Explosion Levels Burlington Hotel
A saloon lamp explosion causes a total loss for a hotel and bar in Burlington, forcing a guest to leap from a second-story window to survive.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Williams house and barn burned this afternoon. The house was a large two-story building and the barn was also large. George W. Sheckler rented the lower front part for saloon purposes and the rest was used as a hotel, under the management of William Johnston. The two buildings and hotel furniture were owned by R. W. Williams, of Mount Vernon. A good many mill hands boarded there who lost their clothing and personal effects. Nothing was saved except the safe and a few chairs. The fire started at 5:00 in the liquor room off the bar, where C. Robinson was filling a lamp, and was caused by the explosion of a large lamp. He tried to put out the fire, but could not succeed, and ran upstairs to save such things as he could on the second floor. Within an instant he found the stairway cut off and he was forced to jump through the front window to the street. He was badly burned and hurt his face by the fall. The losses are as follows: George W. Sheckler, saloon fixtures, stock, etc., $800; insurance, $1,200. R. W. Williams, house and barn, about $3,300; furniture $2,000. The insurance had expired on the furniture, which is a total loss. Manager Johnston, along with the boarders, loses everything he had in the building, with no insurance.
“Within an instant he found the stairway cut off and he was forced to jump through the front window to the street.”
Fires in wooden hotels and boarding houses were constant, terrifying hazards in early Washington boomtowns, often exacerbated by poorly maintained kerosene lamps. Today, Burlington's downtown district has transitioned from rugged frontier boarding houses to a more stable commercial core, though fire safety remains a cornerstone of municipal code enforcement.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.