Ruins of Hotel Searched for 2 Feared Dead

Sapulpa, Okla., Dec. 2 (UP).-Bulldozers began pushing through the heaping ruins of the 4-story Loraine Hotel Friday in a search for bodies of two persons believed to have perished in a fire which razed the structure.

At least seventeen guests fled from the building before predawn flamed made it a tower of terror. Firemen sprayed water on the smoking wreckage for twelve hours before cooling it enough to permit a search for the missing.

Listed as missing were Jack Graves, local sign painter, a permanent resident of the hotel, and Lewis C. Vincent, 71, an Oklahoma City salesman, who checked in Thursday.

The hotel register was destroyed by the flames, Fire Chief Will Collier said, and it was impossible to determine whether there were others unaccounted for. It was not known how many guests were in the hotel. Collier said the loss may reach $1,000,000.
Dallas Morning News, Dallas, TX 3 Dec 1949

At Sapulpa, in Northeastern Oklahoma, fire destroyed a quarter of a city block early Friday, doing an estimated $500,000 worth of damage. Among the buildings destroyed at Sapulpa was a 70 room hotel. There still is no accurate check of whether any lives were lost.

Walla Walla Union Bulletin, Walla Walla, WA 3 Dec 1949
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Transcribed by June. Thanks June!