Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1906 — THRILLING AND FATAL [ARTICLE]

THRILLING AND FATAL

Fir* in the West Hotel at Minneapolis Brings .Death to Eight Persons. TWO JUMP FROM BIOS WIHDOWS Five Others Art Suffocated by Smoke in Their Rooms. Brave Fireman Lose* Hi* Lift Saving That of a Woman—Nine Other Persons Are Badly Injured. Minneapolis, Minn., Jan. 11. —Eight persons dead from suffocation or from leaping from a fireproof building, a score of people more or less injured by having their hands cut and gashed from smashing in Windows, a magnificent property subjected to the ravages of lire, smoke and water, is an epitome of the great disaster which befell the West hotel. List of Those Who Died, The dead are: Captain John Berwin, of truck No. 1, fell from the fourth Door to the Fifth street sidewalk while attempting to save Mrs. Barlow’s life; W. G. Nickels, Minneapolis; Thomas Somerville, traveling man from Springfield, Mass.; J. E. Wolf, northwestern agent of the Sperry & Alexander company, of New York; Clinton B. Lamme, traveling man from New York; William Black, of New York —last five suffocated in their rooms; J. B. Pelsniger, traveling man from New York, Jumped from the seventh story window; Mrs. M. E. Hodges, Minneapolis, jumped from the seventh sjtory window. Those Who Were Worst Hurt. The injured—Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Spiesberger, of Chicago, both will recover; Mary Rowaw, maid at the hotel, serious case; Gerdan G. Sapp, of Chicago, will live; Ben W. Swisky, of Chicago, probably recover—all foregoing overcome by smoke; Mrs. B. D. Barlow, of I,os Angeles, injured by fall, condition critical; N. S. Amsdem, superintendent Minneapolis and Northern Elevator company, seriously burned, may live; Judson L. Field, of Chicago, face and hands badly burned; Alice Larson, maid in hotel, injured by a jump from the fifth floor; John Filmore and F. K. Creighton, of New York. M. F. King, of Detroit, and Ernest Reckltt, of Chicago—all cut by glass, cases not serious.

CROWD SAVES MANY LIVES

It Cries "Don’t Jump’’ to the Despair-ing-Fate of Capt. Berwin. Following the first alarm the department was quickly on the scene, and the splendid work of rescue began. Although the hour was early hundreds of people thronged the streets and gazed up at the great hotel whose windows were alive with guests frantically watching the firemen below and yelling to them to hurry. Here and .there men were crouched on the ledges of the windows, ready to obey the insane Impulse of self-preservation which suggested a leap to the ground. The crowd realized this, and from a thousands throats the cry frantically went up “Don’t jump, don’t jump!” It was lucky that this advice was given, for several men declared afterwards that they certainly would have made the leap if the crowd had not encouraged them to hold on. Captain John Berwin, of the hook and ladder company, having broken open a window on the seventh floor which he hnd reached by a scaling ladder, stumbled over the body.of Mrs. Emaline Barlow, an aged woman. He strapped the unconscious form to his back and started down the ladder. When midway between the seventh and sixth floors the strap broke. Bending over to balance the body for a moment he then leaned, at the risk of his life, and threw the woman toward a projecting ledge on the floor below. Apparently being revived by the fresh air, or by the shock, the aged woman grasped the projection and held on. Later she was rescued. But in throwing the woman to safety Captain Berwin lost his balnnce and fell to the pavement. He was instantally killed. The first to jump was Miss Hodges. She ran from her own room to the rear to a window on the side where she thought she would find the fireescape. In her excitement she opened the wrong window, but feeling confident that the fire-escape was there stepped out. She stopped on the ledge a moment, rubbing her face as though completely blinded by the smoke, then took a step into the air and was gone. Her body was crushed to a pulp. J. B. Peisniger made the same mistake almost at the same moment, and met Instant death. Miss Gladys Mable, whose grandmother Captfin Berwin sacrificed bis life to save, said: “A man took my grandmother, and then another fireman came and got me. He had a long rope which he tied tightly about me, under my arms and around my waist, and let me down out of the front window. It was an awful sensation to be dangling In the air at the end, of a line, seven stories above the stone sidewalk. My rescuer finally let me dowp in safety on to the balcony of the hotel above the first floor.” The money loss will not exceed SBO,000.