Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-03-10

St. Louis, No., March 9.-6e-
tween thirty and thirty-five dead
was the estimate this afternoon by
officers Of the Missouri Athletic
club as the number who perlshed
In the fire that destroyed the club
building here today. Six bodies
are in the moreue. The bodies OF
the twenty-five or thirty unac- Z
counted for are believed to be in
the ruins.
st. Louis, Mo- March Six per
sons are known to be dead and rs or
81 are unaccounted for, and 1t Is
feared have perished, about nine are
injured in fire that destroyed the
seten story building of the Missouri
Athletic club today The loss is esti'
mated at more than S350.000
The fire, which broke out about 2
o'c'ock this 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 until tonight or tomorrow
The building was owned by the Boat
mans bank. which occupied part OF
the first floor. The bank opened tenn
porory quarters this morning in a
luilding four blocks away. In the
vaults Of the burned building, bank Of
ticials said. are s1,349,000 in currency
and $1,000 in coin. This money, it
is believed is intact.
The building was fully covered by
insurance. The loss to adjoining build
ipGs is estimated at SAG, 600 ..s---. y3.s. y34.s.
Hard to Determine Dead.
Uncertainty as to the number of
men in the building when the fire
broke out made it difficult to determine
the exact number of missing. Jack
Teisinger. night clerk at the club, said
fnrty-fve club members had rooms
tf'Hre and that the registration of
srests brought the total number at the
c'',h for the night OF Is. Whether all
C the regular guests were in their
rooms when the fire broke out is not
RnnEn.
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 that an adjoining
par: Of the floor seemed to have
blown upward. indicating that the fire
was due to an explosion. A fireman
who climbed a fire escape of the
building siX hours after the fire was
discovered found the blaze still burn
iuc on the fifth and seventh floors and
the whole interior caved in.
The fire is believed to have started
on i've third floor of the building,
which was occupied by the dining
room On this floor, one man was
found dead. Two of the others known
to be dead, jumped from sixth story
window.
Woman Sounds Alarm.
The fire was discovered by an 'un-
identified woman who was waiting
with her escort for taXicab. Look
ing out of the window of the club
house. she saw the reflection of the
flames in 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,
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 tlfed to save the register of the
club s. In this he failed. He said the
register was knocked from his hands
by man who ran through the lobby
and is believed to have been lost.
Reisinger then rushed into the
elevator and went to the fifth floor.
There he awakened Robert c. McGill,
house manager and Mrs. McGill. Mr.:
and Mrs McGil1 refused to leave the
building until they had aroused guests
in thirty-eight rooms. ......
One hundred and thirty-tive persons
were registered at the club last night.
How many of these were in the build
ing at the time of the fire is unknown.
OF those who were in the club thirty
five have been accounted for. The
dead whose bodies have been recov-
cred are John Martin Hickey of St.
Paul, Mimi, James Riley and an un-
Identified man.
The property damage is estimated
at more than $1,OO0,O00.
In the vaults of the bank. covered by
the ruins, are more than $1,O00,000 in
currency and $4,000 in coin.
Fire Gets Big Start.
When the firemen arrived on the
scene few minutes after the blaze
was discovered, the flames were shoot
ng out of the roof and all the windows
,bove the second floor. Men were
umping from windows and others
we're climbing down ropes maSe of
edclothes tied together. More than
Oxen jumped several stories to the
4 Do y aTi