The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-10
23 to 29 Occupants of Mis- sOuri Athletic Club Are
 UnaccOunted For
FIREMEN CONTINUE
 SEARCH FOR BODIES
Stories of Sensational Escapes Told by Suryivors-COnflagr the Most Disastrous in His
 tory of the City

st. Louis. March 0.--rhat from 30 to 35 of the guests of the Missouri Athletic club perished from the flames that destroyed the building this morn ing, is the belief of officers of the club tonight.
 md from 23 to 2O occupants of the structure nre still upsccounted for. At sundown tonight firemcn continued the search for bodies in the smouIdering ruins and the glare of searchlights.
 Though committed early today opened headauarters at the Press club and asked all who were guests of the Missouri Athletic club last night to re- port, 30 to s5 did not register and hourly the feeling grew that all these were lost.
 Hope was given by Fire Chief Swing. ley late today that tNe water could be pumped out of the ruins tonight and that search for bodies might then be re- sumed
 While the search continued today, II persons injured in the fire were under treatment at public and private hospit- als.
 There was much difficulty in identify ing recovered bodies of the dead and some were identified under two or three different names.
 Most Serious in City's History
 The blaze was the most serious as to fatalities of any fire in the city's his tory. It completely wrecked the seven story building occupied jointly by the Missouri Athletic club and by the Boat mems bank, caused property loss estl- mated at S466.oO0, and forced the aban- donment of the intercollegiate track meet to have been held in St. Louis un- der the auspices of the club Saturday night The cause of the fire still was mystery tonight Reports that the blaze was accompanied by n terrific ex- plosion indicating that the fire was due to efforts of bank robbers to dyna- mite the Boatmens bank were uncon- firmed Reports of explosions were de- nied by the night watchman of the bank
 In the vaults of the Boatmen's bank which occupied part of first floor of the building. were more than Si.3O00Oo in currency. The vaults were nnharmed, the bank officials reported. The bank opened today in temporary quarters a few blocks away.
 The number of the guests who had rooms in the clubhouse either perma- nently or for the night was about 100. Many escaped. some checked out before the fire, others, it Is thought were not there when the flames broke out: some were injured in leaving the clubhouse, and the rest are listed among the dead or unaccounted for.
 Discovered by Woman The fire was discovered by a woman who was waiting in the club lobby for her escort. She saw the reflection of the flames in the plate glass windows across the street.
 Thirty-eight guests on the fifth floor were awakened by Mir. and Mrs. Robert Magill. who refused to leave until they had given the alarm to all within reach. Mir. Magill was house manager of the club. Mrs Magill was badly burned Dramatic escapes were numerous. One of the most spectacular was that of 12 or 13 men who descended from q fifth floor window to the roof of an adjoining building by means of sheets. One guest escaped by leaping over a chasm 10 feet wide to the roof of an adjoining build ing.
 While the firemen were at work on the Fourth street side the wall facing that street collapsed from the fourth floor up. The firemen fled to q building across the street and escaped One fire man was hit and his leg broken Sections of the east wall fell from time to time throughout the day. List of Injured Following is revised list of the in- jured:
 Theodore Levy. salesman. treated al city dispensary for cut hands; rescued 
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