Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 February 1903 — NINE VICTIMS OF HOTEL FIRE [ARTICLE]

NINE VICTIMS OF HOTEL FIRE

More Than Forty Persons Are Injured in Blaze at Cedar Rapids lowa. BUILDING BURNS RAPIDLY Structure, Built of Frame and Veneered With Brick, Contained Many Delegates to Knights of Pythias and Y. M. C. A. Conventions. It is believed that at least nine persons perished and more than twoscore others were injured, some fatally, in a fire at Cedar Rapids, lowa, which destroyed the Clifton hotel at 2:30 o’clock in the morning. The building was of frame construction, veneered with brick, and its burning was rapid. Roused from their sleep by the flames and smoke, the guests found escape shut off in every direction. They crowded at the windows and either jumped to the street or else fell back into the flames. The loss of the hotel register in the fire makes the task of securing the names of the victims almost impossible. Four bodies have been taken from the ruins and five more are believed to be in them, but they are so badly charred that identification is impossible. The Dead. The known dead are: W. A. Mowry, Whatcheer, la.; E. G. Young, foreman for Western Union Telegraph company at Davenport. The state Y. M. C. A. convention was in progress and a district Knights of Pythias convention was meeting. Delegates to these conventions constituted most of the injured and missing. It is said there were 120 guests in the building when the fire -broke out. Origin of Fire. The fire originated in the basement, presumably from an electric wire. Night Clerk Wilson was on the third floor and the flames were discovered by a bell boy. They had already gained considerable headway, and by the time the night clerk had been notified and the work of sounding the alarm had begun escape was cut off from the ground floor. Almost Instantly there were several faces at every window. The guests, clad only in their night robes, called for help, but the facilities of the fire department were meager and there are no life nets in the equipment. One after another the men and women at the windows jumped to the pavement below as the fire drove them out. Limbs were broken and the writhing mass of humanity accumulated faster than the rescuers could work. Wires Break Fall. Miss Nettle Burns was the last to Wave- the burning structure and had sustained terrible burns before she sprang from the window sill on which she had sought refuge. The injured were conveyed to adjoining business houses that had beep converted into impromptu hospitals. In an hour St. Luke’s hospital contained fifteen injured. Some who jumped owe their lives to the fact that their falls were broken by telegraph wires which interposed in their downward flight. The fire department confined its efforts to preventing a spread of the flames. Several times the National hotel caught fire, but it was put but. Heat Delays Searchers. The smouldering ruins furnished so fierce a heat that search for bodies was impossible. A number of guests said they stumbled over prostrate bodies as they rushed to windows. Those who were first to escape and were not severely injured stood for some time, barefooted, in the snow, chained to the spot and rendered unconscious of the cold by the horror of the scene. Many of them had to be led away.