Ft. Wayne, Indiana

Aveline Hotel Fire

May 3, 1908

ELEVEN DEAD IN FT. WAYNE HOTEL FIRE

Several Persons Who Were Supposedly in the New Aveline Are Unaccounted For.

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS.

Ft. Wayne, Ind., May 4. – At an early hour today the death toll in the new Aveline hotel, which was destroyed at an early hour Sunday morning by fire, stood at eleven with several persons unaccounted for. The unidentified body of a man so badly burned as to be practically unrecognizable was found.

The fire department, police and two companies of militia, aided by many laborers, worked throughout the night burrowing into the ruins in search for the dead. There are a number of persons yet missing, though how many and their identity is a question altogether problematical owing to the burning of the register and other guest records.

The Chillicothe Constitution, Chillicothe, MO 4 May 1908

11 DEAD, 20 HURT IN FIRE

Fort Wayne Hotel Ruins Relieved to Contain Three More Bodies.

MANY GUESTS IN PERIL OF LIVES

Five Persons Crawled 200 Feet on Ledge Eight Inches Wide – Many Jumped From Windows

FORT WAYNE, IND., May 4. – Eleven bodies, four of which are so badly burned that all hope of identification has been abandoned, are lying in the morgue in this city today, as the result of the new Aveline Hotel horror early Sunday morning.

R.S. JOHNSON, Pana, Ill.
J.B. MILLER, Sheboygan Falls, Wis.
J.E. ELLIS of Carson, Pierie, Scott & Company, Chicago.
W.A. PITCHER, salesman for S.F. Bowser & Company, Fort Wayne.
J.W. DEVINY, salesman for Crawford & Lehman, Philadelphia.
MORRIS HIRSCH, Chicago.
MISS MARY BURLETT, assistant matron, Mishawka, Ind., Orphans’ Home.
MRS. SARAH HATSWAY, matron, Mishawka Orphans’ Home.
Unidentified man, badly charred. Supposed to be Attorney FRANK BAXTER of Auburn, Ind.
Unidentified body, supposed to be CHARLES BENJAMIN of the Detroit Neckware Company.
Unidentified body, supposed to be male.
Companion of Frank Baxter of Auburn, Ind.
R.E.TRIBLE of Dalhart, Texas, a miner ranchman, known to have been in room 33 near the elevator; has not been seen since the fire.
BURKE, colored porter at the hotel.
CHARLES BLOOMER, Evansville, Ind., salesman Crockett Shoe Company of Boston.
F.C. DONNLLY, right arm broken in jumping.
JAMES A. FOSTER, Fort Wayne, burned about face and head.
A.M. METH, Pittsburg, burned about face, arms and legs.
LYMAN CAMPBELL, jumped three stories, badly shocked.
CHARLES FALLS, Columbus, Ohio, gash in leg, (illegible) head and badly lacerated, leaped three stories.
E.M. MATTHEWS, Columbus, Ohio, back broken and burns.
GEORGE A. STILL, Philadelphia, badly cut and burned about face and arms.
MISS AGNES NADEAU, three ribs broken, contusion on head; injuries will prove fatal.
MISS MARGARET MEECHAN, MISS ANNA BLOCK and NATHAN BELL, all employes, all burned and blistered.
F.C. PHILLIPS, Calumet, Mich., face burned and head scorched.
JOHN LONG, bartender; arms broken.
JOHN P. STROHECKER, traveling salesman, New York City, burned about head and arms.

The fire, which had its origin near the elevator shaft on the first floor, was caused by defective wiring. It was discovered by a hotel employe at 3:10 o’clock, and the alarm was quickly spread throughout the hotel. Within five minutes, however, the interior of the structure was a seething furnace, and many of the guests were caught in their rooms before they had time to get into the hallways and make their way to the fire escapes.

Fully twenty guests are in the hospitals suffering from burns or injuries received in jumping from the windows. E.M. Matthews, a traveling salesman of Columbus, jumped from the fifth story, alighting on the back of his head and shoulders in the middle of the street. He was picked up and still alive a patient in a local hospital. His injuries will prove fatal.

Many of the escapes were miraculous. Five guests crawled 200 feet on a ledge not over eight inches wide, finally reaching a place of safety.

It is supposed that at least three more bodies remain in the ruins.

Trenton Evening Times, Trenton NJ 4 May 1908

Articles transcribed by Loraine Jordan.  Thank you, Loraine!

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