The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1912-07-25
THOUSAND ISLAND PARK
is SWEPT BY FIRE


Special.LThe Columbian Hotel and
100 cottages were destroyed here
Tuesday by fire during excitement akin
to panic on the part of hundreds of
summer residents. Many women and
men tainted from fright and eNhaus-
ton due to their efforts to save their
belongings under the combined heat
Of sun ana flames and property loss
had TO be dsregarded while lives were
being saved.
1t was believed at one time that
every building on the park, which oc-
cupics the whole Of one Of the largest
and most thickly populated of the
Thousand ISLANDS and is the great
summer community of the Methodist
Church, would be destroyed. The hun
dreds of persons who lived in the no
tel and cottages i'm the path of the
flames were pushed back so rapidly
10y the intense heat and the advance
of the flames that property brought
out of hotels and cottages was de-
stroyed i'm plain sight.
Women in Mysteries.
At last, with a number of persons
lying PROSTATE from heat exhaustion,
with women in Mysteries or weeping
and wringing their hands, the entire
summer colony stood helplessly watch
ing the. fire burn towards the waters
cage until the arrival of the fre-fight-
ing apparatus from nearby islands and
men to man it. a number of cottages
were then saved and last night shell
tered the homeless.
The Columbian Hotel. n four-story
ram bling, frame structure, with broad
Verandas and high gables, stood near
| the water 1t contained $50 rooms
| ana most of them were rented. On
one side was the Wellesley House, an
other large hotel, and on the other
stores and business structures. Back
of this the cottages spread out like
| n fan, and in the midst of them stood
the chapel and chatauQua buildings.
| Funeral services for Mrs. Lewis Ben
| edict were being held in the chapel
| at 1 o'clock Tuesday afternoon and
many were gathered there. The gen.
eral store of II. II. Halter, in the an
mex of the Wellesley Hotel, was locked
| because the proprietor and mem bers
| of his family were at the funeral. Fire
started in the store and was discov-
| ereo by Joseph ROthSchild. When he
| found the store locked he ran to the
| chapel and disturbed the funeral SER
vices by sounding a furious alarm on
the bell. Men among the mOurners
ran out and followed Rothschld to
the fire.
When the, door of the store was
| broken in the fire was discovered to
! nave furious Roadway, and appeals for
/ aid were sent in every direction. Fire
! apparatus on the island was brought
out, but the fire continued to gain, and
| calls for assistance were sent to the
! tlre department at ClaytOn Alexandria
! Bay and GannOQue.
The fire burned away from the
! Wellesley House, which was badly
/ damaged, and ate into the buildings in
! the rear of the Columbia Hotel. The
! entire block was ablaze in less than
! hlteen minutes after the first alarm
had been sounded and the gable of the
! hotel began to smoke and show little
! tongues of flame.
By this time practically every per-
son on the island, which was filed with
| a summer population of hundreds, was
| on the scene of the fire. Most OF them
| We're almost frantic from fright and
| ed the men who were trying to save
valua bles and arrest the progress of
the flames.
Cries of mothers searching for their
| children and Of children who could not
| ind their parents, rising above the
4 crackle and roar of the flames famed
by a fifteen-mile wind, wrought per-
( no one could work in an organized
/ manner
Men ran before the flames, burdened
! with bedding, rugs and heavy furni-
/ ture, while they left valuableS behind
/ and then both watchers and workers
| began to drop fainting to the ground
Physicians were kept busy treating
| these cases as the victims were carried
/ back out of danger.
Woman Leads ReScuerS.
Mrs. William TouSey, ninety-twC
years old and one of the best known
persons in the park, seemed to be the
only one not affected by the excite
first and let property go, and hersel
started on n round of the cottages to-
ward which the flames were ther
| sweeping.