.
Travelling men who escaped are searching
for acquaintances who were known 10 he
{ In the hotel
I The Ayclne hotel was a siX-st0ry build
Z ing of brick in the business center OF the
r city. Its erection was begun IN is53 but
] Il was not completed until several years
2 later. In 1895 the building was extensively
remodeled and two stories were added.