The New York Herald Newspaper, December 12, 1872, Page 4

THE HOTEL SLAUGHTER, Particulars of the Disaster o: Tuesday Night. HORRORS OF THE HOTEL ATTIC. Women Caged in Their Rooms and Smothered While Asleep. The Wire Screens at the Windows. OPINIONS OF THE FIRE OFFICIALS. in Its The Hotel Faulty Construction. The Only Outlet from the Upper Floor NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1872—-TRIPLE SHERY. ‘These rooms are the large dormitories at the angle ofthe corridor. There was but one door and one window in each. When the alarm was given the Women who were awakened in time managed to escape by the windows, the wire screens of which were taken off by their united strength and by the help which they received from men of the hotel. One window was open and many escaped by this. ‘The partition in the middle of the corridor was as- sailed with axes and hammers, but yielded only when it was too late. Many of the girls escapea with nothing on but their night clothes, and were all day yesterday trying to find the few clothes they had leit, What was not burned was ruined by water, JOHN MKAY, THE PLUMBER, reached the room where the girls’ dead bodies were afterwards found and managed to drag two out still alive. With the help of the gas man, who accompanied him, he wrenched the wire screen from the window and caved for the girls to hurry out, Only two responded to his call. A chair stood near the window, and about it Iay the mo- tioniess bodies of five others, and on the other side lay three more already asieep in death. He could dono more. He called but neither sound nor motion answered and, driven by the blinding and suffocating smoke which broke through the window in great ed he and his companion fied across the roof with the two almost lifeless women. One of them, Mary Ann Fagan, lea in great agony at Bellevue Hospital yeater- lay. THB FIRE ORIGINATED, according to the evidence before the Fire Marshal, in a servant's room on the third floor, near the spiral staircase. 1t pi #80 rapidly that the g irl, who nad been asleep, escaped only with severe injuries, As it gained headway it was caught up in the draught of the laundry elevator and the spiral stale and thus sprung at once to its fatal work in the attic, I¢ is observable that even the fourth floor is comparatively uninjured. The very force of the draft seems to have carried the flames beyond the intermediate floors to the attic, where its force was concentrated, a Burning Staircase. @oW THE BODIES WERE FOUND. The Brave Deed of John McKay. Demoralization Among Hotel Employes. the Carelessness as to the Safety of the Servant Women. Anything to Prevent a Panic Among the Guests. STATEMENTS OF EYE WITNESSES. WUarrowing Scenes at the Morgue. ELEVEN COFFINS IN A ROW. Testimony Taken Before the Fire Marshal. THE SCENES OF THE FIRE. “The ruins of the Fifth Avenue’ was a sight which impelled many citizens from all parts of the city toward the neighborhood of Madison square yesterday. The usually bright and busy corner was unusually busy yesterday with the coming and going of these sightseers, but for all the ruins of the Fifth Avenue visibie to a casual observer, they had their labor for their pains, THE STATELY MARBLE WALLS of the edifice remained upright and towering, their beauty unmarred, and their apparent strength un- strained. Here and there on the Twenty-third Street side, the water had traced its way from the top cornices to the ground, and on the side- walk @ few muady carpets were lying, and the iadies' entrance was closed and locked, but otherwise the hotel outwardly bore no evidence of the ravages of the flery demon within. In the windows even of the rooms that had suffered the long lace curtains with the yellow silk linings behind them still hung in apparent unfaded fresh- ness. INSIDE, however, the scene bore evidence of the horrors of the night before. A detail of police from Captain Burden’s precinct guarded the doors on each side, and required an explanation even from guests of the hotel before admission could be gained. Police- men also guarded the staircases, and rendered it necessary for guests to be identified by the hall boys before they could pass to their rooms, and altogether the life of the guests that survived the fire were rendered miserable enough by the inconveniences that came after it. A general moving of effects was going on all day, the guests who were burned out being given rooms in the other wing if they could get them or would have them; anda number of guests, feeling gloomy over the disaster and doubt- ful of the future, removed to other hotels, where fre has not yet intruded itself in so ghastly a form. ON THE SECOND, THIRD AND FOURTH FLOORS of the south wing, on the Twenty-third street side, the richly farnished rooms are now dismantled, ex- cept that the pier glasses in most instances yet re- main, and the carpetsin the long corridors are soaked with water, so that they splash under foot like thin Virginia mud. On the floor WHERE THE FIRE TOOK PLACE allis now black cinders, torn flooring and dis- mantied rooms, The servants’ rooms are on this story, and have each a window opening out upon the roof and a door opening into the narrow and low-ceilinged corridor running the length of the house on Twenty-third street, Between the rooms 611 and 513, the larger rooms or dor@itories where the dead servant girls had slept, this narrow cor- ridor runs ataright angle to the spiral staircase which served as a servants’ stairway and to the ele- Vator, anarrow affair, on which the clothes linen was carried to and from the laundry. of wind came blowing up the stairway and elevator yesterday, with such violence that it chilled those who feit it, and a match could not be lighted near either of these fues, THE STAIR AND ELEVATOR ‘were both completely burned out at the top, down to the third story, where the fire commenced, Below that they remained intact, showing that their progress had been upward from the first, and ‘this strong draft was the agency which carried the terrible element so rapidly to the doors of the doomed women. The windows of these rooms, opening upon the roof, would have given ready access to the women, but they were bolted and barred against egress or ingress with STOUT WIRE SCREENS. Only the strength of strong men could move these death traps, The proprietors say that tl Screens Were put up for various reasons—to keep the girls from congregating on the roof, to prevent the Marauding of night desperadoes and thieves, and to admit in Summer of the ventilation of the rooms by the raising of the windows, secure from the danger of midnight visitors. A partition in @ middle of the long corridor divided the men ‘vante’ rooms from the women’s, and thus cut /anfortunates of from egress by the staircase the northern wing of the hotel. There re- sined only the spiral staircase for them, and that 4 blazing and crackling in the flery embrace be- ‘e the unfortunate women could have known the gency that waa dif them. IN THE TWO ROOMS 4, 611 and 613 slept the girls who were lost, Astrong draught | The following is THR LIST OF THE DEAD. They were all scrubbing girls and all slept in the two rooms, 611 and 613, They were campelied to retire at an early hour by the regulations of the house, and glad enough, doubtiess, to do so, con- sidering that their work counnenced at three in Beta Guntaln twenty-six, ngs, wenty-six. Mary Crowley, roe ts hteen. Margaret Conne: twenty-two. Mary McCabe, age ye Mary Ann Fagan, aged twenty-six, Elizabeth Moran, aged twenty. Lizzie Campbell, aged seventeen. Honora Ward, aged twenty-two. Kate Cushing, aged thirty. Mary Donnelly, aged twenty-eight. Mary Jane Havey, twenty-nine, When Miss Fisher, the housekeeper's assistant, CALLED THB ROLL of the dey yesterday the scenes were very affect- ing. ose who knew the fate of the absent ones answered for them, and “Dead,” “Baaly hurt,” came in doleful response from the shivering line like a roll call of troops after battle. There wero some AMUSING INCIDENTS among the guests of the house during the alarm. Mr. Elliot C. Cowdin had a room near where the fire originated, and when he became convinced that it threatened a scrious conflagration he went in search of some one to help him away with his trunk. The first man he encountered was ex-Attor- ney General Hoar, who readily took a hand, and the two sedate publicists conveyed the heavy trunk to a place of safety, while porters and hall men were wild and demoralized. THE DISCIPLINE of the hotel force is said to have been very inefil- cient during the emergency. Mr. Griswold was in’ charge, Mr. Darling being away, and he tried to in- some system into the movements of the men, but failed, and there was no concerted movement whatever for safety of lives or even the removal of the baggage or persons of the guests. When Mr. Darling came 8 better discipline was infused, and the fire was soon extinguished. THE LADY GUESTS, who had only retired a few moments before, rushed about the corridors in the most disenchanting dis-. habille, and a few men found it Vissi when the alarm had subsided to replenish thelr toilet. ‘THE HOTEL is probably the most complete, substantial and well arranged stracture for its purpose in this country, it was planned by the late Paran Stev- ens, and was regarded by him as nearly perfect. THE INSURANCES, The following is the list of insurances on furni- ture, stock and fixtures:—Commercial Mutual, $5,000; Jefferson, $2,500; Montauk, $2,500; Relief, $5,000; Phenix, $10,000; Imperial, $12,500; Com- mercial, $5,000; Hope, $2,500; Tradesmen's, $10,000; Bi Mercantité, $5,000; Importera ‘and Traders’, $5,000; City, 5,000; Merchants’, $5,000; Bowery, $5,000; Eagle, $5,000; Na- tional Fire and Marine, of Philadelphia, $5,000; Arctic, $5,000; Williamsburg City, $5,000; Bangor, $5,000; Union, $4,000; ire Assurai Philadelphia, $10,000; Traders’, Chicago, $5,000; Hibernia, Cleveland, $5,000; Fairfleld, Conn., $5,000; Merchants’ Mutual, Newark, $5,000; Oriental’ Hartford, $5,000; Kings County, $6,000; Lorillard, $10,000; Safeguard, $5,000; Commercial Union As- surance, $20,000; Atlantic, $5,000; American, $3,000; eos $5,000; Knickerbocker, $5,000; Sterling, $5,000; Republic, $10,000; Liverpool, Lon- don and Globe, $34,000; Geb! |, $5,000; National, $5,000; Atna, $5,000; Manhattan, $5,000; Black River, Watertown, $8,000; Atlantic Fire Marine, $5,000; Lancashire, $10,000; in out of town com- panies, not yet ascertained, $30,000. Total, $332,500, The total amount of insurance on the building is $645,000, STATEMENTS OF EYE-WITNESSES, WHAT MR, DARLING, ONE OF THE PROPRIETORS, SAYS. Mr. Darling, one of the proprietors, sald to a HERALD reporter :—“I am of the opinion that these poor girls were suffocated. They never knew what | hurt them. Yousee, the flames came up like a whirl- | wind. The hand elevator for taking up the linen from the laundry runs up like a flue right to the room where the girls slept, and the draught of | air in the flue is so powerful that it was | perfectly impossible to put a stop to the fire. The fire burned under their very heads. Had | they not been suffocated, they could have stepped | out of the windows on the roof just as all the other girls did. It was as easy as cropping out in the street. It is a horrible thing this loss of lives,” RerorTeR—Is it true that you hustled the bodies off to the Morgue ? | “Be kind enough to state,” Mr. sd Said, “that Thad nothing to do with this. Mr, Nichol: | son, who is one of the Commissioners of Charitie: | and lives here, ordered this to be done. We ha } nothing whatever to do with it. I presume you | will ask how the fire originated, but I really do not | know anything about it. Nobody knows how the | fire originated. The loss in the buiiding will prob- | ably not amount to more than ten thousand | dollars, but the damage to the furni- ture will amount to much more, $80,000 or less. It is a perfect miracle how the building was saved; but the Fire Department, the police, the guests, the servants, everybody did spiendid service. Lam more sorry about this ter- rible loss of lives than I am about our pecuniary loss. Mrs. Darling has been taking care of the servant girls all this morning; has given them dresses, shoes and clothes, for they all had lost almost everything.” What Mr. Griswoid, Onc of the Propric+ tors Says. ; “Ihave heard it stated,” Mr. Griswold said to the HERALD reporter, ‘that I had delayed giving the alarm. Now, I have proof that I ordered one of my men, Evans, to give the alarm two minutes after I had discovered the fire. I was just coming from my room when I saw the smoke, and called this man Evans, and ordered him instantly to give the alarm of fire. There was, of course, |@ good deal of excitement and every | time 1 passsed through the hotel panic. stricken ladies rushed at me and asked me whether the fire had been extinguished; I told them to be quiet, that they were all safe, for we knew that we had the fire under control. Every- body has been very kind to us, Mr. A. T. Stewart called here personally, and I have just received a despatch from Mr. Libby, his partner, offering to send me one hundred men, He has sent here thirty or forty men any, What we are doing is to clear away the rubbish, and in @ few days everything will again be in gs, order, There is @ despatch from Mr, Childs, in Philadelphia, offering us assistance. The sud- dest feature of the aareatiee the loss of so many lives; but it was impossible to save these poor girls. They were undoubtedly suffocated before anybody could be near to render assistance. The 1088, a8 far as the building is concerned, is proba- bly Dot more that $10,000; but the damage to the furniture will in all probability amount to trom $50,000 to $75,000, What Mr. Lyman B,. Jewell, @ Boarder, Sa “T heard the alarm of the fire,” said Mr. Lyman B. Jewell, a brother of Governor Jewell, of Con- necticut, ‘‘when it was first given. My room was in the part of the building which was exposed to the fire. I heard some one outside cry for the hose, 1 went out and immediately took the hose in the hall and began to play upon the fire. This was in the hall of the second story. Probably the water from this hose was the first which helped to stop the fire. I never saw a fire fought with greater promptness or energy. t was confined to the servants’ stairway until it reached the roof. The hotel hose was just where it was wanted, and was in good order, But for this fac! id for the solidity with THE SCENE OF THE DISASTER. Weil Hote, | Launary Servants’ Sky | ia AD core Elevator. Staircase, Light. _———_ Fervent! 5 | ‘on ‘indow bi? wiro scroen. ik Room. found. =| Ser/vants' Roojms. by el Corridor on aa street side. | Partition. The Attic Floor of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Showing the Servants’? Rooms. which the hotel is built the fre might have be- come unmanageable before the engines arrived. The suffocation of the servant girls must bayo been almost instantaneous. ‘They could easily have escaped on the roof had they been awake and aware of their danger."' What Lord Caithness, a Boarder, Says. “Well, sir,” said Lord Caithness, in his pleasant, good-humored way, ‘this fre was a serious thing— ® very serious thing. The loss of lives was 80 frightful! Idid some pretty hard work, and my butler did some good work, too, I was playing the hose from the time the fire was discovered until It ‘was subdued. I was quite surprised to see every- body so quiet. I must say you Americans take things very coolly—much cooler than we do over tne waver. Ali I can say is that if the fire had taken place the night before, with that terrible gale of wind, there would have been no hope for the hotel; the fre would have spread over all parts of the house. I was just about to re- tire when heard the alarm of fire. I rushed out and immediately assisted in playing the hose. Once I went out to see the engines, and when I came back the policeman at the door refused to let me in. I told him this was not the first time I had been playing the hose at a fire, and thet I was Lord Caithness, and he finally let mein. I think everybody did well—the fire brigade, the police- everivody did well. I was very much pleased with the way things were conducted. The firemen cer- tainly came to time; they hauled away like blazes. Thave frequently been at fires; in fact, I have had considerable experience in playing the hose. " What Ellen Keefe, One of the Servant Girls, Says. Ellen Keefe, a servant girl who leapt from one roof to the ovher and is now confined to her room, sald:—{f was in room 514. I was just about smothering when [rushed out of my room. I was blinded by the smoke and rushed back, I broke open the window, jumped through the glass and went outon the roof. Idid not feel safe there and jumped on the lower roof, which is ten feet below the other, I did not have a stitch of clothing on. I was just going to bed and pulling the bedclothes over me, when I heard one of the girls cry, ‘Fire!’ I was swallowing gas; I know It was no smoke, but ti , that I was inhal- ing. Iwas as black as coal this morning. I nave lost everything I had, and I have been two yearsin the game room. It seems to me that Ijumped way down to the sidewalk, for I remember that a police- Man put this coat over me and put me into the car, THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. ‘Why Was the Fire Department Not Sig- naHed in Time t-Criminal Negligence Somewhere. an eye-witness of the fire makes the following statement concerning the terrible disaster:—In my opinion somebody is greatly to blame for the loss of life at the fire in the Fifth avenue Hotel on Tuesday night. I entered the vestibule on the Fifth avenue side about seven minutes aiter eleven, my attention being attracted by the smoke issuing through the doors. The clerk repeatedly on being asked told me that there was a little fire in the laundry only, and one rather tartly replied that there was no necessity of making a fuss avout it. On going down to the billiard room I found the donkey engine with one hose at work. While I was in the telegraph room, fully ten min- utes before I went down to the billiard room, I heard the shrieks of the girls in the atticon the Twenty-third street side. Now, why was an alarm not given tothe Fire Department? Why did the hotel people wait over a quarter of an hour before coming to the conclusion that their own meagre appliances could not combat the flames, especially as they knew, as they must have known, by the screeches that could be plainly heara irom the attic long before they did send for the Fire De. partment, that many lives were at stake? I believe in my soul that the girls could have been saved if the Fire Department had been signalled at once when the fire was discovered raging—for it raged from the start—for, as it was, the firemen were on hand within less than two minutes after they were sig- nalied, at twenty minutes past eleven. Now, this ese fod and the screeches of the girls being heard ten minutes and longer after the hotel (ers had put their own hose to wae is it not apparent that the firemen would have saved them had they been sent for when they should have been. It may be that the proprietors had an idea that if they sent for the firemen, though the fire might have been put out quicker than they could do it themselves, that if they did their carpets and furniture would be badly damaged. Is it possible that they had more seg gh for their carpets than they had for the lives of the poor creatures who were Code up in the were behind their iron- screened bound windows: Now let me give you an instance of how the hotel tried to conceal the extent of the fire at the start. When I went into the ‘well’ west of the billiard room I saw smoke issuing from and a great glare of light apparently in the southwesterly end of the Twenty-third street wing of the building, near the roof. The screeches of the girls coming trom that direction were at the time loud and piercing. Icame back into the billiard room and asked one of t hotel employes, who was in his shirt sleeves, “Where is the fire ?? “Oh! it’s nothing,’ he replied, “only a little smoke trom the laundry.” Pointing high up where the smoke was puffing up over the roof, and calling his attention to the shricks of the women, he answered: ‘These d—d girls will scare the guests if they go on that way. What do you think of that for cold-bloodedness? Allow me to say, in conclu- sion, that I witnessed the heartrending incident described by your reporter in the HeRa.p of to- day, that of the poor servant girl, half-clad and bieéding and burned, lying on the floor of the par- lor with not adoctor to attend to her, nor any one, in fact, to help her in any way until an out- sider boldly entered a room and got out a pillow for her to rest her head upon. WHAT THE FIRE OFFICIALS SAY. Opinions of General Shaler and Chief Engineer Perley. Among the official gentlemen earliest at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, after the fire had broken out and the alarm had been given, were Commissioners Blair and Galway and the Chief Engineer (Perley) of the Department. General Shaler yesterday morning made a thorough inspection of the scene of death and destruction. He was found in the afternoon by a representative of the HERALD at the headquarters of the department in Mercer street, and had formed somewhat of an opinion of the management of the fire and of the pitiable deaths of the unfortunate sewing women in the top story. Interview With General Shaler. “From all that you could gather and perceive with your own eyes what do you think, General, was the origin of the fire?” or most likely it started, as was stated in the HERALD this morning, from a portion of the stairway becoming ignited by the excessive heat from the hot-air pipes that were in almost immediate contact with the wood, Indeed, most of the facts which I have gained and which I have verified by my own ‘observation since [ read them, I frst learned from the accounts in the HERALD, But there are pecu- liarities about fires which break out in im- mense buildings like this hotel that are not always taken into consideration, I have known cases where the flames would start at the perceptiply, and would not be discovered, after having been supposed te have been extinguished, until they would -burat out afresh, A fire is very treacherous in such instances, Therefore the cause of this one is not yet positively explained, although in all probability it will be before we get through,” THE DBLAY, “How do you account for the delay in getting the flames under control ?”’ “Well, the alarm, it seems very Veer a not given go soon as it should have been. When they were notified the firemen were there ina very short time and went to work. But they had to contend with great disadvantages. The building was so complicated in its er tition, with narrow and dark, labyrinthine pamssars on the upper floor that were like a Chinese puzzle. ere the smoke was ex- tremely dense, having no upward cscape, floating all through that portion of the house, and even ciepe slowly down stairs to the lower apartments and corridors, UNCIVILIZED ARCHITECTURE. “what do you think of the construction of the Fitth Avenue Hotel as regards the facilities af- forded tor earepe from @ danger of this kind ?? “Why, [think the event shows that it is of the very worst character. Those upper chambers that I went into, that are blackened with the hot fame, and where the furniture is turned into heaps of broken and charred débris and the floor covered by water and muddy ashes, are narrow, low, close apartments, with but one window in each openin; out on the roof, and these covered with tron net ting, 8o that through them there was noescape. My visit, however, was to see if every proper effort had been used by the men of our department in subduing the fire or in saving life, and I feel satis- fled that such is the fact.” General Shaler hereupon took the reporter to the Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, who re- ceived him in a very courteous manner, Interview with Chief Engineer Perley. “At what time did you get the alarm of fire at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Chief ?”” “I will show you in @ moment.” He arose from his chair and brought into the room a tabular diary which hung against the wall of the vestibule. This shows the exact time that the frst knowl- edge of any fire reaches the headquarters, and the time that the second alarm is given, if there is any, and when the engine arrives at the scene. In this instance the location of the fire was first tele- graphed to him at eighteen minutes past eleven o'clock. Immediately the firemen from several stations started for the hotel, and arrived there in not a greater time than five minutes, Six minutes later tney sounded * THE SECOND ALARM, which reached the headquarters of the department at twenty-nine minutes past eleven o'clock. “This,” said the Chief, ‘will show that the fire- men were as prompt as was possible in getting to the spot. There was unaccountable delay at the hotel in giving the alarm. They should have gone out immediately and telegraphed to us. Instead of that it seems that they waited. Another fact which added to the delay was that they did not go to the signal box, of which they had the key, and which is immediately opposite the door on Madison square, but went to the one in front of the Glen- ham Hotel, near the corner of Twenty-second street. When we arrived the flames were under full headway. THE EMPLOYES OF THE HOUSE were doing all in their power to battle with them; but they were inexperienced, and there wasa great dealof water thrown here and there and ‘Wasted without reaching the point where it was needed. In this way there was a great deal more damage done than by the fire itself. They were playing the stream in all directions. The men ser- vants had the will but not the experience to step into the midst of the danger where alone effectual service could be done with the hose. The: would advance into the smoke in their excitement, allowing the water to deluge everything, and then, becoming alarmed, would irresolutely r the progress of the fire had become more and more rapid and was not stayed in the least by any ef- forts that were made before we arrived. “fhe delay caused by our not getting the alarm promptly prevented us for some little time from going right up to the fire because of THE DENSE SMOKE and that the men did not know the building at all. Its tortuous ways were totally bos i to them and unlike those of any other structure in the city, and they were obliged to feel their way _ cautiously. I had manned the hose that was attached to the engine in the basement with men from No. 16 Company, and it was carried by them right up through the thickest of the blinding smoke. Another Brel difficulty was the roof, which was thick an velled. To cut through Panera @ hard task, but it was speedily accomplished. We then had a better chance at the flames, and the smoke was given vent, 80 that they could be approached in the in- terior of the building.” “Could you not have reached the fire through ot, aie that look upon the lower middie roo! THE FATAL IRON-GUARDED WINDOWS. “Not easily, because they were covered by a ren network of iron.”” “Which shut off, I suppose, all chance for the sacane ofthose poor girls trom their horrible te? “Yes; but I don’t think they would have escaped even had the windows not been guarded. ‘The staircases on the west side, to which they would at once have hastened, were gone.” “But there was another staircase around on the other side, and connected with the rooms by the long narrow passageway on the outer edge of the building. Why did they not go to that?’ “Most of them must have been sound asleep when they were suffocated.” “Yet, did you not hear their piercing shrieks when you first arrived?’ “Yes; they were heard by the men of Company No. 16 when they got there. Assistant Foreman Burke was the first man who discovered the dead bodies, He called my attention to one who was lying at the head of the stairs, on the western side of the house, They were the stairs which lead up from the ladies’ entrance and were then burn- ing. We then went on and found eight other dead bodies ina room, I counted twelve corpses in all. There were three or four persons sleeping in each room. One room had four beds in it.” SMOTHERED IN THBIR SLEEP. “You think that they were killed asleep, and yet there was one woman who left her bed and went to the head of the stairs. Might not the doors have been locked in some of the rooms? In some of those adjacent to the ones burned, at three o’clock that morning, the doors were locked and no One seemed to have the Keys. I was there." “Well, the girls may have been locked in, but the doors, when the corpses were discovered, were all burned down. It seems strange that they could not have escaped,” “How long did their screams continue to be heard? They could not have been asleep and at the same time have made so much noise,” After about ten minutes they ceased, When we found them they were all burned to a crisp and were utterly unrecognizable. The flesh was peeled on, oe bones bared by the head, and the heads juoke LIKE THE BLACK SKULLS OF MUMMIES. Almost all of them were in bed, some with the blankets thrown wildly over their heads, or else they on the floor in positions that would indicate that in the struggle of death they had rolled off. One of them was found on her ed gouty wi Snes, the bed, oe S08; otner esca) opeless, she were tr; send herself for a time from the dreadful smoke and the flerce, scorching flames. No one escaped from any of the chambers where the tragedies oc- curred, so that there is no one to tell the story.” “Were there any clues found as to the names of the victims?’ “In some of the rooms there were books that were not destroyed that doubtless contain names. There is no doubt that all of them will be ob- tained,”’ “What 18 your opinion of the construction of the Fifth Avenue Hotei?’ “Well, I would not like to express any. You have seen the upper floor yourself. There was BUT ONE OUTLET for that quarter of the building. The narrow, servants’ sleeping rooms had but one window each that opened in the rearonthe middie roof. It very foot of the shaf up which was stretched the winding stairway aud leap almost to the roof im- CE Ee = was through these alone that any ventilation was obtained. The hallway, as you know, extends along the outer edge of the building, is narrow and Bike "ake “aS aseMalt we Reed exce| wi burn! income ‘he shrieks were fearful to rts. have sounded through that thick outer wall, where e been heard in there are no windows, and to the street below, as they were. “Do you know hing of the girl who was wounded and was on one of the lower floors “1 know Siz hie, about that, { understood, however, that JUMPED FROM A CHAMBER WINDOW Seeah, © Hees and fell the height of two “Were there any objections made by the — rietors to the fremen entering the buildin; pal oer of their spoiling the carpets and fur ‘The foreman of Company No. 14 said that at first he was refused admittance, with the excuse that they did not wish a panic created amo gncets, But he ini upon attending to his uty and went up stairs, where he ined & most difficult and dangerous pos! to which he adhered until the fire was’ sub- He’ could “only. approssn by Grewia mess crawiing along on his belly with the nozzle Ot the hose in his hand. Snene Company No, 16 fol'owed his exam- ple retching their hi the Twenty-third treo oittance Seles companies on duty there last night were the Third, ign cert Nineteenth and Twenty-sixth engines; and the , Fitth, Seventh aud Twelfth hook and ladder trucks. Opinion of the Fire Marshal. A reporter of the HERALD called upon Fire Mer- shal McSpedon yesterday to obtain his views on the subject of the fire. The Marshal had just returned from an examination of the hotel, and when asked ifhe thought sufficient precaution haa been taken to guard against a loss of life in the event of fire in the Fifth Avenue Hotel he answered, emphati- cally :— “No, sir; nothing like proper measures were adopted. These poor women,were huddled to- gether like so many cattle on the top of that bulld- ing, and, as far as I can ascertain, no efforta were made by the people in the hotel to rescue them.” “Do you think they were forgotten, Mr. Marshal?” “That is possible, but my impression is that the hotel authorities were so concerned about the bag- gage of the guests on the lower floors, of which there wasreally no danger, that they had no time to think about the human lives that were being sacrificed on the top ones,’ “Was the alarm sent in proper time?’ “From all I can learn, it was; not but I mean to Probe that point to the very core and fasten the blame upon the right shoulders, You see, when the fire started they tried to put it out themselves, and finding it was growing too strong for them the alarm was given. Now, 1 have been constantly im- Pressing upon the minds of hotel keep- ers and managers of theatres the neces- sity of having o fire alarm box on the premises, and the moment a fre broke out to give the alarmto the Fire Department. One freman can do more to stop a fire or save human life from destruction than ten men of the hotel and theatre corps, These men are generally the servants, hal taught in the manner of working a hose whoget de- moralized and wild the momenta fire starts; and when professional firemen are called on the spot they find them more in the way than anything else. The first duty of the people in the Fifth Avenue Hotel should have been to rouse all the plospl women in that wing of the paling where the fire started. ‘That done, they shoul have endeavored to combat the Names until the Fire Department answered the alarm.’ “If that entire wing in which the poor women were burned was consumed would the damage be ver! at 2? “No, sir; the whole place was a most miserable rookery. In my opinion, if the entire hotel had burned to the ground the loss would in nothin; compare with the calamity that occurred, The hotel people were not of the same way of thinking, and You see the 1.9? “Do you ik there ought to be some one to in- poem servants in the means of escape in case of fre “Most certainly, and not only the servants but the ae if a fire was to catch the body of that building nothing could save hundreds of peo- le, And that house is not an pes ioat every otel in New York is in the same condition.” “Is there no remedy against this great danger ?” “There are several remedies, The difficulty con- sists in getting the proprietors of hotels to adopt any. So much consideration is set upon matters of business that human Rel soe that of ser- vants, is set at naught. hy, the public would be staggered to find out the kind of holes men and omen are put to sleep if in our magnificent otels. Mr. Sheldon, Assistant Fire Marshal, break- ing in, Saney have dug half way under Fifth avenue to find sleeping accommodation for the servants of the Brevoort House.” “Tn all probability, Mr. Marshall, these servants at the Filth Avenue had no idea of how to escape ?”’ “How could they’ I was told at the hotel they were green girls, not more than a couple of weeks out of Castle Garden. What could they know of getting away from a fire. The manner of getting servants of the hotel was to take them out of Castle Garden as soon as they landed. First empley them as scrub- bers, and as they became acquainted with the work and the ways of the house promote them.’’ “TI noticed during the progress of the fire all the men in the hotel were engaged in moving baggage in the lowerers.”” “To be sure, when half of them should have been on the roof, warning the pecs asleep in the wings and helping those out who could not help themselves.” “Was there a fire escape on the rear of the ser- vanta’ part of the house?” tae ‘was; but, as usual, it was in the wrong lace.”?. “Would it not be a poet idea to make an inspec- tion of all the hotels in the city, Mr. McSpedon ?” “It would; and I intend to doit. You shall be with me if you like, and the stale shall learn of a state of things they never before even dreamed of.” Testimony Before the Fire Marshal. The following testimony was taken before the Fire Marshal yesterday :— Wm. Bouton, engineer of the hotel, being duly sworn, stated—I was not in the hotel when the fire was discovered; I was at my home, No. 142 Lexington avenue; I was sent for and came immediately to the hotel; the flames were coming up through the stairway at the time; there was @ regularly trained fire brigade of the servants at the hotel as to facilities for putting out any fire, we have three rising mains to the top of the hotel; we have hose on each floor, generally from filty to a hun- dred feet in length; when I got there I think they had several streams of water on the fire; from my observation of the premises I am of the opinion that the fire commenced in room No. 505, on the landing between the parlor floor and the floor above, which room adjoins the servants’ stairway, extending from the basement to the top of the house and was occupied by one of the laundry girls; there 18 also a passageway connecting this room with the main hall; asmall hand elevator passes up in one corner of this rooom separated by @ board partition; the room I think is about six by nine feet; there was a gta- tionary gas jet in the room and the usual fur- niture of a servant’s room; everything in the room seems to have been consumed; the girl who oc- cupied it, Mary Croves, was burned somewhat about the ear in escaping from the room; all her clothing was consumed: she was in bed at the time the fire started and is not able to give any intelligent account of it; she says that when she woke up she saw a 1 id she got out as soon ag She could; there is a steam pipe passing hrough this room from the boiler to the attic, where the girls sleep; it is used for heatii this attic; Ido not think the fire originated in the vi- cinity of this pipe; it seems: to have been carried up the elevator and stairway to the attic where the servants’ rooms are located; the ceilings in these rooms vary in height from six to eight feet, according to the elevation of the roof, and there are windows about three feet from the floor, which look out upon the lower elevation of the roof and are about on @ level with it; the windows are covered on the outside with wire screens, which could easily be knocked off; several of the girls got out in this way; on the floor below where the girls wereisan iron bridge extending trom this wing to the centre part of the br this bri has a railing and a board fi 3 there wel it Oi girls in the attic in that the is are all re- quired to be in the house at ten o'clock; the room the bodies were found was occupied by the iris; they go, to bed Piet early, as rise about half-past three o'clock in ings i think the fre had eae the Eh eT got to the hotel; the firemem were when I arrived; I noticed one engine at work. John Kay being sworn, sald:—I am plumber at the Filth Avenue Hotel; was in my toon, at the time the alarm of fire was given; I think it was about eleven o'clock; room is in the private attic, in the front of the house; as 1 left my room I met George, the assistant man, in the hall, and he told me the re was in the girls’ attic; several persons were then trying to break exis the partition in the girls’ attic; I went up on the roof and heard the girls scream: ing; I went to their windows and tore off the screens, calling them to come out; a number got out by themselves and several I took out; there was no fire there then, but a very dense smoke; I remained there as long as there was any one coming out, and then, with other employés of the hotel, we attached tae hose and put a stream of water into tne win dows of the attic; the fire reached the attic before the fremen got there; as to the ort- of the fire I have no opinion; with Mr. nton as to the point at which the fre com: menced; the fire was carried very rapidly up the Stairway and elevator. SCENES AT THE MORGUE, Fearfal Array of Corpses at the Dead House—A Ghastly Spectacle—Over 25,000 Visitors—Heartrending Scenes and Har« rowing Incidents. ‘The Morgue, at Bellevue Hospital, has witnesse@ many terrible and heartrending spectacles, but i¢ has rarely presented a picture so terrible and touching in all it details ad it dia yoster, day. As early as six o'clock in the’ morn- ing great crowds of people had assembled in front of the hospital on Twenty-sixth street, eagerly waiting for the first appearance of dawn, to gain admittance. Some came to search for, dead relatives or friends, wives, sweethearts or laters, but the greater portion had no object in view but to gratify the morbid curiosity which is so rife among the ignorant at the occurrence of every disaster. The acene was strongly sug- gestive of the morning of an execution, but the occasion was a far aadder one, snd the spirits of the most reckless were hushed into temporary solemnity by the thought of the awful tragedy. Numbers of people had followed the ambulancea from the hotels, which were carrying off the unfortunate women, and had patiently waited through the long watches of the night, tosee tf; among the victims, were numbered those they, loved. Anextra force of police kept guard over the several gates, and none were admitted until all preparations had been made for the disposition Of the bodies to public view, THE NINE COFFINS, About cight o'clock the gates were thrown open, and a surging maga of people pressed in. A ghastly sight met their view. Ranged upon the flagstonea of tho Morgue were nine red Geal coffins containing all that remained of nine women, who the night before had Tetired to rest strong in body, active in! mind, with no idea of the fearful fate that was awaiting them, and no thought that their charred: remains would be exposed to view before the rising’ of another sun, so fearfully disfigured that the’ friends, nearest and dearest to them, would utterly fail to tell who they had been in life. The nine coffins were ranged in a row. THE FIRST COFFIN. ‘The front coffin contained the body of a womaa which has not been recognized and which never will, so charred and disfigured is it. The hair was burned clean from the head, and the skin had been stripped from the scatp, leaving portions of the skull naked and exposed to view. The breasts were swollen and distended ¢o an unnatural size. The fleah had been scorched from the arms, and from the elbows down the bones protruded, blackened and mangled. The sockets of the eyes remained, but the orbs were gone, while the lower part of the body was nothing but a shapeless mass. The wo- man in her life must have been tall aud powerful, but who she was can only be known by surmise, as’ all means of recognition are gone. She lay in the coffin next to the gate, and as the crowd entered tay started back horrified and beat a hasty re- a THE SECOND COFFIN, ‘ In the next coMn the only marks whereby the contents could be recognized as the body of a human being were a few bones, the teeth and part of @ hand. The head, trunk and limbs were re- duced to charcoal, and even the bones were burned into powder. The teeth remained in the head, or what had been the head, as more than. the half of it had been entirely con sumed, and the part left was like @ piece of of black peat. The remains were cove! in the blanket in which they had been yoareen when taken from the hotel, and which had not been re- moved from the body when it was placed in the coffin. The unfortunate girl was supposed, from. her height, to have been Oe ily O’Connor, who was better known among the iemale domestics by the soubriquet of ‘blue-eyed Maggie.” She was @ gene! favorite, and her wealth of golden hair, clear complexion and bright blue eyes jad won forher many admirers. She had been but a short time in the hotel, was only eighteen years of age, fand her untimely and lament- able fate was loudly deplored by all who knew her. THE THIRD COFFIN ‘Was the corpse of a seemingly elderly woman, as a tuft of gray hair remained on the back of the head. Tne nose had been completely burned away; forehead there was none, while the lower part of the face was reduced to @ ghastly cavity. The mouth and teeth were gone, & tragment of the chin remained, and small shreds of blackened flesh “clung to the cheek bones. The skull lay open and exposed to view, the neck was half cut in two, one shoulder disappeared, and on the other the fragments o! bones protruded. The feet and | remained whole, but so disfigured and mangled that they presented the appearance the dead trunks of the trees of @ forest would after it had been swept by a hurricane of fame. Part of one side had been burned out, while the burning steam which the poor creature inhaled had swollen the fragmenta of flesh that remained to fearful dimensions, There was no indication of blood about the blanket or the shreds of clothes that re- mained, the poor victim aie been seemingly first suffocated and then burned. No clue to the identity of the woman was obtained, THE FOURTH COFFIN. In the fourth coffin the body of a stout young woman was exposed to view, Though not so dis- figured as the first three her death must nave been an excruciating one, as, in addition to the burns she had received, her face and neck bore the marks of terrible scalds. The hair, which was of a deep black, partly remained on her head, but the flesh had been all Coie) of her neck and arms, leaving them naked and bare. The skin had also been taken off the nose and cheek bones, and the eyes had been burned from their sockets. The knees were drawn up and contracted to almost & level with the breast, and the feet were bent and shrivelled. The whole appearance of the body denoted that the girl must have died in a parox- ysm of suffering. Part of the clothes she wore still clu to the body, and by these she was recognized. A young man fran- tically rushed to the coffin and exclaimed, “That's my sister! I know her by the clothes she has on. i saw her a week ago and she had the same dress on. Oh, what shalliIdo! what shall I dol” ‘rhe girl’s name was McDonald, but while working in the hotel she bad, for some reason or another, ne by’ the name of Neilson. Her brother, who, from his dress and conversatio! seemed to bea laborer, wept bitterly. He visited his sister a few weeks ago and found her in ‘ood health. When he heard she was missing at he hotel eee morning he rushed to the Morgue and instantly recognized her remains. As he made no effort to have the body removed for burial it will ipa be interred at the expense of the hospits THE FIFTH COFFIN, In the fifth comn the remains of It youn: woman lay. The hair had entirely disappeare and the white teeth, which remained, gave tie head a ghastly expression. The outlines of the features still remained, but the neck, breast and limbs were frightfully’ disfigured. ‘The feet had been literally burned off, and fragments of the toes lay at the bottom of the coffin, No one recognized her tor a long time; but finally an old gray-headed woman came along, and, weeping bitterly, said:—"That is ty Dewey; I am_ sure it is she.” Are you her mother?’ said Mr. White, keeper of the Morgue. ‘No,’ said the woman, “I am not her mother, I am an acquaintance. Her father was a Dublin man, s musician, and he died in this very hospital. OI my God, my God.” As the bodies are recogniz the lids of the coffins were put on and the reioains concealed from the gaze of the curious. THE OTHER COFFINS. The body in the sixth coffin was utterly undis tinguishable as that of a human being, 80 fearfally was it burned, mangled and scalded. The bones had been crumbled to pieces, and the limbs and arms had been burned off, ie head was burned to a cinder, the hair, teeth and eyes were gone, and no one could identify the body. The remain- ing three bodies were similar in appearance and | pots no distinguishing features, One of them is supposed to be all that named Lizzie Gray, Ly from her parents an rvice in the hotel She had been hiding from her father on the even- ing of the fire, as she was afraid to be recognized by him and sent to the House of Refuge. In the sh ai y the body y ot Mary Ann F. e e of who was a scrul pile Wore ar hotel, When ite Siete he aes ot i ing ny. Her screams co 2 heard over tie entire build and on she o’clock in the morni when mercifully interposed and ende: death her life and her suffering. The corpse lool as if plssea io an oven and bal ving the hue of laid the cof steam issued As the body @ sickening vapor of } me i bea ds the leces— o! roppin) momentarily off. Une half of the nose was Daroed away, but the upper part Of the head remained in- tact. The hair was untouched, but the back part of the neck yas ped feeb rl, Tacceare. ie uri juty Coroner Cushman having given a permit. in The body of Mary McCabe was in another shed. She was also ® strong, able-bodied woman. at ne pnes. oh Dr. earoait been le eath, as the skin hi e id off the body in every part. a ianaiain COMMENTS OF THE SPECTATORS. Hundreds of people passed by the bodies every five minutes, but for along time none were recog: —<———+