Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1912-02-17
EXCITING MIDNIGHT FIRE
Laundry and Heating Plant at
Carvel Hall Gutted by Flames
-Firemen and Others In
jured.
MAN MARROW ESCAPES,
Colored Waiter Who Received Internal
Injuries is Slightly Improved This
Morning.

Two firemen were overcome by
smoke, one colored waiter who slept
in the building suffered serious inter
nal injuries and number of other
firemen and members of the working
force of Carvel Hall were slightly
injured when the laundry and steam
heating plant of the hotel caught
fire shortly after midnight this
morning.
The third floor of the building,
which is of frame construction. was
occupied by the chef, cooks, walters
and other help, and when the flames
were discovered in room at the head
of the stairs. these were shut in
and compelled to make good their
escape through windows and down
pipes on the outside of the struc.
| ture.
Driven to jump from the furnace
his room had been turned into, Archie
| darlington, cUlored waiter, plunged
headlong from the third story win
| dow into a bricked ash pit below, and
was carried unconscious into the grill
room of the hotel, from where he
was later removed to the Emergency
Hospital when it was found that he
had suffered severe internal injuries.
AT the hospital this morning it was
said that he was slightly improved
and would probably recover.
| Several of the other men sleeping in
the building were taken out with lad
ders raised agai 1st the blazing sides
of the structure by the local volunteer
! firemen. They were attended by
I physicians and put to bed in tempo
rarily fixed rooms on the basement
| floor of the hotel, near by.
With their escape by the halls and
stairways cut off and unable to stand
their dangerous quarters until their
mates could get ladder to the win
| dow of the narrow room in which they
were penned, Frank Baker and Charles
| Tucker were overcome by smoke.
| When rescued both were unconscious
and for a time il was feared that
they, too, were badly hurt.
Recent excavations about the build
ing located only about 25 feet from the
hotel. which is the fashionable hostel
ry of Annapolis, caused many minor
| injuries, as the firemn and spectators
| plunged into them on the darkest
| side of the structure. Fire Marshal
| Phil L. Porter was one of those who
suffered in this way, getting his hands
| badly cut on the broken terra Gotta
| pipes at the bottom of the four-foot
ditch.
Aroused from their first sleep by the
glare of the blazing building so
shortly after getting between warm
| sheets. the guests of the hotel, in
| attire when they realized that the
flames we're so dangerously close to
| their domicie. As is always the
case in Annapolis, practically half
the towns residents turned out to
watch the firemen at work. Many
of the Legislators, who were stay
ing over the weekend, live in the
| hotel, and these were among the
motley crowd that stood about dur
ing the excitement.
Among these was Senator Andrew,
from Hartford county who, with his
wife and daughter, occupy rooms on
the side of the hotel nearest the burn
ed laundry. Judges James Alfred
4 L
Court of Appeals. were also among
those who were disturbed in their
slumbers and joined the hoard of
spectators. Many of the employees of
the hotel, it seems, had a habit of
saving their earnings and keeping
them in their clothing, and after first
getting themselves away from danger
these, in several instances added to
the excitement with their lamenta-
tions over fiame-eaten coin of the
realm. Luckiest of them was the
assistant cook who, when the building
was looked over this morning, dis.
covered that the only bit of his trous.
ers left was the bag-like pocket in
which reposed something over Sl00 ir
. slightly scorched but still good bills o1
small denominations.
By heroic work the firemen confined
the flames to the frame laundry build
ing, in which they were aided by the
tin roof that kept the blaze smothereC
| down. However, the whole third fool
of the building was completely gutteC
while the laundry, which occupied the
second floor, was also damaged By
fire and water. Fortunately the hote
heating plant, which is in the struc
ture, was on the basement level anC
this, while damaged, was kept in run
ming order and furnished warmth fol
the hotel guests when they turned
out 70 late breakfast this morning
One thing that the blaze did wal
to insure the passage of the Stat,
appropriation for the Annapolis vol
unteer firemen, of the vote of Senator
Andrew will help this cause along
: Because of the protection they ar,
pledged to give the State building
+. located here. the local fire companie
get an annual appropriation of $1,000
. After watching them at work las
| night, Senator Andrew announced him
self as for them, not only on the foo
of the Senate, but in whatever b.
could do before committees or other
wises