Evening star., 1946-12-08

ter, Nancy Dianne, outside their win
dow until firemen reached them.
They were rescued. Mr.. Turks two
brothers, John M. and Richard,
swung from the 10th floor to the
9th on bed sheets and were rescued
by firemen.
Mrs. Turk told her story after the
fire while sitting near her peacefully
sleeping daughter at nearby hotel
She said she was awakened BY the
roar of flames and breaking Of glass.
When / went to the door,. she
continued, smoke poured In. My
husband and I tried to close the
door, but it fell in. We went to the
window and knocked out the screen
There was no apparatus in sight sc
+ sat on the ledge and screamed
Fire When the firemen came they
raised ladder to the ledge and got
us among the first.
Army Sergt. Harry LinderTan pf
Chicago said he was guided TO safety
from his fifth-fioor room by Bel
Captain Mobley. 1--WE had ii
months of combat and I've seen q
lot" he said, 'fbut that little girl
Nancy Turk could really take it. .
Operators Are Stunned.
Mrs. Annie Lee Irwin of Atlanta,
who bought the building for about
S650O00 in 1943, had leased it to
Arthur F. Geele, ST., of Danville
KY. He operates the hotel with his
son. A. F. Geele, jr., and r. E
O'Connell, Chicago detective. Mr.
O'Connell did not live here, but was
visiting the hotel at the time OF the
fire. He was injured.
The Geeles returned after the fire
from Brunswick, Ga, where they
had been hunting. He said he was
stunned" but would have no COM
ment until after an investigation
of the fires origin.
The elder MI. Geele said his first
act, after taking over operation OF
the hotel, was to install fire hose
and fire extinguishers on all floors
and added the structure was con-
sidered freproof.
Fifty Hi-Y girls from all ovel
Georgia were quartered in the hotel
Some escaped, and the fate OF
others was unknown.
Emergency mortuaries were set
up throughout Atlanta after the
Municipal Morgue reported it was
at capacity.
The fire was reported shortly
after 3 am. Firemen brought i,
under control by Z am, and the
last bodies were removed by $3.50.
Bodies Hurtled Past.
r. A. Herring, hotel auditor, saio
he awoke in his third-foor room
about $3.50. "I never saw anything
like it," he said Bodies were
hurtling down past my window.
James Little of Elizabethtown
Tenn, said he pleaded vainly with
Frank Jones of Friendship, Tenn.
but the latter jumped in panic from
the eighth floor Il couldn't stor
him. he said. IF he'd waited f1ve
minutes more, he would have beer
saved"
Police Chief M. A. Hornsby sale
at least 25 or 80 persons were klllec
by leaping from windows.
One woman dropped on a ladder
where Fireman Jack Burnham was
attempting to reach another woman
Mr. Burnham was critically hurt
Both women were killed.
/ Mr.. and Mrs. L. w. Cochran ol
Miami, Fla, swung on sheets from
the top floor to the eighth. There
! flames set fire to the sheets, ane
Mr.. Cochran said the next thing
he knew was when firemen brought
him down.
Husband Was Injured.
Mrs. Alice Ann Gilbert, IL, o
Portland, Greg, a bride on he
| HONEYMOON, was rescued from th'
eleventh floor She moaned repeat
edly, where is my sweetheart? Flns
my sweetheart"
Her husband, Louis, was listed a
alive but injured.
Mrs. Frank Smith of ValdoStt
was taken from an upper windos
in near ar-unconscious condition. Ell
route to the hospital she re
vived, screaming: my ten-year-ol
daughter. She was standing out OF
the ledge - then she tainted.
| A four -year-old boy, dropped from
| a high window, was caught unhur
| by a man standing on the sidewalk
| Mr.. and Mrs. M. G. Conr1ers Q
Montgomery, Ala, were on the l4tl
floor when Mrs. ConI1ers wa
awakened by. screams. The hallwa,