The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1938-05-16
TOLL May RISE TOSN
MORNING BLAZE; BUILDING
CAVESN;; MANY ARECRUSHED
Cause Of Blaze Is Not As
signed; Worst in At.
lanta's History
FOUR REMOVED TO
HOSPITAL EXPIRE

ATLANTA, Ca, May 1e. (UP)
Twenty-Five burned and crushed
bodies had been removed from the
fre.blackened ruins Of the TsrYni-
nal hotel at 1850 q. m. today.
Firemen digging through the
still-hot debris for additional vie.
tins estimated the final death toll
might reach 36.
The fire started in the hotel
basement at 3:15 a. m. Whipped
up the elevator shaft by q strong
draft the blaze quickly spread
through the old fve-story struc-
ture. The floors collapsed and
the victims were crushed to death
as they slept. 1t was estimated
that between go to rs people
were asleep in the hotel when the
fire started.
Fire Chief o. j.. Parker said he
believed it almost impossible for
any of the occupants to have lived
through the height Of the inferno.
He said when the first fire COM
panies arrived the building looked
as thought. II had been hit by .
gasoline torch.
Although the blaze was brought
under control within an hour, the
blackened walls and girders were
so hot that fremen could not dig
through them until an hour later,
Chief Parker said. He predicted
that the death toll would be great
est from fire in the history OF At
lanta. p
Fourteen dead were taken from
the edges Of the. ruins or from the
street where they had jumped TO
their death in terror. Five died
at Grady hospital where they
were taken with burns and other
injuries suffered when floors col
lapsed.
The old hotel was located in
the railroad district Of Atlanta.
Chief Parker said some Of the
victims sleeping in the fourth and
fifth floors may have been buried
in the basement by the plummet-
ing debris.
The cause of the fire could not
be determined. Survivors, includ-
ing guests and employees, were too
historical to be questioned.
As the fire came up the elevator
shaft it shot into an adjoining
cafe and scorched night workers
who were eating.
T. W. Williams, Southern Rail
way worker who was in the cafe,
said that when the flames shot in.
to the room he ran outside anu
pulled . fire alarm.
GAS I ran across the street l
saw a man Jump from the top
story in his flaming paJamas'
Williams said.
"He bounced like a rubber ball
and landed clear across the street
from where he had first hit"
Although his face was nearly
gone, he crawled around the street
for moment. Then he lay still. .
Some survivors came down the
fire escape. Others jumped TO
safety in fire nets. The survivors
were 80 hysterical 1t was impossl-
bic to determine how many e.
capped.
crejY boanital with burns and
other injuries.
Police said some of those who
died could never be positively
identified. Their clothing and
other belongings were destroyed
in the Are and their features were
too charred and mangled for iden-
LITIGATION by friends and relatives.
A victim at owtrey & Lowndes
mortuary who apparently had just
registered at the hotel when the
fire broke out, as he was fully
clothed, was identified through
papers in his pocket as James
Bonds, q 31-year-old truck driver
from Knoxville, Tenn.
Two of those dead were women
and two children, firemen said.
They believed the other 10 were
all men. H.
One man who jumped down the
elevator shaft from IN upper
story, was impaled on rafter IN
the basement. Firemen had to cut
his body away.
Three others were removed
from the debris after workers cut
through q twisted net OF IRON peaa
and pipes with acetylene torches.
Chief Parker said he would In
vestieate possibility that the fire
started from an explosion in the
basement near the kitchen.
Redecorating was in progress
and there were q number Of cans
of varnish and shellac stacked III
+ha hasemer,t. he said.