Putnam patriot. [volume] (Putnam, Conn.) 1872-1962, 1914-03-13
OVER So DIE IN
FIRE IN ST. LOUIS
Home of Missouri A. c. and Beat
mems Hank Destroyed
s1.3C0 coo BU7lED III RUINS
Fallen Walls Cover st,34o,ooo in
Vaults Of soatren's Bank on the
Ground Floor-Aucitor Of Ford
Motor Co. Sufocated.

ST. Louis.-Thirty-fi persons per
ished in the fire which destroyed the
Missouri Athletic Club, at Tenth
street and Washington avenue, Off
cials OF the club estimated. Eight
bodies are at the morgue. The death
toll may run as high as 50 as several
guests are believed to have spent the
night at the club, whose names were
unknown to the officials.
The flames which caused the worst
holocaust in the history Of st. Louis,
began at 1:50 a. m. when six inch
gas main Is believed to have burst in
the club kitchen on the third floor
and the flames, following the explosion
burst straight through the building TO
the roof
The fire caused property loss OF
approximately 100000.
on the Washington avenue side, the
walls stand sheer and unsupported al
most It's full length. The floors have
dropped down inside to the third
floor All The west wall except a
small portion to the north is stand
ing and so IS the north wall which
is shaky A portion OF the east wall
of the club building fell at 2:10 p. III.
Before the wallis Of the burning
building fell fremen managed TO
reach the sixth floor by means OF
ladders. and there found the body OF
J. Martin Hickey of St. Paul, auditor
of the Ford Motor Co Mr.. Hickey
had been sHffocated. and his body
was almost destroyed by the flames.
Many OF the guests, driven to the
windows as the flames burst into their
rooms. jumped TO the street when
they could stand The heat no longer.
Two were killed in this way and sew
eral were SO badly injured that they
may die. Others. it is believed, per
ished as Hickey did, and their bodies
were carried down in the flaming
debris when the floors fell in.
Thirteen men escaped from the
NTH floor of the building by sliding
down rope made out of sheets.
The building was owned by the
Boatmens Bank, which occupied part
of the first floor. The bank opened
temporary quarters next morning in a
building four blocks away. In the
vaults of the burned building. bank
officials said. were s1,340.0 900 in cur
feney and $4,000 in coin
When the fremen arrived a few min
utes after the fire was discovered, the
flames were shooting cut of the roof
and the windows above the second
floor Men We're jumping from win
aoWs. others we're climbing down
ropes made Of bedelothes.
Heroism bordering on the super
N aaa eas ess ibited, both = ATcHen
and guests at the club. The fre-fight-
ers time and again lodged one falling
wall. only to find themselves under
another lettering mass of granite and
trick.
The telephone operator, a young
boy. remained at his post on the
ground floor even after the fremen
began pouring water into the build
nR. Many eff the guests credited Their
escape TO him.
Theodore Levy. of Louisville, Ky.
clung to a windowsill until both his
hands were soorched almost black.
Just as he was about to let go, a fire.
man grasped him about the waist and
carried him down a ladder. Al the
City Hospital. Levy later said two
OF the men who had been killed jump
ed from the window to which he had
chung