St. Louis, Missouri
Pacific Hotel Fire
March 5, 1858
From the St. Louis Intelligencer.
FRIGHTFUL CALAMITY
TERRIBLE CONFLAGRATION
Burning of the Pacific Hotel.
The Pacific Hotel and the adjoining buildings,
on the northeast corner of Seventh and Poplar
streets, were burned this morning under
circumstances, and attended by disaster to life,
which make it a truly appaling [sic] event. From
Officer MICHEAL
SLATTERY, of the night watch, who was
first to discover the fire, and who, assisted by
Officers LOUIS THESOSKI
and JOHN
O'BRIEN, rendered valuable service on
the occasion, we are indebted for many of the
particulars given in this account.
Officer SLATTERY was standing on the corner of
Seventh and Cerre streets, one square below the
Pacific Hotel, about fifteen minutes past 3
o'clock, and was speaking to officers
THESOSKI and O'BRIEN, who had just come up. They had
spoken but a minute together, when SLATTERY'S
attention was directed to the sudden glare of
fire against the rear of the buildings on Sixth
street, one square above. At first he thought it
was caused by the fires in furnace of a Foundry
nearby; but, on looking at the Foundry , he
discovered that it was closed, and not in
operation. He instantly pointed to the light and
told his companions that it was a fire; and all
three ran up the street shouting “fire, fire,”
to raise the alarm. When they reached the
Pacific Hotel, which fronts on Seventh street,
and exposes a long flank on Poplar, they found a
fearful column of flames extending from the
cellar to the top of the building, and making
progress with alarming rapidity. One of them ran
to the front and beat the doors to arouse the
inmates.
Up to this time the region was as silent as
the tomb, the persons in the building sleeping
in utter unconsciousness of the fiery doom which
menaced them. The beating at the doors, together
with the loud shouts of the watchmen, aroused
them directly, however, and instantly all the
windows of the Poplar street side of the house
were crowded with persons, wild with fright and
with nothing but their night clothes. Several of
them leaped from the third story. The watchmen
saw them take the leap from the fearful height
and strike with cruel force on the hard
pavement, coated with a layer of slippery ice,
below. They did not move after they struck the
ground, but lay like inert, lifeless pieces of
wood, incapable of movement from the wounds,
fractures, contusions, and convulsions
consequent on their crushing fall. --- The
watchmen, in hope that there might be a less
frightful mode of escape than this leap of
death, begged them to make them their way to the
front of the building, and get out through the
door and windows there but the terror-struck
inmates cried out in tones of despair, that they
could could [sic] not escape that way --- that
the intervening flames had cut off all
communication with the front, and that their
only alternative was either to jump, or be
burned alive. Just then the voice of a man from
one of the third story windows called to those
below to look out for a lady, and besought them
to catch her. A mattress was thrown down and
officers SLATTERY
and O'BRIEN,
hastily removing a row of empty hogsheads which
stood on the pavement, held it directly under
the window, about a foot from the wall. They had
scarcely stationed themselves there, with the
mattress held between them, when a heavy mass
fell with great force between the wall and the
mattress, to the pavement, striking the edge of
the mattress, and knocking it out of their
hands. It was the body of a lady, with a baby in
her arms. The woman did not move, nor utter a
cry, after her fall, -- she was dead. The infant
rolled out the relaxed arms of its dead mother
on the pavement, and did not appear to be
severely hurt. It was borne, wrapped in a shawl
which the thoughtful mother had thrown around
it, to the Pacific Railroad Depot, near by,
where it soon ceased to breathe, having received
fatal internal injuries.
These scenes occurred but a few moments after
the first alarm. In the mean time those who
could summon courage to take the leap, were
jumping from the windows. No one of those who
jumped reached the ground in safety. Some had
their limbs broken, some their joints
dislocated, and others were shockingly crushed
and mangled. One man struck the pavement on his
beet, and had both his legs shattered below the
knees. Those below held mattresses for the
inmates to jump on, and with signal benefit in
several instances; but on account of the
slippery condition of the pavement, which made
it difficult for those below to stand firmly
under the shock of the falling persons, there
were but few saved entirely unharmed by the
mattrasses [sic].
The house was most unfortunately constructed,
having but a narrow entrance in front, on
Seventh street, and a back entrance to the rear
buildings up Poplar street. Many of those in the
front rooms managed to effect their escape; but
those in the rear rooms of the main building
found themselves cut off from all the stairways
and doors below by the flames. In their despair,
all who could find a place at the windows,
crowded around them, and with wild entreaties
besought those below to rescue them. Many were
burned to death in their rooms, being unable
even to escape from them.
In one room there were nine persons, only one of
whom was saved, the remaining eight meeting
death in the embrace of the flaming arms of the
conflagration. Even after the subsidence of the
fire the charred and blackened bodies bore
terrible evidence to the spectators of the
agonies they must have suffered in their fiery
death.
The fire is supposed to have been accidental.
It appears to have had its origin in the back
room of the first floor, whence the flames
rapidly mounted through the intermediate floors
to the roof. The barking of a dog belonging to
MR. STRADER,
the proprietor of the Hotel, simultaneously with
the beating at the doors by the watchmen, first
roused the occupants to a consciousness of their
peril. But the whole house was directly
enveloped in flames, and many who _____ awoke
only to pass across a threshold of fire , to a
sleep that knows no waking. Some were crushed in
their beds by the falling of the burning roof,
and, we trust were killed before the flames
reached them.
A corpse was found burned to a crisp. --- By
its side was a carpet-bag, clutched by the
charred remnant of a hand, which had been burned
from the wrist off the body.
It is not known, at the hour we go to press,
exactly how many persons have fallen victims to
the calamity, though there is every reason to
believe that the number is is [sic] not less
than thirty.
DR. STRADER
informs us that there were about one hundred
persons in the building at the time, of whom
forty or fifty are missing. There were many
strangers lodging temporarily at the Hotel,
whose names cannot be ascertained. The bodies of
twenty one dead persons have been identified,
but, besides these there is a number of corpses
in the ruins which cannot be extricated until
the tottering walls are pulled down and the
burning fragments removed. This work is now
going on under the management of energetic men.
The scene of the calamity presented a
sickening spectacle this morning, as there could
be seen, lying here and there within the outer
walls of the building, black and smoking masses,
which, a few hours before, had been living
bodies.
The Pacific Hotel was a comparatively new
building, having been erected about a year ago.
It was occupied by DR.
D. W. STRADER, formerly of Kentucky.
The following is a list of the killed and
wounded, as full as we have been able to make
it:
Killed --- Burnt.
T. HART STRONG,
St. Louis;
BRUCE McNUTT, (supposed) St. Louis;
BURKHEARST WUST, St. Louis;
Nine persons, names not know, in No.
26;
GEORGE CRANE;
MRS. JENNIE JONES and child, St.
Louis;
A MISS JONES, residence not known;
WM. SAUNDERS TAYLOR, ______;
A negro boy belonging to
MR. WHEATON,
of St. Louis;
MR. JOHNSTON, of Chicago;
PAUL SURRELL
(not sure of spelling) of St. Louis;
HENRY E. ROSSITER, of Rochester, N.
Y.;
CHARLES DAVIS and
WM. CUNNINGHAM, brothers-in-law,
belonging to the Terre Haute and Alton Railroad,
were also burnt.
Injured.
JAS. F. GEARY, Local Reporter of the
Leader, lying at the Hospital of the Sisters of
Charity, both legs badly cut, and head severely
injured; in dangerous condition.
MR. ELEHEW HAYS, of New York, at same
place, right leg fractured and head dreadfully
cut, sustained by leaping from a window.
MRS. JAS F. GEARY, wife of MR. GEARY,
of the Leader, considerably injured by leaping
out.
MR. JNO. JONES, back hurt badly and
both legs broken; he as lowering his wife and
child; the sheet slipped, she fell, and was so
injured that she died this morning; her child
also died. He leaped down from a third story
window.
MR. TOWNS, formerly of the Pacific
Hotel, leaped out of the third story and is
badly hurt.
One lady threw out her child, then leaped down
and broke her back; will probably die.
THE DISASTER. --- We add to our account
of the disaster at the Pacific Hotel, as
published in yesterday's paper, many particulars
and incidents which have come to our knowledge
since that time.
The proceedings of the meeting of citizens,
and of the sevaral [sic] committees appointed
under it, will also be found in this morning's
paper.
The clerk of the Hotel has furnished a sketch
of the various apartments in the house, and the
number of occupants of each apartment. According
to this statement, the whole number of persons
in the house 71 or 72. Of this number 44 escaped
unhurt; nine are badly hurt, and eighteen are
supposed to be dead. The bodies of four more
persons are believed to be in the ruins. This
closes the record. --- St. Louis Republic.
Liberty Weekly Tribune Missouri 1858-03-05
Submitted & transcribed by Stu
Beitler Thank you,
Stu!
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