THE BALDWIN HOTEL CATASTROPHE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11122, 14 January 1899, Page 6

THE BALDWIN HOTEL CATASTROPHE.

'A PEABFUIi COKTPLAGEATIOH. SAID 10 BB THE RESULT OP A DRUNKEN OKOIB. The cable of November 24 announced that the well-known Baldwin Hotel and Theatre, San Irancisco, wa3 totally destroyed by fire, and that a number of the inmates were burned to death, or illled by jumping from tbe building to the street. Aocording to the account of tho ' San Francisco Call" the scene was a terrible one; In the course of a graphic description of the conflagration that journal states : — 'l'henjoßt tremendous conflagration that has ever happened in San Francisco buratforth in the Baldwin Hotel shortly au»i- 3 o'clock this morning, November 23. From the very interior of the building a abaft of firo amended with tre.mentions volume and tho sky burst forth into thousands of falling sparks. Terrified inmates of the hotel rushed from the building, and crash after crash was heard as explosives in the theatre told the origin of the fire and tbe Mnminont danger of fbo=a wh» were ■within the structure. The flames roared Bn'd twisted and mounted -cores of feet above the building, and long before the firemen were at the scene the building was hopelessly, lost. The tremendous fire, having Ha origin in the theatre, attaoied what is known as the Baldwin Annex, and then spread with Inoonosivablerapidity toward ihe Ellis-street side of the Baldwin Hotel. In a very few minutes the firemen were at the scene, and on Ellis-itreet they saw the figure - * * omßn outlined against the Bfty and the seething miss of orlmaon flimes as she sought, almost a hundred feet -above the ground, to esoape with her life. The ladders of the firemen were placed with inconceivable rapidity against the side of the building. The woman who was standing on the very verge of the tremendous fiery farneoe, was grasped in somebody's aras while a thousand voices gave vent to a tremendous cheer as one life was saved from the building. While this incident attracted the attention of thousands on Ellis street class was crashing, walls were falling, floors were tumbling, and the boom of each resounding crash told of the .crumbling of the great structure on Eddy and Market streets. Men and .women .were - rushing from the building - wjth .what dothes they cou'd gather amid the hasty warnings of approaching death, and the waters of the engines were plying ineffectually upon the . terrible furnaces that ate the heart out Of the building. At 15 minutes to 5 o clock Dart of the two upper stories of the Baldwin Hotel crashed outward and •'tremendous sheet of flame descended ,to the street. The police had warned the thousands that had gathered arouad the building to retire to Powell-street, and no one was itjured in the crash. Flames burst forth from Powell and JSlliß atreete, and at oach moment it Heemed as if tbe great cupola would crumble. The soene as the side wall on the Powell-street aide of the building . •'■ crashed to the ground was magnificent. V A mjrlad of etars spangled into the air, land it seemed as if the very heavens were falling in sparks. From adjoining buildings stream after stream was poured upon the burning building, but eaoh jet of water seemed to add fury to the flames, and great masses of black .smoke arose to *erve only as a background for naw jets of living fire that twisted and turned and licked the superstructure until it crumbled and spread in glittering masses of flame on the Btreets. There has never been in San Francisco a conflagration of such dramatio interest, where the lives of so many men and women wora involved, and where so many escaped unscathed worn a furnace that roged upward until .the very sky itself seemed In flumes. ' The number of lives lost will not be definitely known until the debris haß been cleared away. So far the death list contains only two names, but at least six people who were known to have been asleep when the fire broke out are missing. Anxious friends and relatives have searched unceasingly, but no traces of the missing ones have beim found. It seems almost certain that they perished. Every effort within human power was made to awaken all . the 600 people who slept over the awful crematory, and everyone hoped that no -further fatalities would be reported. t While the paulc-etriolren, partially olad .inmates of the hotel were running for their lives thieves entered tbe hastily ! vacated rooms and carried off jewels and other property. Trunks whioh were left intaot by the fleeing guests, and whioh were not destroyed in the flimes, were broken open and rifled, It is charged, after the fira had been extinguished. This la being investigated by the police. The hsroio work of oivillans, polioemen and- fire Isddies in saving fear- Brazed v men and women from incineration is praised by tbe rescued ones. Nerve> xaoklng experiences and miraculous escapes are told by those who passed through the terrible ordeal. Estimates plsoe the aggregate loss by the fire at 2,000,000 dol. to, 2,500,000 dol., with light insurance. E J. Baldwin is the heaviest loser, and the severity of the blow may be greater than he can bear. It is believed that his old-time friends, men wbom he assisted in the trying days of the Callforoinn Bank crisis, will come to hia assistance. One of the probabilities me itioned is tbat a oompany will be organised to rebuild on the Baldwin site.' Three days after the fire the same journal states :— • Since the disastrous fire in the Baldwin Hotel on Wednesday morning tho air has quivered with query as ;to ita cause, and the location of its origin. The latter point seems to have been settled, however, beyond a reason able doubt. It started ia the kitchen. The investigation made by the fire department, assisted by tho owners of the hotel, tends to prove this. A persistent rumor, with the color of truth, ■w.ent the rounds in this city yesterday. It attributes tbe on'gin of the great fire to the gross misconduct of waiters and cooks of the hotel. According to rule the kitchen should be cleared and vacated by 12 o'clock but a number of cooks and waiters who desired an evening to themselves entered the steward's apartments and secured a quantity of wines, which thej proceeded to open Bnd consume in the kitchen. Their orgieß occupied three hours, and ttie wine made a number of them hoislerous. Fighting began, and in the tussle a light and some oil were overturned, idealising the danger, but frlcHtooed at the situation, they attempted to extinguish the rapidly increasing flames themselves, but after several minutes the futility of their efforts dawned upon them. In teiror they took to tbeir heels, and failed to warn anyone of tbe fearful damage ■ they had created.' When the fire had burned Itaelf out Fire-marshal Towe is reported to have said : 'Think God, the ;hing has gone to ruins at last. It has been a load on the mind of every fireman in tbe city for the past 20 years. The Baldwin was a death trap in its worst form, and a constant menace lo tba livo3 of tbose who lived in it. That it has now gone down without a fearful holocaust is a nuttier for sincere congratulation. No rickety shack of Its character can . over be ereoted on the same spot again.'