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Show ft j v ' win H. ; -.r B r '""'' '- . ,,'. , , , I HOW GUESTS OF CHICAGO HOTEL I H v DIED IN SMOKE AND FLAMES s ir H Imprisoned In a Are-trap hotel, . HB fourteen men, -were, puffocated at day- Hflfl 'break! on the morning of1 December 4 at, Chicago.. rOnly twenty7 minutes HBY 'lapsed "after tlio alarm was sounded HB until, tho , flamos; wcro extinguished, HH ,1 tmt1 In, 'that' tlrfitf fourteen guests of H .the ovcro-owllcd Lincoln hotel, 176 HB ' Madison -stre't; bllridlr groping In the HB dense, snioke,. Jiad perished .In the nar- HB -fdwliallwby arid closet'illiu 'bedrooms fthe top fyor. r," ., j HH Bodies Waiting to be. Conveyed to, the Morgue. H i J'iXnjt Uiei sixty Adlmlriutlvo rooms; of, H vMj tote) 12$'pcrsossi tierri "crowded, B twh'pi(!'tho flames Lbfckc cut!- Only, fl fourteen of them wero residents of HBB Chicago. Tho others were stockmen HBB and farmers attracted here by the HBB live stock show or railway mall clerks HM and traveling men who could not se- HBV cure accommodaSons at other hotels. HBB' All the space possible was utilized. HWj Even the hallway closets contained SB, cots on which men were asleep, HBB though there was npt enough room In HBB these Improvised bedrooms for a SB chair In addition to the cot. In one BBS room on tho top floor the window of BBS which opened to the only firo escapo BBW on tho building, was a bed and a cot, BBw an olfectlvo barrier, In the darkness IBB and smoke, to this means of escape. BY With almost tho first burst of flame flflV. the fuses on the electric switchboards BB burned out, stopping tho elevators BBE and leaving the building In total, dark- BBpk v Before the Are department could ar- BBpt ,ive, In responso to the alarm wero lBfl flames roaring from the rear windows BB of tho building. Faces, white with ter- Bfl ror, were appearing at the front win- H 4 dow of the upper story. From the Hm 8ldes of the Ill-fated building men HJT and women, shivering and half clad, BBB' were leaping or, sliding to the roofs flBH of the adjoining buildings. flBti The cries of tho men Imprisoned IBBY' on the top floors could be heard above BBBt the clatter of the fire engines and the BB roar of the flames. The proprietor of BBB: the hotel asserts that he started to BBB. mount to the endangered men and BBS' lead them to the windows where BBB' they could safely reach the roofs on jBK either side of the hotel, but that ne ABB; was stopped by the firemen. -., At that HB. time, ho declares, ail could have been flBr saved if some one 'familiar with the BIB-1 upper floor had been' allowed to' show BB them the way to the windows. The BBB firemen contradict tills, and say no BBB' one could have reached tho fourth floor .through" the rapidly increasing BBB volumes of smnko. When Aro-lnsur- BBB ance patrol, No. C, arlvcd. Its mom- BBB bers started up. the stairs from the BBB office to' the third floor to rescue, the BBB men, Whose cries were rapidly becom- BH; Ing' weaker,' but their captain refused BM .to 'permit them to face almost certain BBw suffocation, and ordered them to ro-BBB.' ro-BBB.' v turn.' ' BBB' The escapes of some of the oceu- BBB(. pants of tho rooms were llttio short BBB; of miraculous. Six men, a woman BBH) and a little, boy, saved themselves; by BjBBf Jumping; to the roof of a restaurant'," PM adjoining the hotul on tho wept, -Four BH rnall clerks, who hald, t'hoy had a, pro-. BBaBt monition of danger, arose at 4:30 Pk Bj o'clock, dressed, and left tho hotel. mUBF C. H. Foster, another mall clerk, who BBBJ' occupied tho room with Corey and BBBft' ISwlng, both of whom aro dead, re-' BBBB eelvod a telegram early in tho oven- BBB .ing that his wlfo was. Ill and harrlod BBBK nway from tho hotel to her bedside, , leaving his vnllpo with, .his fellow. BflBB clerks. BJBBk room with Coroy aiid -Ewln'g, was BflJBi nearly an hour lata In nrivlng In Chicago ihat morning and slept in his mall car, Philip Koch of Jahosvllle, Wis., saVed himself by sliding to tho ground' by means of a rope mado from strips of his bed sheet W. J. Thomas, Thom-as, another mall clork, climbed to a window on. tha fourth floor and was rescued by dromon Just as he was JL O. McMastors tit Minneapolis,, a mall glork who usually occupied the about to drop from exhaustion. Olat Oldorf climbed downward (from floor! tpi'fieor jbyt means of tho jlrpn sh'uttersjbffore jthe flames had begun to breakHhrdugh'tho rear windows. win-dows. It. C. Hamilton, while groping for the Are escape .entered a room where a man was kneeling In prayer. He disregarded the man's admonition to give up hope, but continued his search for the Are escape and' saved Mother and Son Saved from Fire. Fred Shep&rd. Mrs. J. Shcpard. himself; H. E. Jett. of St. Paul was awakened, by tho screams of a woman and, with four other half-clad men ran Into the street and was given refuge ref-uge In a saloon. Tho same screams awoke. Edward Davenport and J. N. Wcsterland of Chicago. They were members of tho party that was saved by jumping to the roof of the restaurant. restaur-ant. John W. Hlggs of Lansing, Mich., escaped from the upper floor with the loss of only his cont and vest ana collar. ' "It It had not been for tho shouts of thoBe wliojitul already found the stairs, I' "would liover hnvo gotten out alive," he said. "The building was in. absolute darkness, so dense that a' person could see nothing. To add to .this tho spioke was so thick that .breathing was almost Impossible and tho screaming ml'd Confusion of persons per-sons running wildly bnck and forth in the hall mado it impossible for anyono to keep his sonscs. "Tho smell of smoke was strong In my room when tho nolso awoko mo. It must havo been Altering through tho cracks of the door, for some time. I was partly dressed nnd attempted "to And tho electric light bulb. It had seemed Just over my head when I went to bed In tho evening, but In my excitement It might as well havo been In the clouds. I mado a frantic plungo for the door, which 1 remembered remem-bered that I had bolted. I could not And tho bolt, and in tho darkness and excitement Imagined thnt my end had surely come. Then I tried again for tho electrlq light. I gave n gasp of relief as my hand struck It. Tho current was still on at that time, and I found the bolt which held mo a prisoner In my room. "As 1 opened tho door a blinding cloud of smoke rolled Into tho room. The narrow hallway seemed to be full of shoutln:; and struggling men. It wns Imposlble to distinguish them. As I stepped from my room the light behind mo Alckercd a moment and disappeared. I suposo It was when the fuses burned out. My room was at tho head of .the stairway, or I would never have found It. I heard Borne one shout, 'Hero they aro!' Immediately Im-mediately thcro was a despairing chorus from all sides of 'Where? Where,' Those of us that could groped In tho direction from which hnd como tho cry of hope. "As each man found tho stairs hd would give a shout of encouragement to those further down tho hnll and' trying to follow him. The smoko was rapidly becoming heavier and moro stifling. Uolow us could bo heard the roar of tho flames from tho rear. No one lingered longer than necessary after finding tho way to possible safety." Meantlmo the firemen and several patrolmen had again started to climb tho stairs in, the hope of reaching the upper floors. Detective Sergeants Anderson An-derson and Ellsworth managed to reach tho top of the building. In a corner near the head of the stairway they found Mrs. Mlna Bolder, her 11 year-old daughter Cora, and Mrs. Oeo. Clctt and her 9-year-old son. Removing Remov-ing their overcoats, which they threw over tho shlvorlng women, the two detectives de-tectives carried them down tho stairs to a place of safety in an adjoining building. Mrs. June Shopherd of Cairo, III., who was occupying a room on the fourth Aoor with her 10-year-old son Fred, wns awakened by the smoke. Rushing to tho door, she opened it, only to And the hallway Ailed with flames. Screaming, she slammed the door and started toward the' window. Her son grasped her clothing and clung, fast until the two wore rescued by the firemen. Mrs. Shepherd's screams awakened several persons in the rooms, adjoining her own, and doubtless saved thoir lives. 1 , Arrangement of Hall and Rooms on Fourth Floor. t it' |