The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1914-03-12

night to rs. whether all OF ther eEular
guests were In their rooms when the
fire broke out Is moi known.
The cause or the fire Is unknown.
Assistant Fire Chief Rucker said he
found the floor about the desk OF the
clerk caved I'm, but that an adjoining
part OF the floor seemed to have been
blown upward, indicating the fire was
due to an explosion. A fireman who
climbed a fire escape or the building
six hours after the fire was discovered.
found the blaze still burning on the
fifth and seventh floors and the whole
interior caved in. The fiji > is believed
to have started on the third floor OF the
building which was occupied by the
dining room. On this floor one man
was found dead. The two others,
known to be dead. Jumped from q sixth
story window.
Woman Discovers Fire.
The fire was discovered by an un-
Identified woman who was waiting with
her escor for q taxIcab. Looking out
OF the window of the club house she
saw the reflection Of the flames in a
plate glass window across the street.
Rushing to the clerk OF the Missouri
Athletic club, she cried fire" The
clerk, Jack Reisinger, and the night
telephone operator, Norman Roe, be-
gan awakening the guests. Roe rang
NAAS "a 20 ASSRANl VII
Reisinger rushed to the Turkish bath
rooms to arouse any guests that might
be there. Then he ran to the first floor
and tried to save the register OF the
club. In this he failed. The register
was knocked from his hands by a man
who ran through the lobby and is be-
lieved to have been lost. Reisinger
then rushed into the elevator and went
to the fifth floor. There he awakened
Robert G. McGill. house manager, and
Mrs. McGil1. Mr.. and Mrs. McGill re-
fused to leave the building until they
had aroused guests in 3S rooms.
Meanwhile a fire alarm had been
turned in, presumably by the night
Waterman Of the Boatmen's bank. This
Waterman, Charles Baumann. was
coming up stairs from the basement
when he saw the reflection Of flames
on the walls and ceiling Of h bank.
He started for the Washington avenue,
or main entrance Of the club. to arouse
the guests. The heat in the lobby
drove him back.
Jump From Windows.
Additional alarms were sounded and
apparatus was rushed to the scene
from all parts OF the city. When the
firemen arrived men were jumping
from windows in their night clothing.
others were clinging to window stills
around which smoke was pouring, and
others were climbing down fire escapes.
Some were making p out OF sheets
preparatory to lowering themselves
from the windows. aar
Flames bursting through the third
story windows cut off the guests from
side. Streams Of water were turned
on the fire escape at the third floor and
as firemen called out encouraging
words, several persons descended
through the streams to safety.
After the fire had been burning an
hour, the wall on the Fourth street side
collapsed from the fourth floor up.
Firemen fell back to the wall of a
building at the opposite side of the
street and thus escaped the falling
bricks. One of the firemen, however,
was struck by a brick. His leg was
broken.
Assistant Fire Chief Rucker said he
heard three explosions as he reached
the burning building. At first the
theory was advanced that the x
plosions were the work Of safe blowers,
who had tried to rob the bank. Later,
It was suggested hat what seemed to
be the sound Of explosions was the
dropping of elevators to the basement.
Many Feats Of Heroism.
When the flremen arrived on the
scene a few minutes after the blaze
was discovered. the flames were shoot
ing out Of the roof and all the windows
above the second floor. Men were
jumping from windows and others
were climbing down ropes made of bed
clothes tied together.
More than a dozen jumped several
stories to the roofs of adjoining build
ings and escaped with broken legs or
less serious injuries. Those who did
escape ran about the streets in bath
robes or night clothing apparently wild
until they were forcibly carried into
neighboring hotels.
Heroism bordering on the superhu-
man was exhibited both by 1remen and
guests at the club. The fire fighters
time and again lodged one falling wall
only to find themselves under another
tottering mass of granite and brick. ,
Two Jump Past Him to Death.
Theodore Levy, Of Louisville. KY,
hung to a window sill until both his
hands were scorched almost black.
lust as he was about to let go, a fire;
man grasped him about the waist n
carried him down a ladder. At the city
hospital Levy later declared two Of the
men who had been killed jumped from
the window to which he chung until
rescued, ..a..,.. 2. '
Robert C. Magill, manager of the
club, and his wife, were reused by the
smoke. ~ -
They discovered the fire In the din
ing room on the third floor and before
seeking their own safety rushed up
and down the halls knocking on doors
and waking guests. Both were badly
burned about he face, hands and feet.
All the municipal ambulances and
police patrol wagons and automobiles
Were pressed into service to carry the
wounded to the hospital.
Among those who were in the club
at the time Of the fire. but escaped,
was Walter Frisch, financial agent of
the Sc. Louis Federal league baseball
club. Mordecai Brown, manager of
the club, who arrived here from New
York last night remained at the club
until a few hours before the fire was
discovered.
General Fire Threatened.
AS 'he walls and fioors caved in they
sent showers of burning embers as big
sS ones fist on to the roofs OF the
Aeighboring buildings and for a time
threatened to cause a general con-
fagration in the heart of the retail dis
trict. To prevent this, all tho fire
fighting apparatus OF the city was
brought to the scene
The telephone operator. a young boy,
remained at his post on the ground
fnpr axyan affnr Tho Hraranp hnaa-