The Oskaloosa herald., 1914-03-12
Eight Bodies Recovered and II
Still in Debris.
REscUERS WORK ALL NIGHT
Entire Fire Department Fifty Police
men and Volunteers Hunt for Vic
tims-Oozen Men Slide
-. to Safety on Rope.


injured in a fire that destroyed the
seven.story building occupied by the
Missouri Athletic club. The property
loss is estimated at more than $780,
O00
The fire, which broke out about two
o'clock in the morning, was still burn.
ing at noon and Fire Chief Swingley
said it would be unsafe to send any
one into the ruins to search for the
missing before night,
Bank Owned the Building.
The building was owned by the
Boatmen's bank, which occupied part
OF the first floor. The bank opened
temporary quarters in building four
blocks away. In the vaults of the
burned building, officials aid, are ST.
$4,000 in currency and $4,000 in
coin. This money, 1t is believed, is
intact.
Uncertainty as TO the number of
men in the building when the fire
broke out made 1t difficult to ascer-
tain the number of missing. Jack
Reisinger, night clerk, said that 45
members had rooms at the club and
that the registration Of guests,
brought. the total number there for
the night to seventy-five. Some of the
regular guests, however, may not have
been in their rooms.
The directors of the Missouri Ath-
letic club appointed a committee OF
four to obtain a complete list of the
missing and of those who escaped.
Explosion Probable Cause.
The cause OF the fire is unknown
Assistant Fire Chief Tucker said he
found the floor about the desk OF the
clerk caved in, but an adjoining part
OF the floor seemed to have been
blown upward, indicating that the fire
was caused by an explosion. A fire.
man who climbed fire escape Of the
building six hours after the flames
were discovered found the fire still
and the whole interior caved in.
The fire was discovered by wom-
an, who vas waiting with her escort
for a taxicab. The name of the won.
an is not known. Looking ont OF the
window OF the clubhouse, she saw the
reflection of the flames in a plate
glass window across the street. Rush
ing tc the clerk of the club, she cried:
Fire" The clerk. Jack Reisinger,
and the night telephone operator Nor
man Roe, began awakening the guests.
Many Jump From Windows.
When the fremen arrived on the
scene the flames were shooting out of
the roof and all the windows above
the second floor. Men were jumping
from windows and others were de-
sccnding ropes made of bed clothes
tied together. More than a dozen
jumped several stories to the roofs
OF adjoining buildings and escaped
with broken legs or less serious in
juries. Heroism bordering on the
superhuman was exhibited both by
firemen and guests at the club. The
fire fighters time and again lodged
one falling wall, only to find them
selves under another lettering mass
OF granite and brick, Mrs. Robert
McGill, wife OF the manager OF the
club, was heroine OF the fire.
The telephone operator, young
boy, remained at his posi- on the
ground goor even after the fircmen be-
gsu pouring water into the building.
Many of the guests credited their es-
cape 10 him.
Thrilling Stories Are Told.
Thrilling stories OF the fire we're
told at the city hospital by persons
who were injured.
About IL men escaped from the
9th floor by descending a rope made
out of two sheets tied together. The
story of the escape was told by Lewis
GAYLORD, an advertising man OF New
York. Gaylord was in room on the
west side of the fifth floor. When he
took the room he examined the fire
escapes and noticed that the roof of
the building occupied by seed COM
pany was only Is feet below his win.
dow.
Gaylord was asleep when the. hre
broke out, but was awakened by
screams. Throwing on a bath robe,
he ran into the corridor. which then
was filed with smoke, and rushed to
the stairway. The carpet on the
stairs was ablaze. making escape inn
possible. The elevator shaft was a
furnace from top to bottom. He then
started for a window opening on the
roof of the seed store. ... .-... ..
Blind Man Pleads for Life. 3
In the corridor he heard some one
cry: I'm blind. Don't leave me here
to die" Gaylord made out, in the
smoke, the figure Of man cropping
along the wall. The man did not give
his name. Gaylord led him TO room
occupied by Henry Baker. He be
iieyed the man was blinded only tenn
porarily by the smoke. In Bakers
room Gaylord and the unidentified
bind man were Joined By nins cthera
A young man took command OF the
situation, and tying two sheets TO
eether. fastened one end Of the impro