Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1913-12-12
28 HOMELESS MEN
PERISH IN FLAMES
LITTLE ON BODIES TO AID IN WORK
OF IDENTIFICATION.
CAUSE OF FIRE NOT KNOWN
Low'Pnced Lodging House In Boston the
Scene Of Ho.ocaust-Many Were I'm.
able to Reach Fire Escapes-In-
vestigations Being Made.

Boston, Mass.-The fire which cost thu
lives OF twent-eight homeless men in
the Arcadia Hotel, a low.priced lodging
house in the South End district, became
the subject Of eight separate inyestiga.
tioHs. Some of these were aimed At
determining where lay responsibility for
the conditions which made the loss of
lie so large, and others were directed
Seward d~cvising measures to protect
hundreds OF other men forced BY cir.
cumstances to seek shelter in similar
places.
Most important of the investigations
was that begun by the grand jury. Di-
rccted by District Attorney Pclleticr,
the jurymen visited the hotel while the
ruins were still smouldcring. They saw
the remains of cots laid side by side in
q general dormitory on the fifth floor,
and narrow, box-like rooms on floors be-
low, in which privacy was obtained by
inmates for n few cents more than was
paid by the dormitory occupants.
The cause Of the fire was not deter.
mined.
A large quantity Of painters mate.
rails, lVstrict Attorney P%ellctier said,
was found in n closet on the second
floor, but apparently it had not been
touched by the flames.
Intap thu intr u,,,I 10 Az, IT,, L..
pital morRue, where Medical Examiner
Timothy j. Leary pointed out that in
nearly every instance death had been
caused by suffocation, although in two
or three eases it was evident that fire
ended the lives.
None of the men found dead have been
identified. Two of the injured taken
to the city hospital, William Sullivan
and George f. Adams, died.
Search of the bodies developed little to
assist in Identification. 1t revealed tho
financial circumstance of the men when
only $l.47 was gathered from the effects
OF all the victims.
The fire apparently started in q hall
way closet on the street floor. The
names swept up the wooden stairways
burned through the roof. Accord.
Ing to William Walsh, the night clerk,
there were 17s dodgers in the building
the fire was discovered by a pass
newsboy. After turning in an alarm
be rushed into the building, awakening
ele nlen with his shouts. .
The top floor was one large room,
nlled with cots and hunks. On the
floor, where the loss of life was
heaviest, there were thirty small rooms
with two cots in each. A hallway ran
through the center. Nearly all those oc-
rooms in front of the building
The mel in the rear rooms
on the fire escape had locked the
doors when they went to bed and those
IN front were unable to relch the fir.
When the iiremen arrived flames were
'%hooting twenty feet in the air from
on the fourth and fifth floors.
fire escapes and roof a throng of
panle-strieken men struggled. Despite
of assurance from below, three
men jumped from the roof. Two were
instantly killed. The third had wrap. '
ped a mattress about himself and es. ,
'apcd with Il few bruises. =
Lie nets were stretched and many
men were rescued in this manner. MANY !
others were taken down ladders with
he flames sweeping about them. The ,
intense heat soon drove the fremcn from ,
heir ladders and made it necessary TO ,
light the fire from the street and from .
he elevated railway structure. ,