Show COZEN alls m LOST IN HOTEL mm unfortunate guests of fort wayne lad ind hotel cut off by flames from elevator and stairway fire department rescued many M any of the entrapped guests guest by means meana of ladders but many leaped to the paved street and were fatally injured fort wayne ind at least 12 i lost their lives in a fire that destroyed the new avelene hotel hero early sunday the entire interior of the building Is a smoldering heap heal of ruins and how many dead are concealed by the debris can only bo be conjectured the hotel register war consumed y the fire and there are arc no accurate means of determining who are arc missing the complete destruction of the interior of tho the hotel makes the work of if recovering bodies a difficult task A confused heap of charred wood bricks and twisted girdles Js Is plied piled up ill between the bare walls to the second story piece by piece this must be removed before the roll of the dead can be c completed some som of the bodies taken out are arc mangled and charred beyond recognition tho the fare was discovered at a ill in the elevator shaft by night clerk ralph Hopi hopkins chis ile he rushed to the upper floors alarming the guests until the flames which had aprea spread with appalling rapidity drove him back his efforts however saved many lives the hotel was erected half a century ago and tho the woodwork was dry as tinder it burned like matchwood anti and within a few minutes from tho the tittle time tile tho fire was discovered the whole interior of the hotel was a mass of flames that filled the corridors and rooms with suffocating clouds of smoke and laid fiery barriers across all means of escape save by tho the windows the fire department rescued many people by means of ladders but some frenzied by the onward rush of the lames flames leaped from high windows to the paved street the tha new avelene hotel was a six alx story building of brick in the business center of the city ital ita erection was begun in 1852 but it was not completed until seve several ral years later in 1895 the building wa was s extensively ten remodeled and two stories were ere added the hotel and furnishings were valued at within a quarter of an hour from the time tho the fire way was discovered in the elevator thant practically the entire building was in flames the whole interior became a roaring furnace and from basement to roof all was blazing at once in rapid success succession ibri tho the floors fell to the basement carrying their toll of dead |