Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-05-08
DEAD
IN HOTEL FIRE
At FORT WAYNE
HOSTELRY IN INDIANA CITY GOES
UP IN FLAMES LIKE PASTE
BOARD.
MORE BODIES IN THE RUINS.
Clerk Has No Time to Arouse Guests,
Some of Whom Figure in Re-
markable Escapes.
NEW YORK HAS A BAD BLAZE.

NEW 4ORk has A BAD BLAZE.
FORT WAYNE, Ind, May 4.-To-
day the death roll in the new Aveline
hotel fire stood at eleven known dead
with several persons still unaccounted
for. Just at daylight the body of a man
was recovered from the ruins, the first
to be exhumed from the heaps of debris
since Sunday evening. The body was
identified as that of Charles Benz
of Detroit.
A revised list of dead follows:
MILLER, ]. B., travelling salesman, Phil
adelpha
ELLIS. J. E., travelling salesman, for
Carson, Pirie Scott & Co., Chicago
HIRSCH, ISAAC, travelling salesman
Chicago.
PITCHER, WILLIAM, travelling sales
| man, Duluth.
JOHNSON, R. s., travelling salesman,
Pana, III.
DEvINEY, JOSEPH W., travelling sales
man, Philadelphia.
BENJAMIN, CHARLES, travelling sales
man, Detroit
UNIDENTIFIED BODY of woman, sup
posed to be that of Miss Mary Burkett,
Mishawaka, Ind. From the remains a gold
band ring bearing the initials m. B. was
taken.
UNIDENTIFIED woman, supposed to be
Ind
UNIDENTIFIED body of man, consist
ing only of trunk and head almost burned
off; supposed to be that of Burke, hotel
porter.
UNIDENTIFIED body of man, SO badly
burned as to be practically unrecognizable
Injured Doing Well
Of the dozen persons seriously injure6
by burns or by leaping from the burn
ing hotel all were doing well at the hos
pitfalls except E. NJ. Matthews of Column
bus. O., whose death was hourly ex-
pected.
The fire department., police and two
companies of militia, aided by many
laborers. worked throughout the night
burrowing into the ruins in search for
dead. There are a number of persons
yet missing, though how many and the
identity of some of them is altogether
problematical owing to the burning of
the register and other guest records of
the hotel. The total number of deaths
cannot be determined until the debris
has been completely searched.
Cause of Fire Unknown.
The cause of the blaze has not been
discovered. but the investigation which
has already been begun shows that the
building was a iretrap. The fire spread
so quickly through the structure that
many of the victims were roasted in
their beds, while others cut off from
all escape, leaped from the windows to
| death
The hotel was a six-story structure of
brick and wood, built in 1852. The top
story was of wood and when once ig
nited this burned like pasteboard. It
was here that the greater part of the
deaths occurred. The fire was discov
cred at $50 o'clock yesterday morning
by the night clerk. He rushed to the
upper doors, alarming the guests until
the flames, which spread with great
rapidity, drove him back
Cut off from the elevator and stair
ways by the flames, men and women in
the upper stories rushed to the windows,
and the fremen gave their first effort to
rescue these. There was some delay in
turning in the alarm, the clerk devoting
the first few minutes after the discov
cry of the blaze to awakening the guests
who were all asleep in their rooms.
Started in Elevator Shaft.
The night clerk declared that the fire
had been smoldering in the elevator
shaft for some time before he discovered
it. Before he could give the alarm. a
sheet of flame flashed up through the
shaft. The fire leaped to the upper
stories, licking up the old wooden floors
in the corridors almost in less time than
it takes to tell it.
AS the iremen arrived with their lad
ders ten minutes after the first alarm
was sent in, the roof fell with a great
crash. After that there were no more
cries from the top floor.
There were many thrilling escapes
Edward Hamilton, who travels for a
Chicago jewelry house, made a sensa-
tional slide for life down an electric light
wire which he was able to reach from a
fourth story window. He escaped in his
underclothes and lost several thousand
dollars worth of diamonds.
Family Makes Escape.
Claude H VarnelI of the Fort Wayne
baseball team, his sister, Mrs. John
Hendricks and John Hendricks of Chi
cago, manager of the Fort Wayne team,
together with Master Hendricks, aged 5
years, barely escaped with their lives
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 spurted from
window below them. He swung Mrs.
Hendricks over the railing and she
dropped to the platform of the story be-
low. He then dropped his son into the
waiting arms of his wife and all made
their way to the ground.
When the fire was at its height a man
at third story window was seen wild
Iy waving his arms. He then leaped from
the window and went swirling to the
pavement below. He was picked up
desperately hurt. He was E. NJ. Mat |
thews of Columbus, 0.
Others who escaped from the fire were
B. F. Rasmussen, 29S Humboldt ave-
nue., Chicago; F. S. Lewis, Chicago;
George J. Lockhorn, Cincinnati; E. S. |
Lewis, West Newton, N. Y; Mr. and |
Mrs A. E. Hamill, Geneva, Ind; o. B. |
Hines, Auburn, Ind; f. c. Phillips, a |
travelling man; ]. P. Strohecher, New |
York; j. w. Adams, Pntsield, Mass;
George A. Sill, Philadelphia.
Makes Dangerous Descent.