He went from room to room
and from floor to floor, telling them of the danger, but assuring them
all that they had plenty of time to escape. He apparently took command
of the excited guests and issued orders like a general on the field of
battle. To his presence of mind and coolness many of the guests were
indebted for their escape from a frightful death. The fire department
worked hard and did good service. The city had no waterworks at that
time, but relied for water entirely upon cisterns located in different
parts of the city. When the cisterns became dry it was necessary
to place the steamer at the river and pump water through over two
thousand feet of hose.
Among the guests at the hotel at the time of the fire were Gen. C.C.
Andrews, Judge Lochren, Capt. H.A. Castle, Gen. W.G. Le Duc, Selah
Chamberlain, Gov. Armstrong and wife, Charles A. Gilman and wife,
Dr. W.W. Mayo, I.W. Webb, Dr. Charles N. Hewitt, M.H. Dunnell, Judge
Thomas Wilson and more than two hundred others.
* * * * *
The Park Place hotel on the corner of Summit avenue and St. Peter
street, was at one time one of of the swell hotels of the city. It
was a frame building, four stories high and nicely situated.
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