The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-05-04
DOZEN OR MORE LIVES
LOST IN HOTEL HORROR
( "
Fort Wayne, Ind, Fire Trap Consumed Almost
in the TwinkIing Of an
Eye.
Unfortunate Guests Cut Off by Roaring Flames from Eeva-
tor and StairWayS.

Fort Wayne, Ind, May 3.-At least
twelve persons lost their lives in a fire
that destroyed the New Aveline hotel
here early today. 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 accurate means
of determining who are missing.
Known Dead.
R. S. johnson. Pana. III.
NJ. Hirsch New York.
j. b. Miller, ShebOygan, Wis.
J. F. Ellis, employee of Carson, Prize,
w. A. Pitcher. Fort Wayne salesman
d. S. F. Boyser & Co, Fort Wayne.
G. w. Deviny, salesman for Crawford
& Lehman. Philadelphia.
Three unidentified men,
One unidentified woman.
Known Missing.
E. b. Atty. Wabash. Ind.
Charles Benjamin, salesman for De-
troit Neckwear company, Detroit.
Mrs. Sarah Hathaway, Mishawaka'
Ind.
R. E. TRIBE. Delhart. Tex, a ranch
owner.
Among the injured were:
broken in leaping.
james A. Foster. Fort Wayne: burned
about face and head; at st. Joseph's hos
A. NJ Metee. Pittsburg. Pa; burned
about face, arms and legs.
lyman Campbell, jumped three stories;
bfdly shocked.
Charles Falls. Columbus. o.: Ieaped
three stories. cash in leg. confusion on
head and lacerated.
F. NJ Matthews. Columbus. o.: back
broken and burns and gashes; at st. Jo-
George A. sill. Philadelphia badly cut
and burned about face and arms.
Mrs. Agnes Adeau Miss Margaret
Meechan, Miss Anna Block and Nathan
Bell. all kitchen employees, burned and
blistered: at hospital.
F. c. Phillips, Calumet, Mich; face
burned and head seorched.
John Long, bartender; arms broken.
Charred Beyond Recognition.
The complete destruction of the interior
of the hotel makes the work of recover
ing bodies a difficult task. \ confused
. hsap of charred wood. bricks and twist
'Ssd girdes 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
Infantry company d and battery B of
the national guard are on duty and aid
ing< the fire and police forces to clear
aW p the debris.
Fire Discovered at $3.50 A. M.
The fire was discovered at $3.50 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 ap-
palling rapdity. drove him back. His
efforts however saved many lives.
The hotel was erected half a century
ago, and the woodwork was dry as tin
der. il burned like matchwood and with
in a 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
windows.
Compelled to Jump.
The fire department rescued many per-
sons by means OF ladders, but some,
frenzied by the onward rush Of the
flames, leaped from high windows to the
paved street.
R S johnson of Pana. Ill, jumped
nom the fifth story. His body struck a
6ylcOny and bounded far into the street
lie was a crushed and bleeding mass
when picked up and died short time
later in st. JOseph's hospital
As the flames increased. men and wo-
men 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 so were saved with comparative
ease. Soon the flames broke from the