The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1921-08-24
MANY LOSE LIVES
IN HOTEL FIRE
At Least Twelve Perish in
Macon, Ga.
ONLY FOUR
BODIES FOUND
AS Result OF Fire Thought to have
Originated In. Drug Store Basement,
Big Loss of Life and Property In
Macon, Ga, Hotel Building.

Macon, Ga, Hotel Building.
Macon, Ca, Aug. 3.-Work of ex-
ploring the ruins Of the Brown House
which was completely DESTROYED by
hre at an early hour this morning and
where more than dozen bodies arc
believed to be buried, stopped at sun
down tonight
Building Inspector f. Joe Bishop,
In charge Of the hunt for bodies. an
nounced that the search will be re-
sumed ut dasSlignt tomBrrow morn
ing with force Of 100 convicts from
me county and city chain gangs.
we will know before noon" he
said, Just how many bodies are in
the debris. We expect to find at
least 10, possibly more. | can al
most put my fingers on the spot
where | believe there are two bodies. F"
Coroner Lee Wages announced this
afternoon that the coroner's jury had
concluded that an explosion OF es-
Gaping gas in the basement of the
Brunner Drug company caused the
fire.
The blast cut hole through the
MOTEL from the basement to the roof.
tore out the stairways and wrecked
the elevator after driving it upward.
t1re escapes at the rear of the build
ing were cnvelooed in flames an In
slant later and fire also was burst
ing from every window in the big
brick structure
1t Is understood that the state fire
marshal will arrive here in the morn
Ing to aid In the investigation that
is >unday way. Facts obtained by 10
cal city and county officials and the
state fire marshal will be laid be-
fore the Bihb county grand jury at It's
next session.
Tonight. when work of exploring
the ruins OF the burned hotel stop
ped for the night, four bodies lay
in a local undertaking establishment
only three Of which had been iden-
tilted. Eight persons We're in the
Macon hospital suffering from seri-
GUS burns and broken bones received
from the fire and in jumping from
second and third floor windows.
Three other persons, whose names
have not been obtained and who are
known to have jumped from the
blazing structure, were attended by
private physicians and left on the
train for Atlanta during the fore
noon.
The list Of known missing mounted
tonight to seven, but there were
many inquiries from all parts Of
Georgia for persons whom it is foarad
were in the hotel
Horace Wecms, clerk at the Brown
House, son OF the proprietor, said
that SS of the 81 rooms in the hotel
were filled, some with two beds in
each room. He said that there were
more than 100 guests, many OF them
tourists who were passing through
the city. The tourists are tho ones
that are causing the most concern To-
cally, for there is no way to obtain
a check on them, the hotel register PC
ing destroyed in the fire.
Thousands OF persons watched the
fire and visited the scene through
out the day They refused to give up
their vigil even after thunderstorm
broke over them and rain began to
descend in the late afternoon.
There was nothing left but black
ened brick wall at the front and
Jagged columns in the center OF the
structure. The entire side wall on
the Plub street side had been COM
pletely demolished by the force Of
the explosion and by the collapse of
the floors.
Only small section OF the orig
inal building, built long before the
Confederate war, remained intact,
with foors still clinging to the side
walls, although the ceilings had fall
en-. IT. was in exploring one OF these
ledges, this morning that flremen
came upon two bodies, one OF which
was identified as John i. Collins. The
other body, which lay only a few feet
away with hands clasped and out
stretched, has not been identified. The
unidentified man is that OF person
weighing 200 pounds and above five