Palm Beach Is Gutted By Fire Which Swept The City Last Evening

Millionaires’ Playground Suffered Loss of $7,000,000 by Flames.

Search Ruins For Gems

Several Arrests Made of Men Charged with Looting.

By the Associated Press

Palm Beach, Fla., March 19 – Estimates of the loss here last night when the Breakers hotel and the Palm Beach hotel were destroyed by fire with damage to other property were placed at $7,000,000 today by Fire Chief SCHULTZ of the Palm Beach department. Previously the loss had been estimated at $4,000,000.

Authorities continued to investigate rumors that the Breakers hotel, the first building to be attacked by the flames, was set as a part of a plot to loot the hotel rooms of jewelry and money. Police have arrested a score of persons charged with looting.

Palm Beach, Fla., March 19 – More than $4,000,000 worth of property lay in ruins here today, the result of fire which last night swept thru the Breakers and Palm Beach hotels, destroyed several shops and homes, and for a time threatened the destruction of that section of the city.

Smouldering ashes were all that remained of two of the most noted hotels of the playground of millionaires as steps were made to check the damage to property and verify rumors that there had been a loss of life.

Loss of Life Not Confirmed.

No confirmation had come early today of the rumor that an elderly man and woman had lost their lives in the Breakers.

Try to Recover Valuables.

The city presented an unusual scene in the early morning light, as groups paused in the dull glow of the graying embers to discuss the fire, or made an effort to identify or recover valuables that had been flung from windows during the excitement of the late afternoon.

Millionaires Sleep on Golf Links.

Further away on the golf links groups of millionaires slept upon expensive rugs and draperies torn from the floors and walls of the burning building, unmindful of the distant tramp of soldiers patrolling the bridge between Palm Beach and West Palm Beach.

Several Arrests for Looting.

Others of the several thousand persons rendered homeless by the fire were quartered in hotels and private homes of the city. Less happily quartered were 23 persons, most of them negros, arrested on charges of looting after the fire, while thousands of dollars of jewels, money and clothing they were alleged to have stolen was being guarded by police. The cause of the fire had not been positively ascertained. It was variously said to have originated from a carelessly thrown cigarette, a plumber’s torch and an electrical appliance in the hands of a woman guest.

Several delegates of Rotarians, attending the convention in Palm Beach were quartered at the Breakers.

The Davenport Democrat and Leader, Davenport, IA 19 Mar 1925
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Transcribed by Sue Yerby. Thank you, Sue!