The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-04
FAMOUS ANNISTON
 . INN BURNS WITH LOSS IF $5O0,OOO
Hotel Designed By Stanford White Goes Up in Smoke. Guests All Escape-An-
 nex Saved
ANNISToN BUREAU i THE AGE-HERALD AnnisfOu. Ala. Jan. RI


 Destined in 1888 by Stanford White, who was shot and killed in New York several years ago by Harry Thaw. erected in 1884 at cost of around s25o,O0O, furnished in an ex travagant manner and opened in April, 1885, the Anniston Inns stark chimneys and the kitchen annex which was saved by hard work on the part of local firemen; was all that marked the remains of the noted hotel after daylight Wednesday, most of the furnishings have gone up in smoke when the historic hotel build ing was burned to the ground before daylight The total loss is $50O,O00.
 The blaze, which destroyed the building. was discovered at 2:15 o'clock Wednesday morning by Rob ert Kyle, clerk at the Tutwiler ho- at that hour to return to his home on the early morning train.
 Originating On the fourth floor of the building the flames rapidly ate their way to the other floors of the building while hundreds of people of the city were aroused by the news and noise of the disastrous blaze. Only small portion of the furnish ings were removed from the build ing ahead of the flames.
 Guests Aroused
 Guests were quickly aroused after the alarm had been given by Mir Kyle, who was manager of the inn before going to his present position in Birmingham, and most of the in mates succeeded in removing their effects from their rooms before the heat and smoke made it impossi ble for th2in to remain in the building
 great scurrying to and fro of guests and hotel attaches occurred in short time after the alarm was given. Bremen soon had dozen streams playing on the burning seiG~ture and succeeded in checking the blaze before the kitchen annex was reached. huge fire wall be- tween the annex helping in checking the blaze at that point.
 The Anniston. inn was erected by the Woodstock Iron company in 1884 at cost of approximately s250.OO0, and was furnished elegantly at that time, being considered in the early days of the city as one of the finest hotels in the south. It was one of the first buildings in the south to be equipped for electric lights.
 Others Towns Respond
 Insurance to the amount of $60,000 was carried on the structures with about half that amount on the fur nishings. The principal stockhold- CTS in the hotel company which owned and operated it under the manage ment of A. Lamar Pondexter are H. B. Rudisill. Gov. Thomas E.. Kilby w. H. Weatherly. CesR. Bell; S.P. | v rT y1.~ | Acker, J. C. Sproull, w. F. Johnston and others.
 Fire apparatus was summoned from Oxford, Jacksonville, Camp McClel- Ian and Piedmont to help the local department in fighting the flames, but the combined efforts of all the de- partments were unable to check the blaze before it reached the fire wall on the west side of the big structure.
 Chief Rainwater and his three crews of lighters remained on the job of fighting the fire until nearly noon Wednesday before it was safe to leave it.
 Surrounding property was seriously threatened at several times before daylight Wednesday morning, the heat from the hotel being intense. Telegraph and electric light poles standing In the lncloSure were burned and the grass on the wide lawns was shrivelled by the strong heat from the buildings
 Several of the city firemen were scorched about the face and hands by the intense heat, retiring to greater distance from the building only when the heat became unbearable.
 Precautions by the Alabama Power company in cutting wires and shut ting off current into the area Wednesday morning probably pre- vented a number of accidents as the falling wires were scattered over the area surrounding the hotel Streams of water were played on the building from every side, the firemen chang ing from the hotel to the residences which line the north and east side of Fifteenth street and Gurnee ave- nue.
 About 40 guests and permanent lodgers at the inn escaped from the burning building with minimum loss of personal effects, only a few minor articles being left in the rooms oc- cupied by the guests when they hur- ried from the burning building.