Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1922-02-09
g OTHERS MISSING
| WHO WERE GUESTS
AT THE LEXINGTON
Charred Remains of Can.
tain Frank Shaw Are
Found in Debris.
GALES is EXPECTED
TO DIE FROM INJURIES
New York ,Dyemaker in Vir.
ginia Hospital Suffering
From Broken Back.
MESSENGER ROY GAVE ALARM
My"tery Surrounding Identity OF Fer.
| "on Who Pulled Fire Box
Now Solved.
GALES is EXPECTED
TO DIE FROM INJURIES
MESSENGER ROY GAVE ALARM
Mystery Surrounding Identity OF Fer.
"on Who Pulled Fire Box
Now Solved.

Four identified dead, three Others
known to have lost their lives. hut
whose bodies are yet unfound; nine
missing or unaccounted for. Thus
the death list OF victims In the fro
which destroyed the Lexington Hotel
and four other buildings In the earIv
hours OF Tuesday. entailing a pron-
erty loss estimated Mt 100000. grows
The charred. blackened body OF
1apta'n FRANK l.. Shaw, 81 years Old
OF Goshen. veteran Chesapeake and
ONO railroad conductor. was discov-
ered by nremen wettIng down the
smoniderinE ruins shortly. before II
CLOCK yesterday morning.. FIVE
hours later a foot was found II, N
airt courtyard in the rear of tho
savings Bank OF Richmond.
Expect to Find Co.'s nody.
1t Is believed the body of Cox viii
be found today when firemen and
negro laborers begin work of remov-
ing the wreckage from the alIev
between the hotel and the printin~
establishment of Clyde w. Saunders
"A force of 800 Will be recruited ,bis
morning to clear, away ruins where
bodies are known to he
felix II. Poirier. contractor. of
aohhers' \. Y. b.. T. Cox, who Iept
"nahclai aid to Jack Pettus, pronrl-
s'or OF the hotel. and Sam Ash. trav.I-
ns snowman. are known To have
died In the holocaust.
was seen to leap from his room
"t '"e rear of the fourth floor fow.
,"'no'es before the wall crashed Ash
had concession at the Hov,;,..a
Armory. where a circus is In nron
eSs. His partner in the businos.
mas heard no word OF him since ,Io,,
"ay night. Poirier. a cripple. hod n,
artinciai limb. His automobile whi.h
ponce moved from In front or ,ha
Lexington Hotel following tho a.
is> sun at Police Headquarters u,,
e,a'med' Guests who knew him de-
ciareo ne hadn't chance for escape
Believe They PerIshed.
X. kesser. William II. Kennon and
H. q. Taylor. missing, occupied rooms
near Captain Shaw. Immedia,eIv
ABOVE the spot where his body was
round. 1t is believed they also
perished
Andrew Gales. 30 OF Buffalo
u. dyemaker. Is dying in yirrini,
hospital with n broken back and In
term! Injuries. Elmer Deffenbaupb
81 OF Newport News. druggist Ia
seriously injured in Grace Hosnita,
His ankles are broken and his chest
crushed. He also has badly
sprained back. Fifteen others OF the
MOTEL guests are In various hos
pitals painfully injured.
Colonel William NJ. Myers. Director
OF the Department of Public Safety.
declared II his opinion late last night
the disastrous blaze had it's origin In
the laundry room OF the Pearl Laun-
dry Company. which occupied the
basement and first floor of the hotel
on twelfth Street. He said the wreck
age to him. Indicated this. He be-
lieved the fire spread through the
laundry basement to the hotel eleva-
tor SHAFT and then roaring up belched
OUT at each floor and then mush-
rooned along the corridors.
Roy Gave the Alarm.
The mystery surrounding the iden-
tity OF the person who sent the first
alarm of fire from a box at Thirteenth
and Cary Streets, also was solved last
night. Bennie Meads, 10 years old. a
Western Union messenger, who lives
on Nine Mile Road, was the hero, and
as result Of his act several lives
were saved, which otherwise probably
would have been claimed by the raw
aging. seething wave OF flame.
He had returned 10 the Western
Union building on Main Street, dag
onally opposite the hotel on Main
Street. after delivering a telegram at
the Jefferson. and was reading when
negro rushed u, and shouted the ho-
tel was ahre. Meads dashed out. saw
men and women shriekins in agony,
silhouetted In their windows against
background of leaping, roaring
f'ame. Meads started into the hotel,
but when he saw a mass OF Are rush
ing up the elevator shaft, turned and
ran down Twelfth Stree to Cary to
Thirteenth Street. where he knew
there was box. This alarm, which
gave the frst warning OF the disas-
ter, and brought Sengino and truck
companie immediately ito the srene, 4