Little Falls herald., 1914-03-13
fataIitieSdtSt,L0uiS
Fire Unknown.
FLAMES SPREAD FAST
Clerks Give Early Warning, bul
Many Guests Are Trapped
on Upper Floors.

to be dead, twenty-six or twenty.
seven are unaccounted for and, it is
feared, perished, and about twenty.
nine injured as result of fire which
destroyed the seven-story building oc.
cupfed by the Missouri Athletic club.
The building was owned by the
Boatsmen's bank, which occupied part
Of the first floor. In the vaults of the
burned building bank officials said
are $1,S49,00O in currency and $27,-
600 in coin. This money, it is be-
lieved, is intact.
. Uncertainty as to the number of
men in the building when the fire
broke out made it difficult to deter
mine the exact number of missing.
Jack Reisinger, night clerk at the
club, said forty-five club members had
rooms at the club and that the regis
tration of guests brought the total
number there for the night to seventy.
five. The cause of the fire is unknown.
1t 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 sixth-story window.
Woman Discovers Blaze.
The fire was discovered by a won.
an who was waiting with her escort
for a taxicab. Looking out of the win
dow of the club house she saw the
reflection of the flames in plate,
glass window across the street.
The clerk, Jack Reisinger, and the
night telephone operator, Norman
Roe, began awakening the guests. Roe
rang the telephone in ninety-eight
sleeping rooms. Reisinger rushed to
the Turkish bath establishment to
arouse any guests that might be
there. Then he ran back to the first
floor and tried to save the register of
the club. In this he failed, he said.
The register is believed to be lost.
Reisinger then rushed into the ele.
vator and went to the fifth floor.
There he awakened Robert C. McGill,
house manager, and Mrs. McGill. Mr..
and Mrs. McGill refused to leave the
building until they had aroused the
guests in thirty-eight rooms.
When the firemen arrived, few
minutes after the blaze was discov-
cred, the flames were shooting out of
the roof and all the windows above
the second floor. Men were jumping
from windows, others were climbing
down ropes made of bed clothing tied
together.
Many Jump From the Windows.
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 clothes, apparently
wild, until they were forcibly carried
into neighboring hotels.
Heroism bordering OH the superhu.
man was exhibited both by firemen
and guests at the club. The fire
fighters, time and again, lodged one
falling wall only to find themselves
under another tcttering mass Of
granite and brick.
Theodore Levy Of Louisville, KY,
clung to a windowsiH until both his
hands were scorc11ed almost black.
Just as he was about to let go a fire.
man grasped him about the waist and
took him to the ground. The known
dead are:
L. A. Ruff, st. Louis, buyer for q
wholesale hardware company.
A. J. Odegaard, st. Louis, sales
agent railway supply company.
Edwin G. Kessler, st. Louis, cashier
wire company, killed in leap from
sixth floor.
John M. Hickey, treasurer and audi:
tor Ford Manufacturing company, St.
Paul.
James D. Reilly, contractor OF st.: