Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-04-17
FIVE BURNED IN
FIRE HORROR AT
SAN FRANCISCO
FOUR CHARRED BODIES NOT
IDENTIFIED
MANY OTHERS THOUGHT TO BE
BURIED IN THE RUINS
Fire Trap of Which Frequent Conn
plant Had Been Made at Last Full
fills phecies-Dramatlc
Scene
IBy Associated Press. ]

q AN FRANCISCO, April l6.-No
more bodies have been found In
~ the ruins of the Hotel st. George,
at Howard and Eighth streets, In the
destruction of when shorty pelore
daylight this morning at least five per-
sons were burned to death and seVeral
others were injured
After digging in the smoldering pile
of ashes until late tonight the nremeIi
gave up their search for the charred
remains of other victims believed TO be
buried there.
The firemen declare that now the
fire is out 1t Is not a part of their duty
to dig through the ruins for Dodles OF
victims, and this work will be taken
up tomorrow by the coroners once.
Aside from the five victims whose
charred skeletons were taken out to-
day only five persons are SAID 10 pe
missing according to the register Oh
the lodging house, which was saved.
That a much larger number of Its oc-
cupants were not incinerated is re-
rarded as remarkable, considering the
construction of the building and the
rapidly with which 1t burned.
The building is declared to have been
one of the worst fire traps In the city,
and thorough investigation is prom
ised by Coroner Leland.
Ten Are Missing
The register shows that 172 people
were in the lodging house last night.
OF these. 1862 have been accounted Tor
and ten are missing. Five charred
bodies are at the morgue, one OF when
has been identified as that of Charles
II Johnson, and four are still uniden-
tilted. The following are missing:
Edward Kelly,
John Burrell,
John Coyle,
A. H. Frazier,
j. Gormley,
John Dunn,
G. Savy.
James Mcneil,
- Donnelly.
Five charred and blackened bodies,
burned beyond all recognition, We're
taken from the smoking pile of debris
that marks the site of the st. George
hotel. a lodging house destroyed by
fire that swept through a quarter OF a
block between and 4 \ O'Clock this
morning. Only the outlying boundary
of the glowing ash pile has been moved
by the firemen, and 1t is believed that
the searchers have yet to uncover at
least a dozen more bodies.
Four of the corpses at the morgue
are those of men presumed to have
been dodgers. The fifth is the skeleton
of boy about 10 years OF age.
Hotel a Fire Trap
ID. S. Cartwright, a carpenter, form
erly of Salem, Ore, and said to have
possessed considerable money. was
terribly burned about the head and
body, and no hopes are felt for his
recovery. Nine others slightly injured
are:
Patrick Guerin, John Neil, John
dickson, John Main. John Potts.
James Rogers, William Mckinley, Don
Haggarty and James Campbell.
The hotel was a three-story frame
building and burned so rapidly that
none of the 1870 guests had time to
dress. Many escaped by jumping to
the roof of an adjoining workshop.
Scores clambered down the ladders OF
the firemen and the fire escapes, and
at least four jumped to safety. 1t is
not known how many were unable to
avail themselves of any of these means
of escape.
When the fire was discovered, shortly
after o'clock, Night Clerk Arthur
Gronhk, three or four other employees
and Policeman w. f. Kruger ran
through the house arousing the sleeping
tenants. In the smoke-f1lled halls they
directed the half crazed men to the
exits Great confusion and panic pre-