The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-12-07


 From almost the entire wall ef Ihe vbullulng, fourth floor No the nnlseenth came Q chorus 0f cries for
 ks she fire raced from the third 70 nLth noof, occupants were forced out ut nrst one window then Ala- ysner Bremen faAneuvered a net Into an alley where the Ire was hottest The net caught som, but missed others,
 Thousands of spectators damned the streets. As dawn came the E0peu on streets caused tremendous 70 uaInc Jams along peachtree street.
 EIremen ran hoses to the top Of Lasnlonable Davisonspaxon Depart ment Store, directly across Ellis street from the Winecoff, and from Vtnere played water on the flames. Taxb were pressed into use as mereency alilbulancs and carried some oi the dead and injured to hospitals,
 Papers Thrown Out
 An Army sergeant, who later said nc carried important" Government A papers, saw no chance of being res. tcued, but didn't stop worrying about his documents. He couldn't come cown himself, so he threw the papers out his fifth floor window. scol. F. s. Ice, Seventh Army pro- vost Marshal who directed military police at the fire, said the sergeant, who's name was withheld, was later brought down by ladder. Corridors and rooms of the fifth floor-first to be examined--were blackened ruins with plaster and wallpaper llttering the floors. A schilu' 0oll lay in the ruins. Evidence of attempts to escape were ronnd in almost every room. inadequate ropes had been fash- lN loned of blankets, sheets and tow- els. Some never had been used. Oth- CTS were tied to wlndow-ledges or to bedgpushed against the windows Clothing and personal possessions |ewere scrambled on bureau tops. DresseF drawers Uttered the floors where trapped guests had attempted to snatch their valuables. lp Fear Wall May Collapse Many bodies were sprawled in the hallways or in the rooms. The legs of one body protruded from a 2nd floor marquee overlooking Peach. tree Street. Flremen could not rec move the body because they feared the front wall of the building might collapse.
 |N Firemen arrived only minutes aft- CT the first alarm. They brought every piece of equipment they had. That has been standard routine for .every downtown alarm since a dis asteous fire in the Cable Piano com- pany here several years ago when several persons perished. It was charged after that fire that slow mess In getting equipment to the scene caused the flames to get out of control. Five years later 35 per- sons were killed in the Terminal s Hotel fire.
 After the Negro elevator girl anelled smoke, Night Manager Conner Rowan said he somehow | knew it was going to be bad and began calling guests.
 Survivors were given coffee and shelter at adjoining hotels, the Ans ley. Piedmont and Henry Grady. all | within two blocks of the Winecoff.
 Two unidentified young women. about IS or 20, were trapped on the l2th floor front of the building k Silhoutted by flames, they waved to the crowd below to make certain they were seen.
 Man Falls Into Flames
 One man was burned to death on ' the sixth floor while waiting for fire- men. One minute he was standing there watching and waiting. The next his clothing caught fire and \ he collapsed into the flames.
 A couple on the fifth floor found their escape cut off. Tn the bed with them was their curly-haired two- year-old daughter. They held the child out the window, high over the street, protecting her from the heat. All three were rescued.
 The first person to plunge to |. death was a girl about i4. Either she or some one else in her l4th GOT room had fashioned a rope from a sheet and towels. She dangled on the makeshift rope for a while from the window. Then it broke and she fell.
 Women Keep Calm
 Two women stood at a window on the 18th floor for more than two hours, smiling and waving at fire- men who shot streams of water to- ward them.
 The water fell short of their win- , dwo, and the flames crept upward from the 10th floor to the iith, then to rooms around them on the 18th.
 Franklin Feeder of New York, a | hotel guest who had left to meet friends at the airport only a few minutes before the fire broke out. watched them.
 . Look at them smile, when flames are all around them" he said That's real guts."
 Firemen Fall to Save Them The firemen lost their fight to save them. At AM. one of the women collapsed. Her companion picked her up and held her at the window a few minutes, where the smoke was thinner.
 Then they both fell back into the rO0ms
 Betty Huguley. l6, of Griffin, da.. threw her suitcase from the window, } put on her coat and calmly walked along a narrow protruding ledge to a ladder three windows from her own.
 , Mrs. w. E. Tribble of Rockford, Ill.,. said she recalled falling from the~ window of her eighth-fl0or room. The next thing she knew she was in Grady Hospital. She ap- peared in a dazed but not critical condition. Her niece. Ina Dell Inc s,wAesas af Rockford Was raeeiied frnFsa