Oswayo, PA McGonigal Hotel Fire, Nov 1900

AWAKENED BY FLAMES.

TERRIBLE FIRE IN A SMALL HOTEL AT OSWAYO, PA.

FOUR MEN BURNED TO DEATH.

TWENTY-SIX OTHER PERSONS HAD NARROW ESCAPES -- STORY OF A MAN WHO FOUGHT THROUGH FLAMES TO LIBERTY -- CHAMBERMAID JUMPED INTO A TREE.

Oswayo, Pa., Nov. 19. -- FOur men were burned to death in a fire which yesterday destroyed the McGonigal House, a three story frame building, the hotel barn and the Opera House. Three buildings were burned to the ground in half an hour from the time the fire started.
The dead:
ARTHUR FLETCHER, bookkeeper for Penn Stove company, home in Boston.
MICHAEL RUSSELL, employe Penn Tanning company, Oswayo.
WILLIAM MULLHANEY, of Rexford, N. Y.
HUGE JAMERSON, of Alfred, N. Y.
The town has no fire deaprtment, the only protection being a pump at the tannery. The fire originated in the McGonigal House from an over pressure of natural gas. There were 30 people in the hotel, which was a flimsy structure. Two men were seriously injured. OTTO KAULEY, a gal ine walker, of Coudersport, Pa., was burned about the face and arms and JERRY DAILEY sustained a broken shoulder by jumping from the third story of the hotel. There were many narrow escapes, most of the occupants jumping from the windows. The flames licked up the hotel building as if it were build of tinder. Nothing remains of the four unfortunate men but a few charred bones. One man had a leg broken in jumping and several others received minor injuries and slight burns in making the exit from the building. The tannery employes connected a line of hose to the burning buildings, but on account of some trouble with the pump there was considerable delay in getting a stream on the fire until the flames had got beyond control. The property loss is estimated at $5,000.
Superintendent JOHN GOOD, of the Pennsylvania Tanning company, was the first man who realized the extent of the catastrophe. His residence is across the street from the hotel property. The explosions awakened him. He rushed downstairs and out into the street, sounding the alarm as he went. Going to the various mills in the town, where the fires had been banked for the Sabbath, he pulled the steam whistles wide open. The scene presented was a grotesque one. Huddled in groups were bewildered men, women and children half clothed. The flames, which had by this time entirely enveloped the McConigal House, lit up the gray dawn of the morning, while from the inside were heard the agonized shrieks of the inmates. Superintendent GOOD formed a volunteer fire brigade and a score of men, armed with axes and pails, despoerately fought the flames for an hour.
It soon was apparent, however, that the buildings were doomed, and perhaps the 30 inmates. At nearly every window faces of the victims were pressed against the blazing window frames, their features horribly distorted by their sufferings. The people looked on, unable to give them the succor for which they pleaded. In one window the figure of a man was plainly seen, his hands raised in supplication, an instant later he was precipitated into the fiery abyss below by a falling beam. A chambermaid, clad only in her night clothes, leaped from an upper story window and landed in a tree. She was uninjured. Superintendent MORRIS GALE, of the Morris Gas company, saw ARTHUR FLETCHER standing at a window on the first floor. He was clad in his nightshirt, and called loudly for help. Overcome by the gas, he fell back into the flames.
One of the most thrilling escapes was that of JERRY DALEY, the gas inspector. He was a guest of the hotel, having a room in the center of the building on the upper floor.
"I was awakened," he says, "by falling plaster in my room. The heat was intense. Above me I could see the flames. Below me I could hear the crackle and the sound of falling timbers. My overcoat, which was on the wall, was blazing and my clothes were already burned. With difficulty I made my way to the door. As I opened it flames licked my face and hands. The heat on the soles of my bare feet was intense, and I fell back to await death's coming. Then I heard HUGH METCHIM coming down the hall. He saw me through the smoke and called to me, 'Come this way.' I put my scorched hands up to my face and followed. Painfully we worked out was through smoke and flame for about 70 feet. Suddenly the floor gave way and METCHIM disappeared with it. I looked down into the fiery crater and saw his form twisting and writhing in the heat. Just one step more and I would have followed him to death. But I did not lose my heat. My night clothes were on fire. I tore them off. My hair had been entirely burned off my head. Spurred on for final effort by my awful sufferings, I reached a window and leaped to the ground."

Tyrone Daily Herald Pennsylvania 1900-11-19
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!