Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1894 — BURNED IN A HOTEL. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BURNED IN A HOTEL.

SIXTEEN PERSONS PERISH BY FIRE AT SEATTLE. Shat Up In ■ Fir* Tr»p, They Are Suffocated and Cremated Without Hop* of Eicape—Women and Children Among the Victims—List of the Dead. Caused by a Lamp Explosion. Sixteen persons— ten men, three women, and three child en —were burned to death in the West Street Bote, at Seattle, Wash., early Saturday morning. The killed, with names so far a> known, are: F. 80l man, M. McZoolev, Agnes Mixon. C. Wilson, Andorson, Andrew Ottereon, Mrs. Otterson and her mother, Mrs. Huffman and little son and daughter, four 'men, one woman, and one child, unidentified: recognition impossible. . The West Street Hotel occupied the upper floor of a two-3tory corrugated iron building that covered a quarter of a block of ground at Columbia and West streets, one block from the Northern Pacific Depot, and near the business center of tho city. The building was a mere shell i;t wood, covered with iron. There were several exits to the street, but they wer ■ narrow. The halls were narrow and the rorms small. \\ holesale business hous s occupied the ground l oor. The hotel, being near the railroad depot and a cheap but i eputable house, was much patronized by country people. The fire was undoubtedly caused by ■the explosion of a amp ii the kitchen in the rear of the house. The proprietor's son was aroused by the noise of the explosion about 1 o’clock but before he could investigate the flames spread all through the house. The corrugated iron sheeting kept the flames hidden until nearly th 3 whole interior was a furnace. The thin partitions were of resinous pine, covered with cheese cloth, and bur led furiousiy. It was not until the flames were seen burning in the windows by people in the streets thatan alarm was turned in. When the fireman ar ived the tire did not present an alarming aspect. The people at tho windows were rescued with ladders and boards, some escaping with hardly any clothing.

Shocking D sooveric by the Firemen. The firemen discovered co pse after corpse, until, at 4 o’clock, they had counted fifteen. Sub another was discovered. Most of the bod es left where they lay until day.ight in the hope the prep ietor might identify them by locating the rooms on the register, for all except two were charred beyond possibility of recognitii n. The bodies were taken to the morgue in boxes or canvas sacks. The arrangem .nts of the halls of the hotel made such a la! yrinth that in the day time One unfamiliar with the place would have had difficulty in finding his way about without several attem ts, iand as the halls were tilled with smoke there was little chance for any of them to make their way out be foie suffocating. S me of the lodgers were asleep and were overtaken in bed, while others rushed into the halls and were suffocated and burned. BLOW AT UNCLE SAM. German Government Excludes American Live Cattle and Fresh Beef. The Germ'n government has published a decree prohibiting the importati on of American live cattle and beef tn the ground that two cargoes which have just arrived contained several animals suffering from Texas fever. This action, a Washington dispatch sa s, wjs not entireiy unexpected by the agricultural department, although tt e officials had hoped up to the lari moment that the Ge mans would prove open to teasen. The matter will not be allowed to rest where it now stands, b it our government will cause a thorough investiga tion to be made of the cases of the alleged Texas fever on which the German governim nt has seen fit to act in suen a summary fashion. No doubt is lelt here that these alleged cases will turn out to be founded on a mistaken diagnosis, for if there is any cattle disease that the German veterinarians know little or nothing about, that disease is Texas fever, a purely climatic, non-infecticus fever peculiar to America. That is the opinion of the Agricultural Fej a tment experts who have studied the disease for years and a e aware of the state of knowl- ( dge on the subjeri in Europe. if the departmental examination,as expected, results in disprovi g the existence of the cases complained of, our Government will enter a very vigorous protest against the action of Germany and seek to make it cle.ir that t e reason assigned for the destruction of our meat trade is disingenuously stated.

SHORN OF ITS TERROR. French Claim that Diphtheria Ig to Be Cured by Inoculation Hereafter. The new treatment by inoculation for diphtheria and croup, a* practiced in France, is the sub ect of a special report to the State Department by United Sta es Consul C.W. Chancellor, at Havre. The Consul gives in detail a history of the development of the treatment by Dr. tasteur and his assistant, Dr. Roux, who have been experimenting with it for five years, keeping it secret until they had satisfied themselves of its erl ciency and had subjected the animal the" horse best adapted to transform diphtheritic poison into an anii-toxine. A trial of the new treatment at one of the largest children’s hospitals of Paris resulted in reducing the death rate from diphtheria from 51.70 per cent to _4.33 per cent. In addition it is stated that children vaccinated with the serum were firotected from the disease even while Lving in close contact with diphtheritic patients. As the Pasteur Institute cannot meet the great demand for the serum movements are on foot in different localities to establish auxiliary stations. In slight cases one infection of the serum is sufficient. Our Population. The proportion of foreign-born persons to natives in Nevada is 70,035 to 100,0.0; in Arizona, 05,799; the Dakotas, 62,118; Minnesota, 52,169; California, 51,218. Missouri has 705,718 males of voting age, of whom 584,981 are native and la 1 ,737 are of foreign birth. The whole vote of Missouri in the election of 18u2 was 540,860. Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York have the largest average number of persons to a house, each house in these States having more than six occu l ants. South Carolina has the largest percentage of blacks, 59.85; then comes Mississippi with 57.58. Louisiana has 49.99, and Alabama 44.84 per cent, of black population, For the United States as a whole there were in 18 l 0 ICO.ouu males to 95,2 0 females, so that s me of the males will be unable to get wives if they really need th m. The persons of African descent are classified >cc >rding to the degrees of colored blood into 6,337,980 blacks, 956.989 inulattoes, 105,135 Quadroons, and 69,936 oct roons.

HOUSE WITH A QUEER HISTORY. Cost a Million to Baild and Has Neve 1 * To Had an Occq^qL Up on Fifth avenue, New York, facing Central Park, in one of tha most desirable residence regions of tbe city, stands a very large and elegant house, which for five years has been of no earthly use to any living being except the tax gatherer and the solitary watchman to whom it furnishes employment, says the Sun. It is an architectural failure on a magnificent scale. From the outside it looks like a house that would meet the requirments of the most exacting. It is a four-story, brownstone building, with a frontage of 52 feet on Fifth avenue, and a side extent of 150 feet on Seventy-Fourth street, on the southeast corner of which it stands. The stone of the house is all cut cross grain, instead of straight, as brown stone is usually cut, and will not split or crumble. It was quarried to order for the building. A fine front entrance, large windows of the finest plate glass and many exterior ornamentations make the building one of the most noticeable houses on the avenue. There is probably no other house In the city so strongly built, as the walls are from three to three and a half feet thick throughout. Inside the house Is completed, except the frescoing. Baths and closets are all complete, sideboards are built In, the canvas for mural decorations stands in rolls on the floor, all the fine work in paneling, staircases and mosaic floors is there, and all that i. required to make the house perfectly habitable Is the furnishing. There Is a cellar and a subcellar, fitted out in the most approved way, and even an artesian well to furnish power for an organ, for which a niche has been built. The organ, the biggest and finest chamber organ ever made in this country, is in a storage warehouse, where it has been for years. All this elegance belongs to Wilhelm Pickhardt, a wealthy dealer in dyes at 98 Liberty street, who for the past five years, that is, since the building of the house, has lived abroad, traveling about Europe from capital to capital. . Mr. Pickhardt bought the land on which his house stands about twelve years ago, and in 1883 he had plans submitted to him for the building of a house. His architect, who belonged to a prominent firm, had carte blanche as regards expense, being instructed to have everything of the very best. There were certain things, however, In regard to the building, that Mr. Pickhardt insisted upon, despite the objections urged by the architect. When the house was well advanced the owner went to the architect one day and said to him: “There are some things about the arrangement of the house that I don t like,” at the same time mentioning some of them. “I want them changed.” “But, Mr. Pickhardt,” remonstrated the architect aghast, “those changes can’t be made without building the house over again. I have followed your instructions closely.” “If the changes can t be made without rebuilding then I’ll pull down the house and have it built over,” returned the owner, “I’m going to have this done as I want it if it takes every cent I’ve got.” The result of the matter was that the architect withdrew, and Mr. Pickhardt replaced him with a German named Knaut, whom he brought over from Germany for the work. Knaut drew up elaborate plans, undid much of the work that his predecessor had done, returned to Germany for a vacation and died. Two years have already been consumed, and a third went by before an architect was found to suit Mr. Pickhardt. Then the building was resumed, but it proceeded slowly because of the frequent and important alterations insisted on by the owner. Finally, in 1889, when the architect’s work was completed and all that remained to be done was the frescoing and some minor decorations, Mr. Pickhardt experienced another revulsion of feeling. “The house isn’t as I want it at all,” he declared. “It isn’t what I intend it should be, and I’ll never live in it—never! I’ve thrown away $1,000,000 on It.” He went abroad and has spent the major part of his time since then in Europe. The house has never been occupied, for the owner would not rent it, and the price demanded for it Is bo high that it has found no purchaser. Large taxes are paid on it, and a watchman Is hired to guard it. It seems likely that it will remain as it is until the owner’s death.

PROPOSED TO QUEEN VICTORIA. An Aboriginal Monarch Who Was Surprised at Being: Refused. Not long ago a brief telegram from New Zealand announced that Tawhaio 11., the great Maori king, had

died of influenza. He was a genius in his way and was a fitting ruler for the fierce race of aborigines who gave England more trouble than the .natives of any other savage country she has conquered. When finally sub-

jugated Tawhaio becamed learned in the ways of the world and expressed a desire to see the world. This wish was encouraged by the British authorities, who put a vessel at his disposal, and with half a dozen subordinate chiefs he sailed Tor England. The king and his followers made the journey In safety, and, of course, saw the queen. King Tawhaio was struck with the appearance of the great queen and made a proposition of marriage to her. Her exact answer is not known, but of course Victoria refused the hand and heart of the chief despite the tattooed adorn ment on his face and body and the alluring bait he held out in the shape of a long and all-conquering kingly lineage. King Tawhaio was not hurt at the refusal of the queen, but he thought she was foolish not to accept, and on his return to his native land often spoke of the matter, and' in these references considered Victoria the loser by her declination. Have Plenty of Room. A man has thirty tlm6s greater chance of life if he live in a fourroomed house than if he Is only able to rent a single chamber. «

KING TAWHAIO.