The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1922-02-08
RICHMOND hotel FIRE
TAKES HEAVY TOLL
ID. e. Amos, of Charleston, Reported
Missing-Other South Carolin-
ians Injured or Missing

richmond, Va, Feb. 7.-Six known
dead, thirty-three reported missing
,or unaccounted for and twenty-eight
known injured, fourteen Of whom are
believed to be fatally hurt, is the toll
tsOf he fire which swept over an area
Of half a city block here early this
( NOR ling, destroying the Lexington
Hotel and several other buildings and
entailing loss of $250,00O.
The fire was discovered at 4:10
o'clock this morning in the hotel
and rapidly spread to adjoining pro-
perty, other buildings being destroy
ed or Quilted being the Pearl Laundry
the plant of Clyde w. Saunders, prin.
ters, the Savings Bank of Richmond,
Branch, Cabell & Co., and E. R. La
ferty & Co., and the Cooperative Pro
ducers' Exchange. Twenty-Five pa
, tients are at one hospital, the Vir-
ginia, three are at the Memorial, two
at the Johnston Willis and one at the
: Grace Hospital.
at police headquarters a force Of
men still in busy in an effort to
check off those accounted for on
seventy-five to eighty-fve persons
were known to have been in the
hotel when the fire began.
The dead are:
Hiram s. Austin, Fincastle, Va.
NJ. j. Fox, Wiliasport, Pa.
l.. M. Thomas, sherif # of Albe-
marie County, Virginia
e. Il. Cox, Richmond, Va.
+. l.. Shaw, G. & o. Railway con-
ductor, Richmond, Va.
L. D. Piercer, Yonkers, N. Y. The
bodies of the last named three still
are in the ruins, according to po-
lice
Those reported missing or unac-
counted for follows:
Samuel Ash, Richmond; D.; E.
", address not given; E. J. Bush,
Richmond; w. E. Hubble, Richmond; !;
s T. F. Riley, South Carolina; I. H.
Crowder, and H. G. Cahoon, Fincastle,
Va; e. T. Carter, United States
navy; T. w. Jones, Norfolk; Mrs. T.
w. Jones, Norfolk; r. w. Grannen,
address not given; Il. +. Hiliard,
Richmond, II. O. Bailey, address not
given; Frederick Keller, United States
navy; T. L. Parker, Atlanta; II. d.
Turrier, address not given; j. L.
Kellam, Hampton Va; G. B. Bowen,
Richmond; G. w. Hathorne, address
not given; e. f. Taylor, Jr., North
Carolina; j. r.. Nelson, Florence, S.
c.; T. r. Jones, Norfolk; r. r. Left
Wlch, 3. Hamin, and f. II. Cox, ad-
dresses not given; f. L. Shaw, Rich
mond.
Those reported injured are:
j. N. Hager, Boydcn, Va, injury
to back; John r. Cochran, New York !;
E. P. Howell, Norfolk; Thomas Flag
an, Brooklyn; George Cutter, Buck
roe Beach, Va; James Folden, Pat
ton, w. Va; B. G. Wright, Newport
News; Elmer Diffenbaugh, Newport
News; B. H. Trice, Globe, Va; Hubert
Dodd, Lexington, Va; Joe Webb, Fin
castle, Va, injury to right foot and
hip. Andrew Gales, Buffalo; j. G.
Harival, Portland, Maine; A. II. Har-
rison, st. Louis, head left hand and
ankle injured; Mrs. Clara Cochran,
New York; w. w. Burne, Spartan
burg, S. c.; G. Goodman, Richmond,
Ky.; Ernest Staples, Richmond;
Charles Benton, Wilson, N. c.; j. E.
Ford, Rockingham, N. C.; r. Lease,
Hinton, Va, M. A. Austin Philadel-
phia,
Seventy-two guests were register
ed at the hotel. Smoke from the
stairs of the basement gave the first
warning of the fire to r.. D. Frey,
night clerk, who sounded an alarm.
Summoning the fire apparatus, he re-
turned to the hotel an darouse many
guests.
Improvements were being made in
the building. The telephone switch
board had been disconnected to per-
nit new installations an dthe 'eleva-
tor had not been operated in several
weeks. There was no opportunity to
Warn those occupying the rooms on
the upper floors.
Famed by draught in the tenn
porarily abandoned elevator shaft,
the fire leaped toward the roof. In q
moment the five avenues of escape-a
s'front, center and rear staircase and
two fire escapes at front and rear
were cut off. Guests rushed from
their rooms to find the dimly lighted
Railways and corridors filled with
smoke. The stairs were pits of
flames, roaring upward through the
semi-darkness.
A few found time to seize blankets
and other wraps, but the majority
were clad only in their night cloth
ing. The windows of the hotel were
filled with frenzied guests climbing
outward on the sills to escape the
creep Of the flames and crying for
help.
.NHP AGEn INnJAN DAcSIIc