West Superior, WI Hotel Fire, Sep 1888

A HOTEL HOLOCAUST.

THREE MEN BURNED TO DEATH AT WEST SUPERIOR.

West Superior, Wis., Sept. 3. -- The American house burned Sunday morning and six persons lost their lives. The hotel is located on the corner of Third and Tower avenues, and the fire was discovered at two o'clock. By the time the firemen arrived, however, the building was enveloped in flames and the screams of frantic men and women endeavoring to escape from the building, some only in their night clothes, added horror to the scene. The fire is attributed to the explosion of a lamp in the room occupied by WALTER CARTER, MINCH STORM and JOHN OLESON, who had been out the night previous until pretty late. They say the first they knew of the fire was the discovery of the flames on the floor. Their escape was something miraculous. STORM had his hair badly singed and escaped without his clothes, $43 and a watch. WALTER CARTER lost his clothes and a week's wages. TOM TAGNAY, the landlord, lost $500 worth of household goods, on which there was no insurance. JONES, who ownes the building and furniture, estimates his loss on the building at about $5,000, $2,000 on furniture, with about $1,800 insurance on the former and none on the latter. The proprietors of the bar lost about $1,000 on stock and fixtures, with no insurance. The charred bodies of three men were found this morning, one of which is supposed to be that of PAT CLAIRE, a Canadian. The others have not been identified.

Oshkosh Daily Northwestern Wisconsin 1888-09-03
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!