Evening star., 1934-12-12
q KNOWN DEAD
|NHOTEL DISASTER.
Charred Remains of Three
Taken From DebriS-ToII
May Reach 70.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
LANSING, Mich, December 12-As
fire blackened, ice-shrouded ruins OF
the Hotel Kerns began giving up their
dead today, State police announced
that % persons had been listed as
victims of the flames that trapped the
sleeping guests yesterday morning.
The roster of known dead" in
Michigan's most horrible fire tragedy
included those whose bodies we're
taken from the icy waters Of the
Grand River, into which many terri
fed guests plunged, those who leaped
to the street, dying of injuries, and
those definitely reported by relatives
to have spent the night in the hotel
and to be missing now.
Charred Bones Removed.
Searchers began digging into the
still smoking debris this morning and
three bodies were removed but none
was identified.
One apparently had died in the
lobby. The other two, found close
together, evidently had occupied the
same room and died in their sleep.
The arms, legs and head of one
were missing and it could not be told
definitely whether the body was that
of a man or a woman. The bones
were believed to be those of David
Monroe, assistant hotel manager.
Twelve other bodies Of terror
stricken guests, driven by flames to
leap to their deaths into the Grand
River or into the street, lay in under
taking establishments.
To the known dead were added the
names of State Senator John Leidlein,
Saginaw. whose friends we're unable
to arouse him from sleep when the
fire broke out.
Toll orc Possible.
Estimates of the number Of bodies
possibly still in the ruins, based upon
the number unaccounted for, ranged
from to 10. A painstaking survey
by State police accounted for 1872
guests, either among the known dead,
the 35 injured or those who escaped
unharmed
The hotel register was destroyed,
and estimates of the fumber of guests
quartered in the 20O-room hostelry
when the fire broke out early yester-
day ranged from 100 to $50 Author
tiles said the complete list of dead
might never be known.
Relatives of persons still missing
waited silently in the cold, behind a
rope barricade AS the SearcherS car
ried into the warehouse -morgue the
covered form representing their first
gruesome find, the fearful spectators
filed through the death house, but
neither their fears nor their hopes
could be realized
Alarm Delay Charged.
Official Investigations by State,
county and city brought forth accusa-
tions of delay in sounding the alarm,
along with statements and denials
that an explosion preceded the fire,
and the assertion by one person that
the fire first was noticeable as a mere
flicker of flame in a second-floor guest
room.
Mrs. William Lesher. permanen mt
resident of the hotel said she and her
husband notified the clerk at am.
that they Smelled smoke. Fire De-
partment records showed that the
alarm was not received until about
$50. BY the time firemen reached
the hotel, flames we're swirling through
the upper floors of the four-story
structure and the only rescues that
could be made were of those persons
who would be reached from ladders
through windows.
The fire, taking the lives of two Re-
publican and one Democratic Repre-
sentative who would have been men,
bers of the Legislature taking office in
January, broke a $3.50 deadlock in
the House ana gave Democrats a
probable slender majority of 40 to 48
Special elections to fill the vacancies
cannot be held until after the House is
organized.