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Show MANY LIVES ARE LOST Omaha Hotel Burns-Only Burns-Only Few of the Fifty Guests Escape Omaha, Neb. Tcb 2$ An early i morning PI if which claimed a toll of human life estimated variously from ;" to 75. destroyed the Dewey hotel. 'a second rate hostelry, at Thirteenth land Fa mam Ft reel b early toda.' The only bodies found were recovered before be-fore the flames drove the firemen from the building. The property loss Will also bo great After the fireman I had worked on ihp smoklnc ruins of he fire for nearly five hours they bad been unable to reach the bodies of the 1 1 1 tinis and no definite estimate could be placed on the number of dead If was known that at least 60 pgr sons were registered at the hotel and the night clerk, who escaped narrowly with his own life, declared there were probably 20 other persons in the Hotel Ho-tel who were not registered. Very Few Escape. Watchmen, policemen and others In i Ii viclDlty of the hotel declare thai not to exceed a dozen persons escaped from the burning structure, wbir-h nraa entirely wrapped In FlaXQe when th first fire companies reached the BC( tie So suddenly did the flnmes reach ror part of the building thai f"e I of those asleep on the different floors ' had time to reach windows, and none were able to get to the fire escape One man harlea Cunimings. a bar-tender, bar-tender, '-ho had a room on the Far I nam street side, opened window and plunged from the third story to th" sidewalk He struck bead first ou the concrete walk and wa6 killed instant-j instant-j Mrs C. E Wllkinn. who with ber sister, had a room on the second 1 floor, facing the alley in the rear IraKEcd Ikt sister. .Miss Mice Bonn.-vie. Bonn.-vie. to the window There Miss Hon nevie collapsed and Mrs Wilkin waa forced to Jump for her life Two policemen broke her fall, but slu was badl) injured. Her sister's body is In the ruins James Prokes. a coppersmith, and ( harles Bevcrjv, employed in a local oyster house, attempted to escape and their bodies were found in the hall way on the second floor Night Clerk Last to Leave. Jesse D Nold. night clerk, was the last living person to leave the build ing. He opened the door of his of-flee, of-flee, on thfl second floor, when be heard an explosion and as driven back with "a puff of smoke and flame He attempted to arouse a few guests on that floor, hut was forced to go to the- street almoat overcome to save his own life The few guests who escaped from lecond story windows or from the on.' entrance on the. Thirteenth street side did so In scanty attire. They were carried to a drug store across thr street and to a ncarbv restaurant and Inter cared for at neighboring hotels Watchman Discovers Fire. A block watchman, who had entered the office of tho Adams Express com pan, which Is located In the hotel building, to report, discovered the fir and turned In a still alarm b tele phone He rushed out and found the clothing store of Rnphael-Pred com panv and turned In a second and third alarm, which brought out the entire downtown fire fighting force. When the firemen reached the scene the ) building was a mn6s of flames and . . j r f -iM !) sav : numlc-r o' p.-r?ons . windows in the two upper stories Be- 1 fore ladders could be raised however. the roof began to uve In on the tin iortunates and not a single person was I mmiiwI hv ihf ladder men I Fort Bodies in Basement That the basement, Into which the I, tuning interior fell i ithin hair an I i hour after the fire started, contains -,ol loss than 40 bodies is the beliel of Fire Chief Salter There was 0 ft I way in which io reach them for manv 1 hours after the building COll ipsed The r. ir walls fell i" on the mesa ft ! and all were burled beneath hundreds . i of tons of dehris 1 n is believed thai the fire itarted ft n, the roar, probably in the furnace room or the basement Persons In f tbf vicinity at the time say there waa m explosion, apparently of gas. and i In a few minutes the entire interior f wai In (lames ft Izzie Sleiss. a orld-Meraia paye carrier was one ' the heroes of the F (ire He was preparing to str.rt wlh b - morning route and was one of the . I first at ihe fir.- BVCB before the fire " men arrived he rushed into the build- b ing and began assisting the night , clerk to arouse those asleep in the r ' building He helped drag several bSif b dazed persons from the butldlnp and L I then half suffocated, went to a nS1 by drug store where Alban V Smith, a' night clerk, administered a siimu- jlant Stelss stepped outside and COl I lapsed entirely overcome from the I effects of the smoke forced through llhlfl lung! He was carried to an am-I am-I balance snd removed to the emergen DL, UftunitHl nnd later revived. I Nold Saves Score. Jesse Nold, who represents the man agemen of the hotel, prohahli r the lives of over a score of persons He was awakened by the cr of fln-and fln-and half dressed hurried through the smokc-rilled hallways arousing guests of the hotel. He succeeded In getting a number of persons out of the lnr.u ing building, all of them half 'lad The were taken to nearby places of refuge for ihe time Bitter cold made conditions almos' uabearable The firemen had hardl) i started streams on tho burning hoM . until frozen pipe lines began to burs The caused an impediment to ihe S 'foris of the firemen and reduced for some time the efficiency of the f)re I fighting force. Gas Explosion It is now believed the loss of life was caused by a gas explosion in the back of the building Only a jO u-eks ago there was discovered e !.-aking gas main which cause'i , management of the hotel to arouse all ihe gUSeti of the hotel. At that tm It was necessary to cut off the g6 ftUPPly and open the windows and idoorn'of the entire building to prevent the asphvxialion of some of tM puenis Thp explosion this mommy is h-lleved to haVe resulted from a similar condition , The suddenness with which the Me secured headway Indicates that this occurred. The firemen had pushed a ' 'adder to the third floor on the- alle I side of the building just as the 1 plosion ocenrred. It aent the ladders back and prevented several persons at windows from escaping At lea' i one person was shaken from 'ho lad ' tier when the explosion occurred, but he was not senouslv Injured. After six hours, during which from six to a dozen streame were Kept continually con-tinually playing on Ihe mine, it W not possible for the firemen to enter the building. How many bodies will be found was still a matter of conjee 'lure, and it was not known positively positive-ly that more than 15 were In the ruins Remarkable Escape. Mark Hemmlngway. wim ;ies at GSwing, Nob. was a guest at the hotel. ho-tel. He tells a remarkable story of escape Being aroused by the cry of fire, he rushed downstairs to the sec ond floor to find that part of the building in flames. He could find io avenue of escape and groped tils way back to his room above. Here he collapsed for a moment, but. regaining regain-ing his consciousness. Jammed his fist through lite window of his room and climbing to a window ledge, was rescued by firemen on a ladder. He had several bad cuts from the broken glass, but was otherwise uninjured Several business firms had quarters in the building and their losses, added add-ed to those of the hotel owners, brought ibe financial damage to about 250,000 It is not probaiilc that fireman I working on the smoking ruins will be ; able to rescue bodies buried beneath the debris before tonight or tomorrow, i fhc entire Interior of the hotel build-, ling was precipitated Into the basement, base-ment, carrying with it the bodies of those who did not escape from the burning structure. The front and side walls of tho building were all that '6 left and it appeared probable that these would i have to be ra?ed before the rescuers i could enter the Interior. Fire Chief j Salter declared he would not permit l his men to enter until the danger i from these standing walls have been , re mot ed. Known Dead. Those known to have lost their ! li os are: CHARLES CUMMINGS, a bartend or, jumped from third story window. I MRS. ALICE BRONNIVIB, sister of proprietor's wife. Unknown man. dragged from build -ling unconscious, bod nude, died in hospital. In addition to these three are those whose bodies are buried in the debris de-bris of the building The suddenness with which the fire secured headway, due probably to escaping gas, gave the inmates little or no time to escape and many of them were caught like rats In a trap. They found the halls filled With smoke and gas and were choked bv the fumes before they could reach the I exits. City Commissioner Wlthnell In charge of building matters, this after-, after-, noon put a force of men at work tear-in.' tear-in.' down the standing walls of the hotel and It is expected that the removal re-moval of bodies will be poesible this afternoon on |