Watertown, NY Hotel Fire, Jan 1947

3 DIE IN WATERTOWN HOTEL FIRE.

Watertown (AP) -- Three persons died yesterday and two were injured when fire swept the three story Graystone Hotel in downtown Watertown.
Twenty-two other guests fled in safety or were rescued by firemen.
Twp pf tje dead were identified at a Watertown funeral home as WILLIAM MULLEN, 55, and EUGENE E. GODFREY, 63, both of this city.
SAMUEL POOLE, 65, also of Watertown died in Mercy Hospital, where the condition of JOSEPH KLING, 74 was listed as serious.
A fifth person, CLARENCE KENDREW, 22, was treated at the House of Good Samaritan for shock.
Cause of the blaze, brought under control after three hours, has not been determined.
Twenty-seven guests occupied rooms on the second and third floors of the 37-room brick and wood hotel, known for years as the city hotel, a landmark in this northern New York locality.
Three persons were rescued by firemen and police from the third floor, where the fire apparently started. One of the rescued, THOMAS COLEMAN, 40, clung for a time to a ledge 30 feet above the street after closing his room window behind him.
Some of the persons who occupied the third floor were able to make their way through the smoke filled corridors to safety. All occupants of the second floor escaped.
The roof of the hotel plunged in the third floor after the fire had raged an hour.
FIremen succeeded in preventing the blaze from spreading to the Crowner Hotel separated from the Graystone by a driveway.

The Troy Record New York 1947-01-18
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!