The Cordova daily times., 1921-08-20
ONE DEAD FROM EXPLOSION IN
 TREAT RYDER
(Hyder Miner, July 27)


 | destroyer and property loss approxi- | nately twelve thousand dollars, is the l toll by a fire which, starting In the | Hotel Beach about o'clock last Sat urday morning, spread with such ra- l pidity that for time it appeared as | .hough only miracle could save the entire built.up portion of tide flats.
 The fire was caused by the explo- | sion of a kerosene lamp in room 10 opposite the head of the stairway in | !he center of the hotel. Fred Card, | who lost his life, was sleeping in a front room of the building and appar | ently did not awaken, the flames and smoke racing down the hallway and l Oyerpowering him in bed. The ptiful remnants of his body found in the ashes as soon as the fire was | extinguished. was under the bed springs, which had turned over az they fell from the top floor to the I ground. The head and limbs were l burned away and the portion Of the l trunk remaining was less than one foot in diameter.
 There were eleven rooms in the uotel and all were occupied. Most of the occupants lost what belongings they had with [ em, some of them making their escape without stitch of clothing. Mrs. Helen Estmere, who conducted the hotel, and Lance 1 Craine, who occupied a lower front 1 room and was reading, both succeed ed in reaching the top of the stairs with water but could do nothing to- ward subduing the blaze, and had just time to get down and out of the build | ing
 Meanwhile the alarm mad been | sounded and in a very few minutes many willing workers were helping remove the contents of other build. | ings in the vicinity. The Arctic Ci- gar Store adjoining the hotel was quickly ablaze. but most of the stock, | fixtures and decorations were taken out The personal belongings on the | Joss. The law office and living | quarters of C. II. Sundmacher and the home and carpenter shop of Max Priebe had no possible chance, so the former was dynamited, Charlie Lund placing tow charges which practically laid the building low and aroused the outlying portions of the town
 The three-story Alaskan hotel, the next building to the west, was saved by the power pump and hose which Scotty Patterson brought into action as soon as the fire started. Working with that hose in the narrow space intervening between the big hotel and the blaze was like being in an in- ferno. The heat was so intense that the roof and sides of the building were smoking, and the water. as it was thrown on, changed to steam. The efficiency of the fire fighting appara tus installed there could have received no more severe test, and by saving | the Alaskan the whole northerly and westerly part of the piled area was undoubtedly prevented from being wiped out.
 The most heroic battle with the de- vouring eleaent, however, occurred at the Miners hotel, where a bucket brigade lined up and refused to give ground, though the building was ablaze time after time Ladders were | placed on the roof from the side op- posite the fire, and water was kept on its way up as fast as buckets could | be passed. One of the ladders on which Sam Potts, Felix Seppi and Hol- i ger Johnson were working, tore loose from the peak, and with the three men fell to the tide flats, a distance of forty feet or more. How the men escaped mortal injury, no one has yet succeeded in figuring out. Potts was severely bruised about the side and chest but no bones broken, and he was able to be around Monday. John son suffered a severely sprained ankle and will not have the use of his foot
 for weeks; Seppi was cut across the temple and had a shoulder injured,
 but kept right on working. Upwards of a dozen were cut by glass or
 burned by boiling tar that dripped from the caves. Dr. Davis of Stew art was quickly on the scene and