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The Miami Herald                                                                                                                                                          

 Thu, Mar 19, 1925                                                                                                                                                          

 Page 72

By RHODES MACPHAIL. Herald Staff Correspondent.

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PALM BEACH HOTELS ARE IN MASS OF RUINS

Flames Break Out in the Breakers and Ignite the Palm Beach.

GUESTS LOSE VALUABLES

Shops and Smaller Buildings Destroyed; Poinciana Threatened.

TROOPS CALLED OUT

Miami Firemen Assist in Fighting Spectacular Fire.

 

 

PALM BEACH, Fla., March 18.—Losses conservatively estimated at between two and two and a half million dollars were entailed, and two of Florida's magnificent resort hotels were rendered a smouldering mass of ruins in a fire which swept across Palm Beach island today.

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Both the Breakers and the Palm Beach hotels, the former one of the famous chain operated by the Florida East Coast Hotel Company for a number of years and the latter one of the newer resorts, tonight are an unsightly heap of hot cinder, while hundreds of workers are laboring arduously salvaging valuable goods belonging to guests and the proprietors of exclusive shops which occupied spaces in the arcades and stores connected with the two.

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While it was impossible to obtain an exact estimate of the losses at a late hour tonight, officials and insurance men said that $1,500,000 probably would cover the actual losses in buildings. Until inventories of losses can be made by individual guests of the two hotels it will not be possible to reach any estimate of personal losses sustained by those registered in the ill-fated resorts. Basing an estimate on the rate of $1,000 per guest gives 600,000 personal losses. Losses on the buildings are said to be covered by insurance.

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Hundreds of guests of the razed hotels are quartered in other hotels of the city, awaiting an opportunity to attempt to retrieve valuables totaling thousands of dollars that lie in the ashes. Many of them are attempting to locate relatives and friends who became separated from them during the panic attending the fire. Men in the uniform of the Florida National Guard are patrolling the ruins and policing the city to prevent plundering of the piles of clothing and valuables of the persons who fled before the flames.

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Various theories of the origin of the fire have been advanced, but the generally accepted story is that an electrical appliance being used by a crippled woman on one of the upper floors of the Breakers Hotel, started the blaze when it short circuited. The flames spread rapidly and sparks from the fire ignited the Palm Beach Hotel and cottages. Fire departments from West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Lake Worth received calls for aid and hurried to the scene. Late last night the fire was under control and order was being restored.

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The fire was discovered at 4:20 o'clock when smoke was seen issuing from windows and into the hallways of the upper floor of the Breakers. Attendants rushed to the floor and broke open the door of the room, where they found its contents a mass of flames and the crippled occupant struggling to make her way to safety.

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By the time she was dragged down the hall to the elevator the flames burst into the hall, and fanned by a breeze from the ocean, rapidly ate its way through the building, which, in less than an hour, had become a seething furnace.

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CONFUSION seized the guests and many of them rushed to save their belongings, but in many instances those quartered on the top floors barely had time to make their escape before the rapidly spreading flames. Many of the guests, who were away for the day at Miami and Miami Beach and others on the golf links, lost everything they had, including valuables. The estimated loss had not been determined at a late hour. By 4:40 o'clock, virtually the entire central portion of the hotel had been destroyed. An ocean wind from the southeast aided the flames to eat their way rapidly through the structure, making it almost impossible to approach the building from the rear. Both the Palm Beach and West Palm Beach fire departments worked heroically to stay the on- rushing fire, but it was soon realized that such was futile, so a hurried call was sent for assistance from the fire departments in every town from Miami to Fort Pierce.

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 The Palm Beach Hotel of 250 rooms stood across the narrow island on the shore of Lake Worth, directly in the path of flames fanned to the north- west by the breeze. Under ordinary circumstances the distance between the two hotels would have made it possible to prevent the building from catching fire, but scores of palm trees with downhanging and deadened fronds caught up the intense heat and one by one burst into flames, serving as a guide to the conflagration, while thousands of sparks and pieces of burning wood, carried high by the intense heat and wind, spanned the half mile distance and fell upon the roof of the Palm Beach Hotel.

 

The guests at the Palm Beach Hotel included, John B. Erwin, New York; Mrs. Elwood E. Rice, New York, president of the Rice leaders of the world; Mrs. Elsie Parsons and her mother, Mrs. Doig, New York; Mr. and Mrs. George Magill, Toronto; Colonel Sherrard, New York. Exclusive shops located in the wings of the Palm Beach Hotel, the contents of many of which were lost, included: J. F. Kirkton, gift shop; Exotic gardens; Kenneth L. Gillespie, flower shop; Pauline Grossman, wo- men's wear; Ferle Heller, millinery; Mrs. Haines, millinery and women's wear; Bettie and Anne, millinery; Florida Fruit Shop; and several hairdressing, beauty and garment shops.

 

The fire company from Miami reached Palm Beach shortly after dusk, having made the run in record time. It arrived at a time when extra help was needed to confine the flames to the Palm Beach Hotel, which already was doomed. Responses to the call for outside help also were made by the companies at Fort Lauderdale, Lake Worth and Delray. The company at Stuart started on a record run immediately upon receipt of the call but the engine lost a wheel and is said to have turned over near Kelsey City. No one was hurt. The police and National Guard will begin a thorough search of the ruins early Thursday to ascertain if there was any loss of life and to recover valuables that might not have been destroyed.

 

Shortly before 6 o'clock this building burst into flames and within a few minutes the hotel was a massive volcano of fire and roaring heat, shooting its huge tongues of flame skyward and illuminating the sur- rounding territory in the growing dusk for miles. Scores of palatial yachts, representing hundred of thousands of dollars in valuation, were anchored in the lake in close proximity to the hotel and for a time it was feared that many of them would catch fire before they could be removed to safety. Quick work, however, on the part of their crews succeeded in saving all of them from damage with the exception of a few, which were scorched by the intense heat. The flames spread to and destroyed several shops near the Palm Beach Hotel which were immediately in the path of flames as it spread from one hotel to the other.

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MORE than 400 persons were registered at the Breakers Hotel. The list included some of America's wealthiest people. The building had 800 rooms. Up to an early hour tonight no loss of life had been re ported. Although a complete check of the register had not been completed. When the Breakers Hotel burst into flame,s scores of guests from surrounding hotels went to that vicinity to watch the progress of the fire. These included guests of the Palm Beach Hotel. When that building caught fire, it was virtually empty. As the flames spread to the building, there was a rush of guests seeking to enter to rescue their belongings. The majority of them were turned back by the police. Goods from several high-class shops occupying an arcade on the first floor of the Palm Beach Hotel were thrown into the street and piled indiscriminately into heaps in an effort to save it. The immense column of smoke from the burning buildings attracted thousands of persons from West Palm Beach and traffic congestion on both sides the south and north bridges made it impossible for motor cars and pedestrians to cross. Newspaper men endeavoring to rush to the scene were more than an hour getting over.

 

Movement of the yachts in Lake Worth made the operation of the ferry slow and uncertain. As evening came on the illumination from the fire cast a golden glow over West Palm Beach and the surrounding country. The fire was discernible far out at sea and scores of fast motor boats carried spectators to the ocean side of the Palm Beach island from the shores of which they viewed the conflagration, free from the scorching heat that traveled northwest with the wind. The tops of office buildings and hotels in West Palm Beach were thronged by hundreds who sought to gain access to any high elevation from where they could watch the fire consume the properties at the famous resort. As fast as they could get across the lake, hundreds of guests of the burned hotels and cottages sought new quarters in West Palm Beach hotels, already crowded in many instances, while scores of others prepared to go to Miami and Miami Beach.

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SEVERAL parties of guests of the Breakers Hotel had gone to Miami to spend the day and returned here late this afternoon or early in the evening to find their hotel destroyed and their belongings either burned or lost in the confused pile of property thrown into the streets and parkways during the first stage of the fire. Up to 9 o'clock tonight, no loss of life in the fire had been reported. One small boy was run down by an automobile rapidly proceeding to the fire from West Palm Beach. He was removed to a hospital and was reported in a serious condition early tonight. The Breakers Hotel was built in 1895 and was first known as the Palm Beach Inn.

 

It was destroyed by fire in 1904 and rebuilt and given its present name the following year. It is a part of the Flagler estate and is operated by the Florida East Coast Hotel Company. The Palm Beach Hotel was owned by Sidney Maddox and was built several years ago. Twenty-three negroes were arrested early tonight by the police here and in Palm Beach for looting. Thirteen of these were taken here and ten in the vicinity of piles of baggage and goods from the two hotels during the fire. Fearing further depredations, Captain W. H. Von Behren of this city ordered out his company of the Florida National Guard and posted all roads to the scene of the fire and instituted a patrol in the fire district. It was stated at guard headquarters that a strict vigil will be kept all night.

 

At 8 o’clock, the fire was pronounced under control and shortly before this hour cessation of the bright glare that had lit up the skies since dusk relieved fears of those watching the conflagration from house tops here that the Royal Poinciana and other buildings at the famous resort would be burned. Work of salvaging thousands of dollars worth of trunks and valuables removed from the hotels and shops was started by hotel attaches, guests and the police shortly after 8 o'clock. Goods roughly estimated to be worth $25,000 were brought to the West Palm Beach police headquarters by detectives, where they are being held until identified by owners. Officials of both The Breakers and the Palm Beach hotels also began a check of their guests to ascertain if any could not be accounted for, although the departure of many of them for other hotels and for Miami indicated that it probably will be late Thursday before a complete tabulation can be made.

 

GUESTS at the Breakers included some of the wealthiest and best known persons in the United States. Among these were, George Altmeyer, McKeesport, Pa.; George T. Ahrens, New York; Frederick M. Gould, New York; Richard P. Mur- ray, Chicago; Mrs. Delos Wickham, New York and Cleveland; William H. Harrison and son, Jack, of New York; Mrs. D. L. and G. Glidden, Lakewood, Ohio; Mr. and Mrs. Albert S. Dewey, Washington; Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Hodgkins, Chicago; Col. and Mrs. William Sevier Paine, New York; Eugene O'Neill, Pittsburgh and New York, former owner of the Pitts- burgh Dispatch; John M. Painter, New York; Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Green, New York; Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Greer and Miss Jane Greer, Pittsburgh; Judge and Mrs. Louis Goldstein, Brooklyn; Mr. and Mrs. John V. Fox and John V. Fox, Jr., Chicago; Col. H. C. Stebbins, New York; Mr. and Mrs. Ward Ames, Jr., and family, Duluth, Minn.; Mr. and Mrs. George Amyot, Quebec; Elbert R. Erskine, president of the Studebaker Company, and Mrs. Erskine, South Bend, Ind.; John F. L. Curtiss, Chicago; Mr. and Mrs. Jesse L. Livermore, New York; M. Wendt and George P. Usservy, Peapack, N. J.; Mr. and Mrs. Edgar F. Price, Portchester, N. Y.; Mrs. James Francis Burke, Pittsburgh; Edward L. Arnold, Massillon, Ohio; Mrs. Joseph R. Dilworth, New York; Col. Owen Kenan, cousin of the late Mrs. Henry M. Flagler; Raymond Lewis, Bridgeport, Conn.; Judge and Mrs. William E. Glasgow, Philadelphia; Mr. and Mrs. Edward N. Hurley, Chicago; Col. J. B. McClean, publisher, and Mrs. McClean, Toronto; Mr. and Mrs. Ed- son R. Bradley, New York and Washington.

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By DONN I. SUTTON. Herald Staff Correspondent.

PALM BEACH, Fla., March 18.—

WINTER PLAYGROUND IS TOMB OF ASHES

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Salvation Army Serves Peanut Butter Sandwiches to Multi-Millionaires as the Breakers and Palm Beach Hotels Make Swift Exit Behind Curtains of Fire; Brute Force Saves Many.

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The golden glory that was Palm Beach—fashionable America's most famous winter playground—was partially reduced to a crimson tomb of molten ashes tonight after flames from an old lady's curling iron grew into a conflagration that swept into oblivion two historic ocean front hotels. The sedate Breakers and Palm Beach hotels—favorite winter homes of the socially elite ever since the fabulous four hundred began counting faces—made a swift exit behind a curtain of fire while thousands of persons from all over the East Coast looked on. The red and black-capped soldiers of the Salvation Army, always to be found at the scene of any catastrophe, were inside the fire lines here tonight, distributing peanut butter sandwiches to the multi-millionaire refugees and the Florida fire fighters.

 

Numbers of winter guests at the two hotels, men and women whose names are household words in scores of cities throughout the world, had to be driven by brute force from the flaming buildings by police and firemen, who believed human lives to be of greater consequence than jewelry and the lavish wardrobes that were doomed to disappear in the red inferno. BEFORE the fire gained much headway, men of wealth, noblemen and many who are distinguished in the arts and professions worked side by side with perspiring negro bell boys and hotel employees to rescue everything possible from the sweeping blaze. Huge trunks, valuable jewels and individual articles of clothing were thrown out of windows on every side of the hotel. The light-fingered gentry immediately came into being, and hundreds of dollars worth of valuables were appropriated by thieves who heard opportunity knocking on their doors.

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FLAMES ARE CONTROLLED AFTER STRENUOUS FIGHT                                                                                                

[BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.] PALM BEACH, Fla., March 18.—

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Fire, which for a time threatened to wipe out an entire section of this famous winter pleasure resort, was brought under control to night after two big hotels, the Breakers and Palm Beach, had been reduced to piles of glowing ashes. Property damage was estimated in excess of $4,000,000. Early in the night the fire threatened to extend to the Royal Poinciana, another great hotel nearby, and guests were ordered to leave as a precautionary move. No definite loss of life had been confirmed, pending a check of the guests. It was reported, however, that two persons, an elderly man and woman, had been burned to death in the destruction of the Breakers and two small children and their nurse were said to be missing from the same hotel.

 

The fire started late this afternoon in an upper floor of the south wing of The Breakers Hotel, which had nearly 900 rooms and provided accommodations for nearly 2,000 persons. The cause of the fire was variously reported as a carelessly handled cigarette, a plumber's torch and a woman guest using an electrical appliance. All of the apparatus was quickly placed in use but checking the flames proved a matter of hours. Thousands of persons quickly assembled and work of volunteers proved useful to the professional firemen. In spite of the efforts of the firemen, the flames soon spread to the main section of the hotel and then to the north wing. In the meantime, the Palm Beach hotel was burning and although the fire fighting force was at once divided and a portion diverted to the second hotel, it was seen to be doomed from the outset. Adjacent buildings, however, were saved.

 

The roof of the Royal Poinciana smouldered and seemed about to break into flames but actual fire never attacked the building. Far into the night, Palm Beach was a scene of confusion. Adequate check of the damage done will be a work of hours. Haste and utility of nearest available provision for carrying clothing and jewelry contributed to salvage for some fortunate guests. Palm Beach has long been a mecca for the wealthy and famous and many distinguished persons have been guests at the two hotels burned tonight.

 

OCCUPANTS of the Royal Poinciana Hotel had been ordered to leave. Dynamite was taken to the scene, but was not used for fear of injury to the thousands of persons assembled in the vicinity. All available fire fighting apparatus in this section was being used in the effort to bring the fire under control. No loss of life had been reported. The Palm Beach fire department chief, shortly before 7 o'clock tonight, announced that it had been determined definitely that the Breakers Hotel fire started from an electrical appliance used by a crippled woman guest occupying an upper southeast room. When the woman was taken from the room, it was said that its interior was aflame.

 

Four cottages belonging to the burned Breakers Hotel, and lying immediately south of it were burning at 7 o'clock tonight. One of these was occupied by Leonard Ahl, and another by Charles F. Choate, jr., both of Boston. A number of shops lying along the North Lake Trail in the vicinity of the burned Palm Beach Hotel also were destroyed by the flames. Sparks flying like cinders from a volcano were showering down over all of Palm Beach and threatening to spread the flames in all directions. Even the great Royal Poinciana Hotel was in danger.

 

EFFORTS of the fire fighters were greatly handicapped by the intense heat which kept them at a distance of nearly 1,000 feet from the flames. The fire came without warning. Flames appeared first in the roof of the Breakers Hotel, followed by dense smoke throughout the building. Panic raged as several hundred guests began to throw their belongings, gems, clothing and treasures from the windows of the hotel. Guests were surging about the hotel grounds, helpless to render aid to the firemen from Palm Beach and West Palm Beach who were hurried to the scene. Some of the most socially prominent people of the United States are here as guests at the Breakers. Approximately 400 guests were quartered in the Breakers. Some were confined to their beds with illness and several rescues were made during the early moments of the conflagration. It was reported that some of the Poinciana cottages also had caught fire from flying sparks.

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Guests, most of them members of wealthy families, left the hotel hurriedly, few delaying to get their personal effects, it was reported. The loss from this cause will be great, it was estimated. Thousands of West Palm Beach residents flocked to the scene, attracted by the smoke and falling sparks, carried by the wind nearly a mile across Lake Worth and into West Palm Beach.

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FLAMES broke through the roof, and smoke almost immediately spread throughout the hotel. Guests hurriedly left the burning structure, many not waiting to save their personal belongings and loss of valuables of persons residing in the hotel is expected to be great. The hotel, constructed of highly inflammable pine wood, burned rapidly. Officials of the hotel, scenting the imminent danger, summoned the entire equipment of the Palm Beach department and that of West Palm Beach across the lake, as well as Lake Worth, seven miles away. When smoke and flame began pouring from the hotel, there was an indescribable rush from all parts of the immense grounds by guests to rescue their property left in the rooms. Much of the lower floor of the hotel was given over to an arcade containing high-class stores. From these, as well as from the individual rooms, huge quantities of materials were rescued and piled high in indiscriminate heaps about the grounds.

 

Within a quarter of an hour of the time of the alarm, the three fire departments of West Palm Beach had joined the Palm Beach firemen in an effort to check the spread of the flames. Fanned by a southeast breeze blowing in from the ocean, the firemen's work was ineffectual. As soon as it was seen that the hotel was doomed, the firemen turned their attention to preventing other buildings from disaster. For nearly one hour firemen concentrated all the water that could be mustered on the central portion of the Breakers but the flames spread through the interior of the building, consuming it, and then to the north wing. It, too, soon fell before the onslaught. Only in the north wing were any valuables saved. Here maids and chauffeurs united with their employers in hastily gathering possessions, tossed them into pillow slips and bed sheets and carried them out or threw them from windows.

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A CROWD of approximately 10,000 people assembled as the fire gained steady headway at the Breakers and police were forced to throw a line about the burning building to keep the spectators in a zone of safety. As the walls of the south wing of the hotel fell in, the heat became so intense that some of the onlookers were slightly burned before they could fall back to a greater distance. Falling sparks in the crowd also did some slight damage. Fire chief declared the building was emptied of guests within an hour after the fire, and hotel managers and firemen experienced their greatest difficulty for a time in preventing guests from entering the building in an effort to save belongings. The Breakers Hotel succeeded the old Palm Beach Inn, which was built by the Henry M. Flagler interests in 1895, and was destroyed by fire in 1904.

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The present Breakers Hotel was built immediately after the fire of 1895 and has been in operation since. Some of the world's best-known people have been guests at the hotel, which consisted of nearly 900 rooms and provided accommodations for nearly 2,000 persons. Owing to the fact that the Royal Poinciana Hotel, containing 1,800 rooms, was to close within a few days, a large number of guests had moved to the Breakers within the past week. According to insurance agencies here, the hotel and contents were fully covered by insurance. A little girl in West Palm Beach was run over and killed by an automobile that was being driven rapidly toward Palm Beach to view the fire.

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Palm Beach Post                                                                                                                                                                                        Thu, Mar 19, 1925                                                                                                                                                                                      Page 1 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            FIRE DESTRYOYS PALM BEACH HOTELS

FURIOUS BLAZE RAZES BREAKERS AND PALM BEACH

Famous Old Hostelry In Ashes; —Many Distinguished Guests Lose All

DAMAGES ESTIMATED AT OVER $2,500,000

Riflemen Guard Two Resorts As Looting of Salvaged Possessions Begins

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After billows of fire had swept Palm Beach from the ocean to the lake for five hours, driven by high southeast winds late yesterday, The Breakers, historic old hostelry known round the world, and the Palm Beach hotel lay in ashes. The glowing light of the embers of what a few hours since had been the scene of the nation's society and business activities, revealed the same persons in the roles of refugees grouped about such scanty belongings as they had saved, their personal possessions for the most part consumed. Altogether more than 1,000 guests and servants were rendered homeless. The Royal Poinciana hotel, itself barely saved from the fate of its sisters, last night had succeeded in accommodating a great part of the ousted pleasure seekers.

 

But Two Are Hurt

Despite the peril and excitement, only two persons were known to- night to have been hurt to any extent. One was a negro who, while saving a house on Sunset avenue from fire, slipped from the roof and fractured his skull on the pavement below. The other was a young boy  who was knocked down by an automobile on this side of Lake Worth as the car was  going to fire scene.

 

The loss in buildings alone last night was estimated at one and three-quarter millions, but huge personal losses were expected to augment this by the tens of thousands. The loss of the Breakers was given as a million, mostly covered by insurance. The giant conflagration, which, while the Breakers was flaming, swept through the dry coconut palms, menacing the heart of the resort, started more than 12 other fires at hotels and villas and ended by leveling the second huge hotel almost a mile from the ocean beach where the Breakers stood.

 

Many Departments Help

While fire units from every point on the lower east coast were laboring feverishly against the menacing wind, the flames leaped westward across the County Road and soon arose on the white servants' quarters adjoining the Royal Poinciana, sister to the Breakers—the largest tourist hotel in the world. The veering of the wind to a more northerly course was believed to be the only element that saved the Poinciana.

 

Across the island on the lake shore, flying sparks from burning palm fronds alighted on the roof of the old Palm Beach hotel and its erstwhile occupants watched the second catastrophe of a few hours unfold as dusk came on. That famous property of Sydney Maddox, an entire block containing more than 12 exclusive shops as well as the hotel proper, likewise was entirely demolished.

 

With hastily salvaged belongings of the nation's wealthy lying at random on streets and lawns, pillaging broke out. More than 25 persons, most of them negroes, were placed under arrest, and for a time traffic out of the resort was halted. Late last night national guardsmen, police of both Palm Beaches and deputy sheriffs were examining all persons leaving the town, and scores of armed men were guarding the burned-out guests' belongings.

 

What, so far as is known, is South Florida's greatest fire, endangering the lives of nationally known personages and for a time, threatening the entire northern half of the resort, was started at 420 o'clock in an upper southeast room there.

 

Caused by Electricity

While such of the 450 guests and 300 servants of the luxurious 800-room, four-story building as were not enjoying outside pleasures, were enjoying card parties and other indoor occupations, a woman guest was using some electrical appliance in her room. From some wiring accident, the flame was first started, it was ascertained, although at first the flames' cause was variously attributed to other causes.

 

As the first flames licked the high roof of the gigantic frame structure fronting the Atlantic, the ocean breeze soon fanned them to fury. Hundreds of occupants tried to remove their belongings in alarm, and servitors mounted the room to fight the menace. To H. E. Bemis, vice president of the Florida East Coast Hotel company, which operates The Breakers, last night was given much credit for the lack of loss of life.

 

Personaly on the scene, he painstakingly took care to warn guests and employees alike away after the hopelessness of the situation dawned on him and the general exodus took on some order.

 

A few minutes later, what had just before been a pride show place of Florida was a raging furnace. Palm Beach firemen, sensing the danger to the row of Breakers cottages, homes of E. B. McLean and other notables, sounded a call which brought all three of the West Palm Beach fire companies, one from Lake Worth and one each from Miami and Fort Lauderdale, while scores of volunteers and policemen from both communities appeared to keep order as thousands of curious-minded persons crammed the resort.

 

General Confusion

The flames grew wilder. They spread to the Breakers' comparatively new water plant, and to the servants' quarters, licking them up like tinder. Then thousands began leaving the Breakers' scene, scurrying about the resort business district and northward amid the sirens of police cars and motorcycles, the screams of overwrought women, the cries of children, and the rattling of fire units changing their positions. Word was passed about that the whole town was burning.

 

The dense yellow smoke and flame over the hotel appeared to spread itself to a loop, reaching a fiery hand out over the whole town. Sparks borne in from the beach caught the dry under fronds of the dense palm growths along the streets and other hotels and houses began to catch fire. The back of the Royal Poinciana's servant quarters caught fire several times. The 1500-room palace—the pride of America's hostelries—could not be saved, it seemed, although forces battled hard for it.

 

Dampen the Jets.

To the northward on Main street, the negro servants' quarters, were about to burn, and even the grass about the hotel's rear was aflame so strong was the breeze. All up and down Main street store proprietors and volunteers were sprinkling tiny jets of flame that persisted in darting upon the walls. On Sunset avenue, a block farther up the County Road, the palms overhanging the Clinton hotel began to burn, and trunks and families came swarming out. The Sans Souci cottage and almost a dozen other residences in the street were likewise endangered. It was in striving to save one of these that the negro fractured his skull.

 

All the while tiny jets of flame were playing about the roof of the Palm Beach hotel. The wind had veered slightly to the north-northwest and the Royal Poinciana was saved. And as The Breakers smouldered, all forces bent themselves toward the new enemy. Members of a West Palm Beach unit, attempting to use the hotel's fire system, said they found it entirely inefficient in checking the blaze at the start. A Miami fire unit arrived and attacked the flames in the north Lake Trail shop section adjoining the hotel, but by 8 o'clock, this second hotel was in ashes.

 

Many Shops Burn

Adjoining the Palm Beach hotel, the following stores and shops, together with contents, were lost: Kenneth L. Gillespie, White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., flower shop; Pauline Grossman, New York, woman's wear shop; Ferle Heller, New York, millinery store; and eight other similar shops belonging to local persons.

 

This hotel and its recent shop additions has been owned for years by Sidney Maddox, who, it was understood last night, is out of the city. W. C. Havill is the manager. Owing to the prevalence of the fire alarm by the time, the Palm Beach hotel situation became serious and the comparatively small number of guests there the exodus was smaller than that at the Breakers, although, so far as could be learned, guests' losses there also were large.

 

It was announced last night at the Poinciana that the 450 guests and the 300 employees of The Breakers had been accommodated at the Poinciana. Only heroic work on the part of the firemen saved the block to the north of the Palm Beach hotel between it and the Beaux Arts building. Braving the intense heat from the leaping flames of the hotel, the fire fighters kept streams of water playing upon the walls of the building occupied by Tyson's, which luckily were of stucco. The firemen were continually drenched with water themselves, otherwise, the heat would have been unbearable.

 

All the valuables in the shops in this block were removed for fear that the buildings were doomed. Other exclusive shops besides Tyson's in the block, for the most part containing women's wearing apparel, were Madam Claire's, Farr's, Henning's, Bendel's and Dreicer's.

 

Menaces Art Collection

Here, the flames menaced what was called the most valuable collection of art works being shown this side of the Atlantic at present—the display which the London firm of Agnew Company had housed in the Black, Starr & Frost building immediately to the south of the flames. As the slackening of the wind and the work of firemen became effective on the lake shore, the flames had devoured all frame outbuildings of the Palm Beach and were licking the paving of Bradley Place.

 

The many small fires elsewhere did comparatively small damage. Persistent rumors that a woman had been taken dead from the Breakers, that a negro maid and three white children had disappeared, that a butler had entered the Palm Beach hotel and not returned, and that a fireman had been killed, were set at naught by such authorities that could be reached. John B. Erwin, manager of the Breakers, said that, so far as he knew no one was even injured in the catastrophe there.

 

Certain Palm Beach circles last night evinced some concern over the disappearance of John B. Erwin, popular society man but, as a complete check had not been made on the Breakers guests, little general fear was felt for his safety. During the battle to save the Royal Poinciana a force of 100 men under the direction of H. E. Bemis, manager of the Florida East Coast Hotels system there, was constantly on guard with five lines of hose playing on the roof and sides of the structure. It was said that the flying embers ignited the roof of the Poinciana several times but were quickly extinguished. A similar force was on the watch on the roof of the barracks, as well as at Bradleys.

 

The sweeping calamity at the big hotels brought out many vagaries of human nature. According to police, an actress whose name was given as Georgette La Rue lingered in her burning room to find a dog biscuit for her prize pet, while Policeman Nogy of the local force reported that another woman had to be forced from the room where she was virtually daring death in an attempt to save a dog. Joseph Shay, well known realtor, who was at the Breakers at the time of the outbreak noted an aged couple apparently overcome by the scare. A thick booted man, apparently an airplane mechanician, dragged both from the hotel. Attem-pting to go back, the birdman sank on the hotel steps, himself exhausted, and had to be carried to the open by Mr. Shay.

 

Thompsons Burned Out

Ex-Mayor William Hale Thompson, of Chicago, with Mrs. Thompson, arrived at the Breakers hotel only yesterday morning. They had come for the health of both, Mr. Thompson said last night. "We just got here in time to enjoy the fire," he said,

 

"We lost everything we brought with us except the clothes on our backs." The Thompsons, late yesterday, went to the home of the Franklyn Smiths on South Ocean boulevard. The fire will not interfere with their stay here, Mr. Thompson said. A prominent woman, whose name was withheld, salvaged but one article of clothing—a heavy fur coat—and many were the men and women at the Poinciana last night bewailing the loss of every personal belonging they had with them. And while the very grass on the Breakers-Poinciana golf course was ablaze with the former hotel toppling, a twosome was seen calmly at golf on the threatened greens.

 

Takes Care of All.

Late in the evening ,while the embers of both hotels were being carefully watched by firemen, the Poinciana reported that it had been able to house comfortably the 450 guests and almost 300 servants of the old Breakers, although many of the homeless had been received into the cottages of friends. Many distinguished guests were included among the refuges of the Breakers. Among those who are said to have been registered there were:

 

George Altmeyer, McKeesport, Pa.; George T. Ahrens, New York; Frederick M. Gould, New York; Richard P. Murray, Chicago and New York; Mrs. Delos O. Wickham, New York and Cleveland; William H. Harrison, New York, and his son, Jack P. F. Harrison, the Mrs. D. L. G. Glidden, Lakewood, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Albert S. Dewey, Washington, Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Hodgkins, Chicago, Col. and Mrs. Willis Seaver Paine, New York; Eugene M. O'Neil, Pittsburgh and New York, said to be former owned of the Pittsburgh Dispatch; John W. Paynter, New York; Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Green, New York, noted real estate dealer. Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Greer and Miss Jane Greer, Pittsburgh; Judge and Mrs. Louis Goldstein, Brooklyn; Mr. and Mrs. John V. Fox and John V. Fox, Jr., Chicago; Col. H. C. Stebbins, New York; Mr. and Mrs. Ward Ames, Jr., and family of Duluth; Mr. and Mrs. George Amyot, millionaire financier of Quebec; Mr. and Mrs. Elbert R. Erskine, South Bend, president of the Studebaker company. John F. L. Curtis, Chicago; Mr. and Mrs. Jesse L. Livermore and children and Mrs. Livermore's mother, Mrs. M. Wendt; George P. Misservy, Peapack, N. J.; Mr. and Mrs. Edgar F. Price, Port Chester, N. Y.; the Hon. Mrs. Jane James Francis Burke, Pittsburgh; Mr. Edward L. Arnold, Massillion, Ohio; Mrs. Joseph R. Dilworth, New York; Col. Owen Kenan, cousin of the late Mrs. Henry M. Flagler; Raymond Lewis, Bridgeport, Conn.; Judge and Mrs. William E. Glasgol, Philadelphia; Mr. and Mrs. Edward N. Hurley, Chicago, United States shipping board; Col. J. B. Maclean, Toronto, Ont., Canada's millionaire publisher of magazines and newspaper, and Mrs. Maclean, and Mr. and Mrs. Edson R. Bradley, New York and Washington, D. C.

 

—MORE—

This is the second time the East Coast Hotel company, a part of the estate of the late Henry M. Flagler, builder of the Florida East Coast railway, suffered from the fire at this spot. The first hotel was known as the Palm Beach Inn and was constructed there in 1895. In 1904, it burned to the ground. The next year the Breakers was built. Owing to the fact that the Royal Poinciana hotel, containing 1,800 rooms, was to close within a few days, a large number of guests had moved to the Breakers within the past week.

 

While smaller than the Breakers, the Palm Beach hotel was almost as old. The first section of it was built about 25 years ago. From time to time larger and more modern additions were built to it until it included a handsome business block in addition to the hotel. While as far as could be ascertained last night, there were no deaths resulting from the fire, several minor casualties were reported to local hospitals. William Rathburn, an employe of the Palm Beach hotel, suffered a severe cut on his left knee, which required several stitches. It is understood that Mr. Rathburn, who lives at 920 South Poinsettia street, received the cut while rescuing several guests from the blazing hotel.

 

Thomas Owen of 311 Jefferson road dislocated his wrist when he fell from the porch of the Breakers hotel while assisting in fighting the flames. Mr. Owen is employed as a salesman by a local realty firm. Arthur Marshall of 505 South Poinsettia street reported to police last night that an automobile driven by Henry Tuggles of Pleasant City, who in his haste to arrive at the fire, had struck his young son of 6 years, painfully injuring him.

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Palm Beach Post                                                                                                                                                                                        Thu, Mar 19, 1925                                                                                                                                                                                      Page 1 

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WILL GUARD EMBERS UNTIL LAST GLOWING

Chief Sadler Tells Story Of Fire; Says Shingle Roofs Greatest Peril

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Bedraggled and sooty, so weary that he could hardly speak, Chief A. P. Sadler, of the West Palm Beach fire department, sat in his office for the few minutes' interim between 12:30 o'clock when he returned from the scene of the fire until he should go back to supervise the guarding of the embers, and told briefly of the fight which the combined forces of the east coast fire departments had made to save Palm Beach and West Palm Beach.

 

"The work of the fire departments of the towns up and down the east coast," he said, "in coming to the assistance of Chief Shultz of the Palm Beach department and myself, was magnificent, and our appreciation cannot be expressed. Chief Haney of the Jacksonville department was here on a visit and his assistance was very helpful. Vero, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Delray, Lake Worth - all were represented, and Stuart's truck when it was incapacitated by an accident, even sent its hose on."

 

Origin Undetermined.

The origin of the fire, which began in the south wing, the worst place possible with the wind prevailing yesterday, Chief Sadler said, has not yet been determined. According to the chief, yesterday's work was the fighting of the flames, the investigation can come later. It was first reported to the Breakers office, according to the information given the fire department by a Mrs. McTowney, who smelled the smoke while visiting a friend in the south wing.

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Shief Shultz acted in the capacity of general, going from one scene to another, said Chief Sadler, while the different forces were concentrated at various stations. Owing to the strong southeast wind and the headway of the Breakers fire, when the fire department were notified, it was soon realized that it would be impossible to save the building and efforts were concentrated on keeping the flames from spreading.

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The work of saving the Breakers cottages were largely entrusted to the Lake Worth fire department and volunteers. Chief Sadler and part of his forces were at work on saving the barracks of the hotels and the homes on Sunset avenue, putting out between 50 and 75 fires in this region.

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Poinciana Catches.

The Poinciana hotel, he said, was on fire five times, and the work of combating the sparks there was under Captain Smith of the West Palm Beach force. When the Palm Beach hotel first caught there was no part of the fire department there and the Palm Beach force with volunteers under Councilman R. L. Ray man- aged to work in between the Prather building and the hotel and to head it off from going further north.

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At the south end, the West Palm Beach force managed to cut off the flames at the Kauffman building. Other forces worked at any points needed wherever directed by Chief Shultz.

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In the meantime, at the direction of Chief Sadler, volunteers were patrolling the north end of West Palm Beach to prevent the settling of any sparks that might blow across. The hook and ladder and smaller pump together with the high pressure wagon were left in the central sta- tion in West Palm Beach for protection to the city.

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"The biggest fight we had," said Chief Sadler, "was due to the shingle roofs. Even though the buildings themselves were not fire proof, if the roofs had been the Palm Beach hotel would not have gone and the Poinciana would not have been so endangered. Had the Poinciana really caught, it would have undoubtedly endangered West Palm Beach."

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Although the fire was under control by 7 o'clock and was reduced to embers by 12 o'clock, Chief Sadler announced that guards would be on duty all night and until every vestige of ember is extinguished. A check of local departments had found every fireman accounted for, a slightly burned hand being the only injury reported.