Midnight Panic at the St. Cloud

At 2:00 this morning, the five-story building at Nos. 715 to 719 Front Street was discovered to be on fire. The flames communicated to No. 713 Arch Street. The building in which the fire originated was one of the handsomest on Front Street, but the efforts of the fire department proved unavailing. The guests in the St. Cloud hotel had retired for the night and were awakened by the shouts of fire which broke out on the fourth floor. The cry of 'fire!' created a panic in the hostelry. Guests rushed from their rooms, half-dressed, into the corridors and fled to the office. The firemen escorted some to safety, while the gentlemen, with grip-sacks and others with their trunks, looked after their own. There were many exciting moments and scenes attendant upon the burning of the hotel, but no loss of life was reported.

At 3:00 o'clock, the front wall of the Morris building fell with a crash into the street. This was soon after followed by a fall of a side wall upon a warehouse occupied by May & Co. The roof soon crashed and the building shattered in the burning debris. Shortly after, it was evident that the St. Cloud Hotel was doomed, as a great volume of heavy smoke came pouring through the fifth-floor front windows. By 3:00 o'clock, the cornice and a portion of the top story fell into Arch Street, sending up myriads of cinders. The St. Cloud Hotel was a five-story structure with a frontage of 100 feet; it had facilities for 300 guests and last night was filled to two-thirds of its capacity. The loss is estimated at from one-half to three-quarters of a million dollars.