St.
Louis, Missouri
Empire Hotel Fire
February 9, 1902
DEATH IN FLAMES
VICTIMS CAUGHT IN LODGING HOUSE FIRE TRAP.
ST. LOUIS HOTEL HORROR
ELEVEN LIVES LOST IN EARLY MORNING DISASTER.
APPALLING CASUALTY LIST
GUESTS CUT OFF FROM ESCAPAE BY FLAME AND
SMOKE.
Fire Spreads SO Rapidly That Those Who
Discovered It First Had No Time to Warn Others –
Small Property Loss.
ST. LOUIS, Mo., Feb. 9. – An early morning
fire which destroyed the Empire hotel, a large
three-story lodging house at 2700 and 2702 Olive
street, occupied by men exclusively, caused the
death of eleven persons, ten men and one woman,
and dangerously injured eight others.
Ten or more who had narrow escapes from death
in the fire were more or less injured by being
frost bitten.
It is estimated that there were between
thirty-five and forty persons in the building
last night, and it is believed all have been
accounted for.
The financial loss is nominal. It is thought
that $30,000 will cover the damage to building
and contents which were totally destroyed.
The Dead.
MORRIS YALL,
senior member of the firm Yall, Clark & Cowen,
manufacturers of fine cut glass, burned to a
crisp.
TOBE DAVIS, suffocated.
JOHN C. LUEDERS, father of Deputy
City Marshall Leo Lueders, skull fractured in
jumping from the third story window.
GEORGE THOMPSON, switchman, burned to
death.
SARAH HARRIS, colored, chambermaid,
burned.
B. E. WOODLEY, employe [sic] of
Hamilton-Brown Shoe company, burned.
J. A. MCMULLEN, carpenter, burned.
S. T. COREY, telegraph operator.
VANCE MARLIN, civil engineer of
Indianapolis, Ind., burned.
A. J. ALLEN, of Sedalia, Mo.,
stonemason, burned.
UNKNOWN MAN, who died at the city hospital from
burns.
The Injured.
Harry Cline,
a medical student of Marion, Ill, hands badly
burned, and ankles sprained.
Walter Johnson, employe [sic] of
Hamilton-Brown Shoe company, hands burned, both
legs broken and injured internally.
Henry Robinson, colored, night
porter, badly burned.
George Lane, medical student of Rich
Hill, Mo., ankle sprained in jumping from second
story window.
------- Sturgeon, dental student of
Nashville, Ill., ankle sprained in jumping from
second story window.
J. J. Lally, manager Empire hotel,
back badly sprained while escaping from
building.
Con Ryan, burned about face.
About ten or twelve others were less seriously
injured, being bruised, burned or suffering from
exposure.
Many Narrow Escapes.
The fire started about 3:30 a. m. when but a few
persons were abroad, and gained considerable
headway before it was discovered. There was
considerable delay in turning in an alarm, and
when the engines finally reached the scene the
whole front of the building was in flames and
the interior was a seething furnace. By that
time all who escaped death had left the building
by jumping from the windows or climbing down
ropes made of bed clothes. A few escaped from
the ground floor through the front door. Some of
the escapes were very narrow.
Almost everybody who got out suffered some
injury or was frost bitten. The guests barely
had time to get out when aroused, the flames had
spread so rapidly. Some saved clothing, which
they carried in their hands, but others were not
so fortunate, losing everything. After some
delay nearby houses were opened to the
unfortunates and they were given shelter from
the biting cold weather.
It was one of the coldest nights of the
winter, the ground being covered with ice and
snow and everyone suffered from exposure.
The suffering ones were put under the care of
physicians. Harry
Cline, Walter Johnson, Henry Robinson
and an unknown man, who died later, were
taken to the city hospital. Robinson recovered
enough to be taken home. The others named will
be laid up for some time.
Search for Bodies.
After a short fight the firemen got the flames
under control and assisted by the police, made a
search of the ruins. The first body found was
that of JOHN C. LUEDERS,
who was killed by jumping from the third story.
His head was crushed in. The body of Lueders and
those of the others found later were taken to
the morgue, where friends and relatives later
identified them.
SARAH HARRIS
was found on the first floor. Her body had been
burned. The remains of the other victims were
found in their rooms, where they were suffocated
or burned.
J. J. Lally,
who managed the house for his brother-in-law,
J. W. Gillman,
had rooms on the first floor. He stated there
were four rooms on the first floor, nine on the
second, and seven on the third. If all the
guests occupied their rooms, thirty-six persons
including the colored porter and chambermaid
were in the building when it burned. Lally said
he had no means of knowing just how many persons
were in the house at the time the fire broke
out.
Fire Spreads Quickly.
Some of them were in the habit of staying out
late and it is possible all were not there then.
He was awakened by hearing
Con Ryan, one of the roomers,
crying fire. Lally
said he grabbed his clothing and money and
hurried into the hall, which was ablaze, and
without stopping to dress, stepped out through
the front door. Both stairways were on fire and
he barely had time to get out, being scorched
and spraining his back.
Lane, Ryan and
a man named Nicely
escaped the same way. The only way for the
others who got out alive was through the
windows, the burning stairways cutting off their
escape that way. Some jumped and sustained
injuries more or less serious, while others who
took time to improvise ropes from their bed
clothing got down safely.
R. A. Woolsey,
a medical student, whose home is in Galesburg,
Ill., had a room on the second floor. Finding
the regular exits cut off, he slid to the ground
safely with the aid of two sheets tied together.
Harry Cline
of Marion, Ill., who is a student in the medical
department of Washington university, had a
narrow escape from death. He roomed on the
second floor with Harry
Thompson of Nashville, Ill., a
student at the same college. Cline was aroused
by cries of fire. He awakened Thompson and
together they attempted to escape through the
hall. They found the stairway on fire and the
hall filled with smoke and flames which drove
them to the window in their room. Thompson
jumped first and hurt his ankle but before Cline
could get out the flames burned him terribly
about the hands with which he shielded his face.
He is now at the hospital suffering from burns
and a badly sprained ankle. Both lost
everything.
William Clark and
Abraham Cowen, partners of
Morris Yall, who was burned to death,
escaped uninjured. They formerly lived in
Chicago.
Among the others who got out unscathed were
James McMahon
and Joseph J.
Hart of Corning, N. Y., and
F. M. Niesley of Chicago.
Unaccounted For.
Tonight most of the guests have been accounted
in the list of dead, injured and escaped. Among
those unaccounted for is
A. Goldberg, an
unknown stranger, who came in late and went to
bed without registering, two students whose
names are not known, and
F. P. Contrand. It is not believed
there are any more bodies in the ruins, which
have been carefully searched. For that reason it
is thought those named will turn up.
Nobody seems to know just how or where the
fire started. It is believed that it started on
the first floor or in the cellar, where there is
a steam heating plant.
The Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln, NE 10
Feb 1902
The dead
MORRIS YALL,
senior member of the firm,
Yall, Clark & Cowen, manufacturers of
fine cut glass, formerly of Chicago, burned to a
crisp.
TOBE DAVIS, man about town,
suffocated.
JOHN C. LEUDERS, father of Deputy
City Marshal Leuders; skull fractured in jumping
from third story window.
SARAH HARRIS, colored, chambermaid,
burned.
B. F. WOODLEY, employee Hamilton
Brown Shoe Company, burned.
J. A. McMULLEN, carpenter.
S. T. COREY, telegraph operator,
Merchants’ Terminal Association.
VANCE MARLIN, civil engineer,
Indianapolis, burned.
A. J. ALLEN, Sedalia, Mo., stone
mason, burned.
UNKNOWN MAN, died at city hospital from burns.
The injured:
Harry Cline, medical student from
Marion, Ills., hands badly burned and ankle
sprained. Walter
Johnson, employee Hamilton Brown Shoe
Company, hands burned, both legs broken and
injured internally.
Henry Robinson, negro night porter,
badly burned. George
Lane, medical student of Rich Hill,
Mo., ankle sprained in jumping from second story
window. ------
Sturgeon, dental student, back
sprained in jumping from second story window.
Harry Thompson,
medical student, Nashville, Ills., ankle
sprained in jumping from second story window.
J. J. Lally,
manager Empire hotel, back badly sprained while
escaping from building. About ten persons, more
or less, are suffering from burns or exposure.
The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, GA 10
Feb 1902
Articles transcribed by
Jenni Lanham. Thank you,
Jenni!
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