River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-05-07
Register Is Destroyed
and Names of All
Missing Cannot
Be Obtained.
Flames Spread Rapidly In Old Build
ing, Entrapping the Occupants
of Upper Floors - Many
Thrilling Escapes.

known number of persons, estimated
at from IL to TO- lost their lives in a
fire that destroyed the New Aveline
hotel here early Sunday.
The entire interior of the building
is 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 is no accurate means of
determining who is missing.
Known Dead and Missing.
The known dead are: r. S. John
son, Pana, ILL.,; M. Hirsch, New York;
J. B. Miller, Sheboygan, Wis; J. E.
Ellis, Carson, Prize, Scott e Co., Chi
cago; w. A. Pitcher, Fort Wayne,
salesman for S. F. Boyser & Co., Fort
Wayne; ]. w. Deviney, salesman for
Crawford & Lehman, Philadelphia;
three unidentified men.
The known missing: Max Wassem,
wrestler, Fort Wayne, formerly of
ST. Louis; Frank Baxter, attorney, Au-
burn, Ind; companion of Frank Bax-
ter of Auburn, Ind; E. B. Atty, Wa
bash, Ind; Charles Benjamin, sales
man for Detroit Neckwear company,
Detroit, Mich; Mrs. Sarah Hathaway,
Mishawaka, Ind; unknown woman,
companion of Mrs. Hathaway.
Bodies in Mass of Wreckage.
The complete destruction of the in
terror of the hotel makes the work of
recovering bodies a task of great
difficulty. A confused heap of charred
wood, bricks and twisted Orders 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 mangled and
charred beyond recognition and the
work of Identification is in these cases
task almost battling.
Infantry company D and battery B
Of the National Guard are on duty and
aiding the fire and police forces to
clear away the debris.
Night Clerk Saves Many.
The fire was discovered at 1920 in
the 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 a century ago and the woodwork
was dry as finder 1t burned like
matchwood and within few minutes
from the time the fire was discovered
the whole interior of the hotel 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 win
dows.
The fire department rescued many
by means of ladders, but some, fren-
zied by the onward rush of the flames,
leaped from high windows to the
paved street.
Man Leaps and Is Killed.
r. S. Johnson of Pana, ILL.,, jumped
from the fifth story. His body struck
a ~balcony and bounded far into the
street. He was a crushed and bleed
ing mass when picked up and died a
short time later in st. Joseph's hos
pital.
AS the fury of the flames increased,
men and women were seen in the win
dows of their rooms, where they wild
ly implored help. Some did not wait
for the efforts of the firemen and
leaped to the street. Several we're
seriously injured in this way. Those
who got from their rooms before the
flames cut off their retreat were able
to make their way to the fire escape
and so we're saved with comparative
ease. 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
stairwayS.
Some Thrilling Escapes.
There were many thrilling escapes.
Claude H. Varnel 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 five years, barely escaped with
their lives. Varnell lost all his per-
sonal belongings valued at several
thousand dollars. Hendricks, with his
wife ahead of him and his boy in his
arms, was descending the fire escape
Senator's Superstitions.
The Baltimore Sun has collected i