The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1914-03-12

guests were in their rooms when the
fire broke out is not known.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
Assistant Fire Chief Rucker said he
found the floor about the desk Of the
clerk caved in, but that an adjoining
part of the floor seemed to nave been
blown upward, indicating the fire was
due to an explosion. A fireman who
climbed a fire sca of 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 fire is believed
to have started on the third floor of the
building which vas occupied by the
was found dead. The W. others.
known to be dead, Jumped from a sixth
story window.
Woman Discovers Fire.
The fire was discovered by an un-
identified woman who was waiting with
her escort for a taXicab. Looking u
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
the telephone in SO sleeping. rooms.
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 elevate and went
to the fifth floor. There he awakened
Robert c. McGill, house manager. and
Mrs. McGill. Mr.. n Mrs. McGin re-
fused to leave the building until they
/ had lrn,ycn1 o7JncfS in 90 Ynnn1C
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
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 wfndow stills
around which smoke was pouring, and
others were climbing down fire escapes
Some were making ropes u of sheets
preparatory to lowering themselves
from the windows.
Flames bursting through the third
story windows cut off the guests from
the fire escape on the Fourth street
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 IN h 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 Ruclzer aid he
heard three explosions as he reached
the burning building. At first the
theory was advanced that the ex-
plosions were the work of safe blowers
who had tried to rob the bank. Later
it was suggested hat what seemed tc
be the III Of explosions was the
dropping of elevators to the basement
Many Feats of Heroism.
When the f1remen 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
Wei SllAllDliIS oo~h loPSo d. I'll DSl
clothes tied together.
More than a dozen jumped severe
stories to the roofs of adjoining build
ings n escaped with broken legs Oh
less serious injuries. Those who die
escape ran about the streets in batt
robes or night clothing apparently wilc
until they were forcibly carried ntt
neighboring hotels.
Heroism bordering on the superhu.
man was exhibited both by firemen ant
1 $500 = -II l. g. IL
time n again lodged n falling wal
only to find themselves under anothe
lettering mass of granite and brick.
Two Jump Past Him to Death.
3 Theodore Levy, of Louisville, KY.
hung to a window sill until both hi!
hands were scorched almost black
Just as he was about to let go, a fire
, man grasped him about the waist ant
t carried him down a ladder. At the cit.
hospital Levy later declared two of thu
. men who had been killed jumped from
the window to which he chung unit
) rescued.
Robert c. Magill, manager of tn
| club, and his wife, were reused by TIL
smoke.
They discovered the fire in the din
ing room on the third floor and befor
seeking their own safety rushed u
and down the halls knocking or door
and waking guests. Both were badl,
S buIlJeu dDOut llle ldce, IdiidS anu Lee
All the municipal ambulances an,
police patrol wagons n automobile
were pressed into service to carry tn
@ wounded to the hospital.
Among those who We're in the clu
r at the time of the fire, but escaped
was Walter Frisch, financial agent O
E the st. Louis Federal league baseball
club. Mordecai Brown, manager @
: the club, who arrived here from Ney
/: York last night remained at the c1u
until a few hours before the fire wa
discovered.
; General Fire Threatened.
I AS 'he walls and doors caved in the
4 Sent showers of burning embers as hi
I as ones fist on to the roofs OF tn
leighboring buildings and for a tim
: threatened to cause a general con
fiagration in the heart of the retail dis
1 trict To prevent this, all the fr
fighting apparatus of the city wa
S brought to the scene.
The telephone operator, a young DO,
remained at his post on the groun
ioor even after the firemen bega
$ pouring water into h building. Man
of the guests credited their escape t
It~, 4 q ~saI-1J IL. e..