Fort Wayne, IN New Aveline Hotel Burns, May 1908

GUESTS ASLEEP.

NEW AVELINE AT FORT WAYNE, IND., BURNS WITH AWFUL LOSS OF LIFE.

SCORE DEAD, MANY INJURED.

FIRE BREAKS OUT AT 3:30 A.M. AND MANY ARE CAUGHT WITHOUT CHANCE OF ESCAPE -- SEVERAL LEAP FROM WINDOWS AND ARE KILLED.

At least twelve persons lost their lives in a fire which destroyed the New Aveline hotel at Fort Wayne, Ind., Sunday morning. The interior of the building is a smoldering heap of ruins and how many dead are concealed by the debris can only be conjectured. The hotel register was burned and there is no accurate means of determining who is missing.
The known dead are:
R. S. JOHNSON, Pana, Ill.
M. HIRSCH, New York.
J. S. MILLER, Sheboygan, Wis.
J. E. ELLIS, salesman, Chicago.
W. A. PITCHER, salesman, Fort Wayne.
J. W. DEVINEY, salesman, Philadelphia.
Three Unidentified Men.
One Unidentified Woman.
The missing:
MAX WESSEM, wrestler, Fort Wayne.
FRANK BAXTER, attorney, Auburn, Ind.
R. E. TRIBLE, Dalhart, Tex.
MRS. SARAH HATHAWAY, Mishawaka, Ind.
Unknown Woman, companion of MRS. HATHAWAY.
Among the injured are:
F. C. O'DONNELL, Detroit, right arm broken.
J. A. FOSTER, Fort Wayne, burned.
A. K. METZ, Pittsburg, burned.
LYMAN CAMPBELL, jumped three stories, severely bruised.
CHARLES FALLS, Columbus, O., gash in leg, contusion on head and lacerated, leaped three stories.
E. M. MATTHEWS, Columbus, O., back broken.
GEORGE A. SILL, Philadelphia, cut and burned about face and arms.
AGNES NADEAU, MARGARET MEECHAN, ANNA BLOCK, NATHAN BELL, all employes, burned.
F. C. PHILLIPS, Calumet, Mich., burned.
JOHN LONG, bartender, arms broken.
The fire was discovered at 3:30 a.m. in the elevator shaft by Night Clerk RALPH HIPKINS. He rushed to the upper floors alarming the guests until the fire drove him back. His efforts, however, saved many lives. The hotel was erected half a century ago and the woodwork was dry as tinder. It burned like matchwood and within a few minutes the whole interior was a mass of flames and the only means of escape was by the windows. The fire department rescued many by means of ladders, but some leaped from windows to the street.

The Indiana Progress Pennsylvania 1908-05-06
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!