Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1902 — NINETEEN DEAD IN HOTEL FIDE. [ARTICLE]

NINETEEN DEAD IN HOTEL FIDE.

List of Those Killed in Mil-lion-Dollar Blaze at New York. PRICELESS RELICS BURNED. Destruction of the Seventy-First Regiment Armory Causes Areparable Loss —Prominent People Unable to Escape from the Flames in the Hotel* The fire in the Park Hotel at New York, that flared up while the Seven-ty-first regiment armory was burning, and may have started from that, burned to death or suffocated nineteen guests and injured thirty-five others, some of whom may die. The dead. —Norman Acton, millionaire mine owner from Colorado Springs, Col. < Barnhard, William John, furniture inspector for Siegel, Cooper & Co., Chicago. Barnhard, Mrs. William, wife of William John. Burdette, Charles L., Hartford, Conn., colonel of the First Connecticut Volunteers and veteran of the Spanish war. , Bennett, Mrs. Charles A., of Alabama, mother of Lawyer Harold Benwho is in Bellevue hospital severely burned. Foster, Mrs. Ellen. Horn, Thomas P., Denver Col. Horey, Frederick S., of Lyons, N. Y. Irison, John, Denver, Col. McManus, Mrs. J. O’Connell, Charles Underwood, grand nephew of Danifel O’Connell, the Irish patriot, and formerly clerk of the supreme court. Piper, Alexander M., retired colonel U. S. A. Robins, Baston R., former congressman in Fourth District, Alabama, and lawyer at 52 William street. Schlesinger, Miss Esther, Chicago. Spahn, Jacob, lawyer, 34 Concord street, Rochester, New York. Walker, John E., of Columbia, Tenn., Unknown man, thirty-five years old, 5 feet 7 inches in height, 140 pounds, black hair and mustache, striped trousers, gray underwear and silk jacket; wore heavy gold ring. Unknown woman; body burned almost beyond recognition; found on sixth floor. Unknown woman; found on sixth floor of hotel; body burned almost beyond recognition; taken to morgue. The hotel, though as nearly fireproof as any in the city, was utterly destitute of the fire apparatus hotels are supposed to have ready for use, and to this fact the fire authorities lay the great loss of life. Indeed, as Chief Croker said, had there been 'even a rudimentary protective service the guests could have quenched the blaze themselves. As it was, about seventy of the hotel rooms were burned out, but the structure is almost uninjured, and $20,000 will repair all the damage. The total loss, including damage to Seventy-first regiment armory, and the destruction of relics of the civil war of priceless value, will amount to over $1,000,000.