Evening star., 1922-02-07
THREE KNOWN DEAD
many ARE MISSING
|. IN RICHMOND FIRE
/ Thirty Injured at Lexington
Hotel When Exit Is
Cut Off.
LEAP FROM WINDOWS
WITH CLOTHES AFLAME
Property Loss Estimated at $780,
ooo-Firemen Now Digging in
( Ruins for Bodies.
By the Associated Press

'-''->i', Nd., f'bfudrN T.. AT
ieaSt three persons dead and thirty
injured, and property loss estimated
AT Sla",oon. according to police rec
"rdS shortly before noon. resulted
from fire which early today dc
S'Fo!cd the Lexington Hotel. 18th and
Main streets and guttcd four
adjacent buildings.
SeVenty-two persons were guests in
Inc hotel. and il was believed by the
police the death toll will reach be-
tween fifteen and twenty. a search
Of the ruined hotel began at 10
clock
At II O'Clock firemen had not penc-
trated the main portion of the hotel
ruins, where ii was believed most Of
the bodies may be found 4 high brick
wall facing 18th street. 1t was feared
might fall any moment. Efforts are
belnS made to diSintegrate the fouu-
datIon of the wall and cause it to
crumble, after which the search for
the bodies will begin. Fire Chief
JoyneS declared
known Dead and Injured.
The known dead are:
Hiram s. Austin. Fincastle. Va.
who died in hospital of internal
injuries
NJ. J. Fox. Williamsport, Pa, who
died on the way to hospital.
c. NJ. Thomas. sheriff of AlbemarIe
county. Va. who died of internal
injuries and a broken back.
The revised list of the injured is
as follows:
A. H. Harrison. st. Louis. Mo
fractured leg and decorations on head
W. w. Bourne, Spartanburg. :. G..
broken back and diSlocated hip.
+. p. Howell Norfolk, Va. com
pound fracture Of the leg.
John r.. CochraI Richmond. broken
back and injured chest.
Mrs. John r. Cochran, HichmonG
shock and bruises.
J. 5. Harivall, Portland, Me-, broken
leg and broken ankle.
Andrew Gallas, Buffalo, NY
broken back.
H. Dodd. New York city, broke
back.
7. Pennington. broken back
J. Folden. ankle and leg broken.
Il. Wright, badly bruised abou
body.
Edward Staples, ankle fractured.
Charles Goodman. shock and lacera
tionS about body.
George Cullen. shock.
James Hager. sprained back.
Benton. shock.
b. II. Trice. Virginia. fractured leg
J. H. Willis. decorations.
J. +. Ford, Rocky Mount, \. c..
decorations.
William o. Bailey. New York city.
bruises about body.
J. A. Einford, Richmond; foot
mashed.
story of Hotel Clerk.
Il was at the desk when l saw
the smoke and fire creeping up the
fire escape from the basement" said
r. d. Frey. clerk of the Lexington
Hotel. who was on duty when the
blaze broke out. Il grabbed the tel
phone. but il was out of order. Men
had been working on the switchboard
and the connection was severed. i
vas therefore delayed slightly in
sending in the alarm. ! told the boy
to get upstairs and notify as many of
the guests as had not been awakened.
The heat was intense, and / do not
know how many he was able to
arouse. When l got back from turn
ing" in the alarm. the flames were roar
ing up the elevator shaft.
TT seems that few sought the fire
escape with which the building was
equipped Most of the women appear
ed at the windows and several of the
guests started jumping down. I do
not know how many were injured, but
/ think there were great many.
There were seVenty-two guests in
the hotel last night. i had just fin
ished counting up when ] discovered
the fire. 1t was just few minutes
after o'clock. Several people jump
I. II tv~S aON
lieve. fatally injured themselves. My
lungs soon filled with smoke and I
could do nothing but get out into the
air or faint.
l.. B. Pettus, the proprietor of the
hotel, was overcome by smoke and had
to be taken to his home. Mr.. Frey said.
Early this morning an automobile
drove up to the hotel, containing a man
who said he was from Yonkers. n. Y,
| the license number Of his automobile
being 563254. The machine was still
standing in front of the hotel when the
fire was eXtinguished this morning and
it is believed that he lost Ids life in
the fire. His name was said TO be
Barck.
Police Search for Dead.
| The police began a search for the
dead in the building about . o'clock
| this morning. Progress was very slow
as the interior was filled with smoke
! from the fallen wreckage and the heat
| was still intense.
| A man giving the name of Paul Bri-
goni, who said he was from New York.
jumped into fire net from the third
| floor His back was splotched in many
places with solder from the roof. which
had dripped down, scalding and burning
| him. He said that he had left his
| cousin, Joe Martin, on the third floor
and did not know what had become of
| him.
! One spectacular scene was furnished
| by a sailor coming down water spout.
On his back he had another man, and
ne was shouting as he came down
| Don't crowd me-" Many people were
seen to jump from the windows.
| The Lexington Hotel and the plant
of the Pearl laundry, which is To-
| Gated on the 12th street side of the
| hotel, were practically destroyed.
The printing plant of Clyde w
Saunders, that of the Anderson Will
son Paper Company and the offices OF
! the Savings Bank of Richmond and
the offices of Branch Cabell & Co., 10.
| Gated on the west side of the hotel
were damaged by smoke, water and
| fire
| Coming to Richmond to see another
| man die, one man lost his own life
| before the other. was sent into an.