Evening star., 1946-12-08
116 Dead, 100 Injured in AtIonto
HoteIFire, Worstin U.s.. History;
City Probes Mysterious Origin
Scores Are Killed
In PIunges From
Buildings Windows
Pictures on Page AT. Death List
on Page A-6.)
BY the Associated Press

' tlIHf Go Oft 4 oSC 49, DS~tb SNSN
on Page 49,
BY the Associated Press
ATLANTA, Dec. 7.-America' s
most disastrous hotel fire early
today turned the 15-story Wine
coff Hotel here into a blazing
Inferno that brought death to
116 persons and injury to at
least 100 more.
While scores of guests trapped in
the upper part of the building
burned or sufocated, other men
women and children plunged
screaming to death on the pave
ments below in the predawn dark
ness.
A revised death list compiled late
tonight after a check of funeral
homes and hospitals, which was
complicated by the removal OF
bodies from one mortuary to an
: other. set the toll of the disaster
at 116.
OF these, 1O3 had been identified
and 13 bodies still were unidentified.
It. was possible, however, that the
total might be changed slightly on
completion of the casualty check.
The blaze's origin apparently was
buried in the charred wreckage or
sealed with the dead. City Fire
Marshal Harry Phillips could say
only that the fire started in the
corridors of the third or fourth
floor shortly after am.
BY the time an alarm was given
the blaze was licking at newly
painted woodwork and wallpaper. 1t
spread swiftly, engulfing Railways
and elevator shafts. There mas been
no official announcement of an in
vestigation into the fires origin.
Inquiry Is Ordered.
An exhaustive inquiry into the
fire is planned by the city. Mayor
w. B. Hartsfieh and Fire Chief
C. C. Styron said they were deter
mined to learn what caused the
blaze. Supt. of Detectives E. I. Hill
debrand said two detectives would
be assigned to work with Mr.. Phil
lips. The detective chief also was
ordered to assign plainclothes men
to the case.
At daylight the sides of the tall,
chimney structure were draped
with torn bed-sheetS and blankets.
marking the grim silence the places
where victims tried to escape. Eye
witnesses told how panic-stricken
guests swung from 10th and 18th
.Apry windows on flimsy, makeshift
ropes. A few were rescued, but most
fell headlong as flames burned away
their supports. or they lost their
grip.
Bodies on Street.
Others were seen briefly at fam
ing windows, shrieking and praying,
then disappearing into the terrible
inferno.
At one time, a half-dozen broken
bodies lay at the intersection of
,Atlanta's famed Peachtree street
and Carnegie Way. Opposite the
theater where the world premiere
of "Gone With the Wind" was
staged.
Mr.. Phillips said in every instance
the flames had burned into the
rooms of the third, fourth and fifth
floors, indicating that the blaze
started somewhere in the carpeted
Railways.
Bodies were found on every floor
above the third, where bedroom IA
cilities began. Those not in direct
line of the flames suffocated.
The fire was out of control within
a few minutes after it was discovered
and before every piece of f1re-fght-
ing equipment in Atlanta could be
summoned, Mr.. Phillips said.
The marshal said bellhop stated
that he had noticed no fumes or
smoke when he delivered some soft
drinks to a room on the fifth floor
But when he turned to leave the
room he found he was trapped by
flames in the doorway.
No Outside Fire Escapes.
The mystery that surrounds the
origin also gave rise to speculation
as to how the fire could spread SO
rapidly through a fre-resistant
building.
The brick, concrete and steel
structure had no outside fire escapes
but was classed as fire resistant. u
Mr.. Phillips said it met all safety
codes when it was built in 1914.
Would-be rescuers told of seeing
many forms silhouetted against
boiling flames, praying vainly for
succor that could not reach them,
Bodies crashed in CHASTITY succession
into the street and into smoke filled
alleyways. There were 285 guests
registered at the hotel, which was
one of Atlanta's leading hostelries
Flames Raced Up Stair wells.
Spreading with disastrous rapid
ity through the southwest side OF
the building, flames raced up stair
wells and elevator shafts to trap
nearly half the guests. The death
toll eclipsed Chicago's LaSalle Hotel
fire of six months ago, when 81 died,
and more than trebled the 35 dead
in Atlanta's terminal hotel fire OF
May 16, 1888.
The Nations previous record toll
In a hotel fire was II in the New
hall House holocaust at Milwaukee
in 1888
Among the identified dead was
w. F. Winecoff, one of the hotels
builders, and his wife. They died
In their upper floor apartment.
w. w. (Pat) Patterson, an Asso-
ciated Press reporter saw one man
outlined against a panel of fire in
an eighth floor corner window. His
clothing caught fire as he waved
vainly, and his head rolled helpless
~ from side to side. Then he fell
fCoo TTRE papp A-6l