Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1908 — DIE IN HOTEL FIRE [ARTICLE]

DIE IN HOTEL FIRE

Twelve Meet Death in Terrible Holocaust at Fort Wayne, in Indiana. » A AWFUL SCENES ARE WITNESSED Cries of Victims Can Be Hoard Above Roar of Flames. Most of the Persons Who Lost Their Lives Were Sleeping on the Top Floor Names of Known Dead. Thorough inquiry has been started to punish those whose carelessness is believed to have been responsible for the fire that killed at least twelve and brought serious injury to thirty or more in the Avcline hotel at Fort Wayne, Ind. State, county, and city officials, backed by an aroused public, have joined in the move. The coroner and the mayor took, up the investigation early in the day, and already have developed the fact that the building was a firetrap. Built of brick and wood, it burned like paper, giving the victims no chance to escape.

Twelve Bodies Recovered. Twelve bodies have been recovered, and it is feared three more are in the ruins. Thirty are suffering from injuries in the various hospitals of the city, and some of these likely will die. Of the sixty-seven guests in the hotel at the time of the blaze, hardly one escaped without some injury, slight or •erlpus. The fire was discovered in the elevator shaft by Night Clerk Hippins. He rushed through the building, alarming the guests, until the flames drove him back. When the first engine arrived the whole Interior of the hotel was a mass of flames. Cut off from the elevator and stairways by the flames, men and women in the upper stories rushed to the windows, and the firemen gave their first effort in an attempt to rescue these. Forced to Jump from Windows Several were taken out in tills manner, but as the flames burst from the windows others were forced to jump before the ladders could be raised to their place of refuge. Others, having rooms nearer the fire escapes, were able to reach them during the first few moments of the fire, but it was not long before the falling walls broke these last paths to safety. While the clerk was sending in the alarm and dispatching a boy to tell th'proprietor of the hotel of the blaze, the sixty-seven guests slept on, unconscious of their peril. When at last the guests were aroused a call was sent for a chemical engine instead of the regular apparatus. Most of those killed were steeping on the top floor.

The Known Dead. Of the twelve bodies recovered, ten were identified as follows: Frank Baxter, Auburn, Ind.; Charles Benjamin, Detroit, Mich.; Miss May Burkett, Mishawaka, Ind.; J, W. Devlney, Camden, N. J.; E. J. Ellis, Chicago; Sarah Hathaway, Mishawaka Ind.; Maurice Hlrsch, Chicago; Robert S. Johnson, Pana,* Ill.; J. B. Miller. Philadelphia, Pa.; W. A. Pitcher, Duluth. Minn.; E. B. Atty, Wabash, Ind.; Jonn Burke, Fort Wayne, Ind.; R. E. Tribee, Delhart, Ind. Among the most seriously Injured Is Lyman Campbell Chicago, who was hnrt in escaping from the building. Cries of women could be heard above the roar of the flames and the crash of falling timbers. They were not long nor Continuous, for those who were not quickly lost in the smoke that filled the corridors sank suffocated to the floor. Fire Escape Crowded. Within a few minutes after th> alarm the fire escape on the Berry street side was crowded with men, women and a few children. Before they could descend there was a crash of breaking glass and an immense volume of flame swept out below them through the second-story window. Cu off from escape they huddled on the iron stairway. A vast cloud of smoke hid them from sight and when it cleared away they were gone. Whether they w ent back inside or fell could not be seen. From the windows leaned men and women, and some of them, panicstricken by fear, or seeing death behind and the approaching aid in front, leaped to the pavement below. Jumped Oom Fifth Story. R, S. Johnson, of Pana, II)., jumped from the fifth story. His body struck a balcony and bounded far into the street. He was a crushed and bleeding mass when picked up and died a short time later In St. Joseph’s hospital. As the fury of the flames increased men and women were seen in the windows of their rooms, where they wildly Implored help. Some did not wait for the efforts of the firemen, anil leaped to the street. Several were seriously injured In this way.