1877 — April 11, Fire, Southern Hotel, St. Louis, MO                                     –16-21

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-8-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10-50  Titusville Morning Herald, PA. “Another Holocaust Southern Hotel…” 4-12-1877, p. 2.

—     22  Waymarking.com. “Southern Hotel Fire – St. Louis Missouri.” 7-4-2007 posting.

–16-21  Blanchard estimated fatality range.[1]

—     21  History’s Time Portal to Old St. Louis. “St. Louis Firemen Killed in Action.”

—     21  NFPA. “Loss of Life Fires in Hotels.” Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 3, Jan 1942, pp. 247.

—     21  St. Louis Firemen’s Fund. History of the St. Louis Fire Department. 1914, p. 53.

—     20  Iola Register, Allen Co., KS. “Current Events.” 4-21-1877, p. 1, col. 1.

—     16  Scharf, John Thomas. History of Saint Louis City and County. 1883, p. 1447.[2]

—     13  Burlington Hawk-Eye (IA). “The Hotel Horror,” April 14, p. 1m col. 4.[3]

—     13  Lynch, Thomas. The Volunteer Fire Department of St. Louis, 1819-1859. 1880, p. 88.

—     12  Hagerstown Mail (MD). “The St. Louis Disaster,” April 20, 1877, p. 2.

—     11  Cambridge City Tribune, IN. “Appalling Disaster. The Southern Hotel…” 4-14-1877, 6.

—   >11  Hill, Walter Henry. Historical Sketch of the St. Louis University. 1879, p. 121.

—     10  Brockett (Compiler). Handbook of the United States of America.  1890, p. 153.

Narrative Information

History’s Time Portal: “The Southern Hotel, situated at the block bounded by Fourth, Fifth, Walnut and Elm Streets, was a six storied luxury hotel that boasted with over three hundred guests on that tragic night. When the fire broke out, a number of people became trapped on the upper floors, unable to escape the engulfing flames. Phelim O’Toole came first on the scene aboard a “Skinner escape truck” (an early hook and ladder pulled by horses). Seeing people trapped, above the reach of the longest ladder, did not discourage O’Toole. After climbing the ladder as far as possible, he instructed the people to lower bedsheets tied to bedposts in his direction. O’Toole then swung out on a rope, grabbed hold of the bed sheet and climbed up to the smoke-filled room. Next he lowered the individuals to safety below before taking on another rescue operation. The very last being was saved just “minutes before the entire building collapsed”. While 21 people would die in the fire, O’Toole rescued 12 from certain death. As one young lady (Johanna Halpin) that was rescued would say,  he “dropped into the window like an angel of God”.

“Out of gratitude for his actions, the citizens of St. Louis awarded him a check for $500. For a fireman with a $75 monthly salary this was a considerable sum of money. O’Toole simply donated the money to help orphans and in his modesty he always down played the importance of his actions.”  (History’s Time Portal to Old St. Louis.  “St. Louis Firemen Killed in Action.”)

National Fire Protection Association. “Loss of Life Fires in Hotels”:

“Southern Hotel, St. Louis, Mo., April 11, 1877. Fire originating in a basement storeroom spread up the elevator shaft and immediately communicated with all floors. Hotel proprietor and clerks aroused all the guests, most of whom escaped down stairways which were independent of the elevators. Twenty-one belated guests, however, found escape cut off by fire and were killed.”

Scharf:  “The Southern Hotel. – Early in 1857 efforts were made by public-spirited citizens to erect a finer and larger hotel than any that St. Louis could then boast of.  Meetings were held, propositions submitted, a company formed, a charter obtained, and subscription books opened.  A site was purchased and the cellar walls built, but the scheme languished, and in 1859 it was seriously proposed to divide the property into lots and sell it.  This was not done, however, and inn the early part of 1860 the company obtained from the Legislature as act exempting its property from city and county taxation for ten years.  New life was infused into the project, and Thornton Grimsley, John A. Brownlee, George Knapp & Co., Henry T. Blow, John J. Anderson, Charles McClaren, Robert K. Woods, B. M. Runyan, Belt & Priest, and Taylor Blow associated themselves together to finish the hotel.  The work was resumed, and continued with long and frequent intervals of delay until 1865. 

“The hotel fronted on Walnut, Fourth, Fifth, and Elm Streets, — on Walnut Street, two hundred and seventy feet; Fourth and Fifth Streets, one hundred and thirteen feet six inches each; and on Elm Street, sixty feet, and was six stories high, in the Italian style of architecture.  On Dec. 6, 1865, it was opened with a ball, with Messrs. Theodore Laveille, Charles P. Warner, and George W. Ford as proprietors.  It was sold in August, 1866, to Col. Robert Campbell.

“The hotel was destroyed by fire early on the morning of April 11, 1877.  The fire was discovered at twenty minutes past one o’clock in the basement of the hotel.  The inmates wee aroused as far as possible, and an alarm was sounded through the agency of the district telegraph.  This brought out the salvage department, but he key of the fire-alarm telegraph-box having been lost or mislaid, it was ten minutes before the city fire department could be notified.  On the first call six engines and two hook-and-ladder companies responded, but, the fire gaining rapid headway, two subsequent alarms were sent in, calling out the entire department.  To the natural progress of the flames was added the flood of gas from the large pipe used in supplying the hotel, and it was son found impossible to save the building, which was totally destroyed.  When the department reached the scene the flames had gained such headway that the efforts of the firemen were directed particularly to saving the lives of the inmates.  Of these there were several hundred, including a number of female domestics, who slept on the sixth floor of the hotel.

“The fire was first discovered in the store-room, which was in the basement near the passenger elevator, and the flames, ascending through the elevator shaft, spread immediately over the two upper floors, and filled all of the halls and corridors above the ground-floor with dense smoke, which rendered escape a matter of the greatest difficulty. 

“The loss of life was exclusively among the occupants of the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors, who, their means of escape being cut off by the fire, either fell or jumped into the streets and were killed.  Many, however, were saved through the agency of the fire department and citizens by means of ladders, and there were scores of rare instances of heroism on the part of rescuers, whose efforts were rendered peculiarly dangerous owing to the height of the burning building and the inaccessibility of the upper floors.

“The conflagration was made the subject of an investigation by the proper authorities…Ninety-two witnesses were examined, and in rendering their verdict the jury said, ‘As to the cause of the fire, we have no testimony sufficient to base an opinion on, but from the dryness of the woodwork and the inflammable [flammable] material in the storeroom, wine-room, and carpenter-shop, all situated in the basement of the hotel, it would have required only the slightest spark in a very few minutes, if not discovered, to have caused a fire of such magnitude as to be beyond ordinary control.

“The victims of the fire were

George F. Gouley, of St. Louis, secretary of the Grand Lodge A. F. and A. M. of Missouri, who was killed by falling from a fourth-story window on the Walnut Street side.

Henry Hazen, of New Castle, Pa., assistant engineer, Missouri Pacific Railroad, killed by falling from a third-story window.

Mrs. Abbie Moran,

Mary Dolan, and

Kate Reilly, all domestics employed in the hotel, killed by falling from a fifth-story window on the south wing.

Rev. A. R. Adams, vicar of the parish of Stockross, Berkshire, England, killed by falling from a fourth-story window on the Fourth Street side.

Mrs. Jennie Stewart, wife of W. S. Stewart, of St. Louis, killed by the breaking of an improvised rope while being lowered by her husband from a fifth-story window.

Charles A. Tiernan, a well-known St. Louis sporting man, killed while forcing his way into the burning hotel to rescue the inmates.

Andres Einstman, of Teichmann & Co., St. Louis, killed by falling from an improvised rope while descending from the fifth floor at Fifth and Elm Streets.

1. J. Clark, formerly of North Adams, Mass., an ex-railway conductor, found in the ruins after the fire.

Mrs. Abbie E. Clark, wife of H. J. Clark, and

Child, found in the ruins after the fire.

In addition to the above, the body of an unknown man was found in the ruins and

William F. Munster, of England, committed suicide a few hours after escaping in safety from the hotel.

Two policemen reported that during the earlier progress of the fire, while engaged in rescuing people from the burning building, they heard two pistol-shots, and on entering the room where the reports came from saw the dead bodies of a man and woman.

“There were also several persons missing who were never successfully traced, but whose death at the time of the fire has never been clearly demonstrated.

“The hotel building was owned by Robert Campbell, who estimated his loss at three hundred and seventy thousand four hundred and twenty dollars, which was ninety-two thousand dollars above the total insurance.

“The blackened ruins and the crumbling walls remained a ghastly memento of this awful disaster for two years, when, through the untiring energy and perseverance of the prominent members of the Merchants’ Exchange and other leading business men and citizens…a project for rebuilding the hotel took definite shape, and was speedily urged to a successful termination….”  (Scharf, John Thomas. “The Southern Hotel.” History of Saint Louis City and County: From the Earliest Periods to the Present Day (Vol. 2). Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts & Co., 1883, p. 1446-1447.)

St. Louis Firemen’s Fund: “It was at 1 o’clock on the morning of April 11, 1877, that fire broke out in the basement storeroom of the Southern Hotel, which occupied the block between Fourth, Fifth, Walnut and Elm streets.  The flames shot up the elevator shaft near the Walnut street side and communicated immediately with every floor.  Messrs. Dreslin, Darling and Warner were the hotel proprietors, and by their efforts, together with those of the clerks and other employes, a large number of the guests – all, as was supposed – were aroused and made their way to the staircases, all of which had exits independent of the elevator.  Some of the belated ones, however, found this means of egress shut off by the flames and the stifling smoke, and were compelled to make their way back to their rooms.  From many of the windows appeared appealing faces….A well-known citizen, Mr. Frank Gouley, started with his wife from an upper story and reached the staircase, but returning for some purpose, was penned up in his room and finally dropped from the window upon the stone pavement, meeting instant death.  Charles Stewart tied bed sheets together and attempted to lower his wife o the ground, but the improvised rope parted and Mrs. Stewart fell, receiving injuries from which she died.  Mr. Stewart found his way out and escaped.  Miss Frankie McClellan, an actress, afterwards the wife of A. H. Davenport, was hurt by jumping from a window upon a roof covering a restaurant annexed to the hotel.  From this roof Michael Hester, a member of Engine Company No. 10, by means of several ladders lashed together, reached the sixth story and rescued ten girls employed as domestics.  The feat of Phelim O’Toole, in rescuing women employes, is historic.

“Twenty-one lives were lost in all.  The bodies of some of the ill-fated, including the hotel steward, were never recovered, except as they were taken out dismembered in the mass of debris….”  (St. Louis Firemen’s Fund. History of the St. Louis Fire Department. St. Louis, MO., Central Publishing Co., 1914, pp. 52-53.)

Waymarking.com:  Inscription:  “The Southern Hotel was a six-story luxury hotel located on the block bounded by Fourth, Fifth, Walnut and Elm Streets. On the night the fire broke out, April 11, 1877, the hotel had more than three hundred guests. Many guests became trapped on the upper floors. This is when Phelim O’Toole, a firefighter, came into action. When the ladders would not reach the upper floors, O’Toole had the guest lower bedsheets down. He then climbed up and was able to save 12 guests by swinging from room to room and lowering them to the ground. His final rescue happened only minutes before the entire building collapsed. Twenty-two people were killed in the fire. For his heroism in rescuing the twelve individuals Phelim O’Toole was rewarded $500 by the city, a considerable sum considering the monthly pay for a fireman was $75. He donated his reward money to help orphans. Ironically Phelim O’Toole was killed when he went to a minor fire and the fire extinguisher he was using exploded into his chest.” 

(Waymarking.com. “Southern Hotel Fire – St. Louis Missouri.” 7-4-2007 posting.)

Newspapers:

April 11:  “St. Louis, April 11. – At 1:25 this morning the Southern Hotel…was discovered to be on fire….

Third Dispatch.

“St. Louis, April 11. – H. F. or H. M. Clarke, a railroad conductor, said to be formerly from Toledo, together with his wife and child, are among the killed….”  (Cambridge City Tribune, IN. “Appalling Disaster. The Southern Hotel at St. Louis Destroyed by Fire – Eleven Guests and Employes Killed or Burned to Death…” 4-14-1877, 6.)

April 11:  “Associated Press Dispatches…First Dispatch.  St. Louis, April 11.  Fire has just broken out in the upper stories of the Southern Hotel, and the indications are the whole structure will burn. The guests are all being removed safely.

Second Dispatch.

“The Southern Hotel in this city was destroyed by fire at 2 o’clock this morning.  About fifty lives were lost, as near as can be ascertained up to this time.

Third Dispatch.

“At 12:05 this morning the Southern Hotel, the fines edifice of the kind in the city, was discovered to be on fire….The fire is said to have originated in the store room.

Another Account.

“The most frightful calamity that has ever befallen St. Louis took place at a very early hour this morning, involving the destruction of the Southern Hotel by fire, and loss of a large number of lives.  The exact number cannot now be given, bu it is feared some 40 or 50 perished either by being burned directly, or first smothered by smoke and then consumed….

“At a quarter past 2, or about half an hour after the fire was discovered, the entire upper story was ablaze, and the flames were rapidly descending to the lower stories.  Half an hour later the floors and interior walls began to fall, the roof fell in, and there is now nothing left of one of he finest hotels in the country except the Walnut street front and parts of the Fourth and Fifth street faces….

“Dr. Auler gives the following list of killed, as reported to him, and he thinks it comprises all now known to be dead.  Rev. A. R. Adams, of Stock Cross, Berkshire, England; George Frank Gouley, Grand Secretary Masonic fraternity of this State; Kate Rielly, Kate Dolan and Mary Miran, servants; Henry Hazen, of the Auditors Department of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.  He was formerly from New Castle, whither his remains will be sent.  Mrs. Stewart, wife of W. S. Stewart, of the firm of Derby & Day, this city; Andrew Eastman, of the firm of Tichman & Co., of this city; Charles G. Finan and Sidmore Hogden.

“Wm. Field, of Munster, said to be a member of the English House of Commons, who was married in this city a few months ago and was residing at the hotel with his wife, became separated, and under the impression that she was killed, became intensely excited and evidently lost his mental balance.  About 6 o’clock this morning he went to the room of a friend at the corner of Fifth and Olive streets, and shot himself…..”  (Titusville Morning Herald, PA. “Another Holocaust. Southern Hotel, St. Louis, Burned. Ten Persons Perish in the Flames; Others Supposed to be in the Ruins.” 4-12-1877, p. 2.)

April 14:  “St. Louis, April 14….Several articles of jewelry with the initials of H. J. Clark and wife were found this morning near where their bodies were discovered, thus completing their identification….Another body…was taken from the ruins this afternoon….so badly burned that it is impossible to distinguish the sex, but it’s believed to be the remains of a colored nurse girl of Mrs. Clark, named Jackson….”  (Titusville Morning Herald, PA. “Missouri. The Southern Hotel Fire.” 4-16-1877, p. 2.)

April 18:  “St. Louis, April 18. – The coroner’s inquest proceeded with the investigation of the Southern Hotel fire this morning, but no evidence having any bearing on the origin of the fire or its management was brought out….

“George S. Daring, day clerk, says the fire alarm or annunciator never worked well, couldn’t be relied upon; never heard that employes had ever been directed not give an alarm to the fire department in case of fire till instructed to do so; always understood they were to sound an alarm at once.

“The pot washer or scullion, who was seen fumbling round the storeroom doors with a burning paper in his hand a few hours before the fire broke out went to New York with the cook a few days ago.

“George Darling, one of the proprietors, said he had no recollection of urging ladies to return to their rooms, or saying to them that there was no danger, and such statements are untrue. Witness knew nothing about the fire, what had been done to subdue it, or whether an alarm was given. He did not go below the parlor floor till he left the house.

“Captain Charles P. Warner, one of the proprietors, said he was in a room on the fifth floor with some friends; had not gone to bed; the first indication he had of the fire was the presence of smoke.  This was at 1:35 a. m.; immediately started down stairs, and attempted to reach the office floor by the main stairway, but could not, on account of the smoke; saw a number of ladies and gentlemen, and told them to get out of the house as speedily as possible, and ordered the policemen to put everybody out of the house whether they wanted to go or not. There was a water stand pipe running from the basement up through to the roof of the house with hose attachments on every floor. Six hundred feet of hose, thirteen Babcock extinguishers, and buckets at or on every stairway, and seven nozzles. These hose were in order to the best of his knowledge. There had been a fire brigade in the house under former proprietors, of whom he was one, and most of the men belonging to it were in the hotel at the time of the fire. They had been well drilled, but did but little or no service that night. The fire was so sudden and spread so rapidly that there was no opportunity to do anything.  The fire annunciator in the house was in an unfinished state and was not considered of much practical value.

“Witness gave a lengthy description of the store room as to its location and relative position to other parts of the basement. He said the walls were stone, except one comer nearest the elevator, which was of plank. It could be easily seen by the man who attended the elevator engines or the fireman in the engine room. His theory was that the fire was caused by superheated steam pipes, but at what point the fire caught he could not say.  These pipes were numerous, ran over head in the basement and through the store room; could not say whether matches standing on a high shelf in the room would ignite from the head of the steam pipes; based his theory somewhat on the fact that the fire was seen spreading along the top of the wood part of the storeroom wall. No special watchman was kept in the basement, but there were always one or more men at or about the engines and boilers. There were four large cisterns and tanks, holding some eighty thousand gallons of water, and two wells in the house.

“No bodies were found in the Southern Hotel ruins to-day….

“About four o’clock two of the inner walls, running at right angles with the Walnut street front, fell with a great crash, but no one was injured. Shortly after this a wind and rain storm passed over the city, and part of the southern wail of the west wing fell, crushing one story stores on Fifth street just south of the wall. One of these houses was occupied as a saloon called “The Monkey’s,”[4] the proprietor of which refused to obey the instructions to vacate given him yesterday, the Fire Chief Sexton this evening had him arrested and his premises closed.  Fifteen minutes later the wall fell and demolished the house, and another wall fell about six o’clock this evening, and to-morrow all the inner walls will be partially taken down so that the search for bodies can be resumed without danger to the workmen.”  (Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye, IA. “The Southern Hotel. The Testimony Before the Coroner’s Jury Yesterday.” 4-19-1877, p. 2.)

April 19:  “….The elevator proved the trap which destroyed the building, serving as a flue to draw the flames upward and ignite every floor of the building simultaneously….” (Alton Weekly Telegraph, IL. “The Southern Hotel Fire.” 4-19-1877, p. 1.)

April 19:  “St. Louis, April 19. – The Southern Hotel inquest was resumed this morning.  Eustace J. Cooper, general travelling agent of Burlington & Cedar Rapids R. R., gave a vivid description of his experience at the fire.  The material part of his testimony was, that he was awakened by screams of women in the hall, got down to the parlor floor with part of his clothes on his arm by groping through halls in the densest smoke he ever saw, there he met twenty or thirty persons in the greatest excitement, and a man whom he afterwards learned was Geo. Darlington, telling them that there was no danger, that there had been a fire in the basement but it was all out, that if there was much fire there would be less smoke, and that they could return to their rooms….”  (Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, WI. “St. Louis. Continuation of the Coroner’s Inquest.” 4-19-1877, p. 1.)

April 19: “St. Louis, April 19. — The Southern hotel inquest was resumed this morning…. A lengthy description of the fire annunciator in the house [was] given by Chas. Heisler, its inventor.  Mr. Heisler explained the construction of the machine.  It was operated by electricity, and designed to give warning at the office whenever a room or a part of the hotel connected with it reaches a temperature higher than the one for which the instrument was set.  It was very delicately adjusted, and reliable, if properly attended to.  In this case it had been neglected.”  (Sullivan County Union, IN. “The St. Louis Fire.” 4-25-1877, p. 1.)

April 21: “Another frightful calamity has occurred.  At an early hour of the morning of the llth inst., the Southern Hotel, the largest hostelry in the city of St. Louis, caught fire, and in an incredibly short space of time the building was reduced to a mass of ruins.  The destruction of the hotel was attended with a sad loss of life.  The exact number of people burned, as in the case of the recent Brooklyn and Ashtabula disasters will probably never be known exactly.

“From the St. Louis papers we glean the following particulars of the awful disaster:  It seems the fire caught in the store-room in the basement, and was first seen coming through the ground floor; just north of the office, and in ten minutes it had ascended the elevators and rotunda, and spread itself over the sixth floor under the roof. This floor was occupied entirely by employes of the hotel, the largest part of whom were women.  The fire spread rapidly, filling every room and hall with flames and smoke….

“The smoke was so dense in some of the halls that the gas-jets were extinguished, which rendered egress even to those most familiar with the building a matter of great difficulty.

“The fire department was on the spot promptly, and hundreds of people congregated at the scene, ready and willing to reader and aid necessary.  The density of the smoke in the halls drove many guests and boarders back into their rooms, and they rushed to the windows us a means of escape. Ladders were raised as soon as possible, and women and children, with nothing but their night-clothes on, were thus taken from the burning building.  Some fainted from fright, and others sank exhausted to the ground from nervous prostration.  The ladders generally were too short to reach to the fifth and sixth stories, but by hoisting some of them on the one-story balcony on the north side of the building, these floors were reached and all those at the windows rescued. The Skinner fire-escape was also brought promptly into service, and was the means of saving many lives.

“While this work was going on some frightful scenes occurred. One man, who had been occupying a window on the Walnut street front of the hotel, became desperate at the seeming delay in effecting his escape.  With nervous hands he tore the. Sheets from his bed into strips, tied them together, and, fastening this improvised rope to the window-sill, and disregarding the fact that it did not reach more than twenty feet, he let himself down hand over hand.  The men below who saw his position turned away their heads to avoid witnessing the sickening event that was inevitable.  Finally he reached the end of the sheet, and then, for the first time, he seemed to realize his position.  He stopped, threw his head back, revealing a ghastly face, and swung slowly to and fro, swayed by the breeze which the roaring flames above created. His limbs swung around convulsively, as though to catch upon something, then he let go and groans went up from hundreds as he whirled round and round, and finally struck on the stone flagging with a sickening thud.  He was carried…across the street, and died in a few moments.  Two other men jumped from the fourth-story windows, one of whom seemed not to be dangerously hurt, while the other expired in a few moments…..

“A man named J. E. Wilson jumped from a fourth-story window and was killed.  Andrew Eusmen [not clear] and Mrs. Scott met their death in the same way.  The mortality among the female help of the hotel is feared to be great.  There were some 200 of them, all of whom were lodged in the upper story of the building…. Charles Teenan lost his life in attempting to save others….”  (Palo Alto Reporter (Emmetsburg IA). “The St. Louis Horror,” April 21,   1877, 2.)

April 23: “From the Chicago Times:  The managers of the Southern Hotel must have been a parsimonious set, with no more humanity or public spirit in them than resides in a manikin. Their attempt to collect from the guests for the entertainment furnished on the night of the fire has been mentioned. Now attention is called to the fact that the search in the debris for the bodies of the victims of the disaster is conducted at the expense of the city, whereas the proprietors of the hotel should have paid the cost of finding the bodies of guests whom they did so little to protect. St. Louis is justly indignant at the course pursued by these men.”  (Boston Daily Globe. “A Parsimonious and Inhuman Set.” 4-23-1877, p. 4.)

April 25: “St. Louis, April 25.—The Southern Hotel inquest finished receiving testimony to-day, and will probably render a verdict to-morrow or Friday.” (Republican Daily Journal and Daily Kansas Tribune, Lawrence. “The Southern Hotel Inquest.” 4-26-1877, p. 1.)

April 27: “St. Louis, April 27. — The coroner’s jury in the inquest on the victims of the Southern

hotel, closed their labors this afternoon and rendered their verdict. The jury reached the conclusion that the fire originated in the basement of the hotel, in their opinion, in the store room, but possibly in the wine cellar; but in either case, near the bottom of the baggage elevator.

“The cause of the fire, the jury say, they have not testimony sufficient to base an opinion upon. As to the appliances of the hotel for extinguishing fires, they say were complete, with the exception of the pipes and nozzles being wanted on the floors above the parlor floor, but from the lack of system and want of men to use the appliances, and of rules for their guidance, they were not put into service on the night of the fire, except for a few minutes. The lessees of the hotel, in our opinion, are censurable in several particulars: First, while providing the necessary material for extinguishing fires they had provided no means for their use; second, in keeping in the storeroom and wine cellar a large amount of flammable[5] material without adequate watching; third, in removing from their office the gong necessary to alarm the inmates of the hotel in case of fire; fourth, in employing only one watchman, and he a very inefficient man, and supplementing his duties as such with other matters, fifth, in the lack of rules and instructions to their employes as to their conduct and duties in case of fire; sixth, in their making no efficient efforts on the night of the fire to awaken their guests and employes; and, in conclusion, the jury make some suggestions looking to the avoidance of such calamities in the future.”  (Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye, IA. “The Southern Hotel Fire. Conclusion of the Coroner’s Inquest – the Verdict.” 4-28-1877, p. 1.)

Sources

Alton Weekly Telegraph, IL. “The Southern Hotel Fire.” 4-19-1877, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=115196169&sterm=southern+hotel

Boston Daily Globe. “A Parsimonious and Inhuman Set.” 4-23-1877, p. 4. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=161871336&sterm=southern+hotel

Brockett, L. P. (Compiler). Handbook of the United States of America, and Guide to Emigration. NY:  Gaylord Watson, 1890. Digitized by Google at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=0goPAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye, IA. “The Southern Hotel. The Testimony Before the Coroner’s Jury Yesterday.” 4-19-1877, p. 2. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=136888541&sterm

Burlington Hawk-Eye, IA. “The Hotel Horror,” April 14,1877, p. 1, col. 4. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=136888508

Cambridge City Tribune, IN. “Appalling Disaster. The Southern Hotel at St. Louis Destroyed by Fire – Eleven Guests and Employes Killed or Burned to Death…” 4-14-1877, 6. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=97306098&sterm=southern+hotel

Hagerstown Mail, MD. “The St. Louis Disaster,” April 20, 1877, p. 2, col. 4. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=35981090

Hill, Walter Henry. Historical Sketch of the St. Louis University; The Celebration of its Fiftieth Anniversary or Golden Jubilee, on June 24, 1879. St. Louis: Patrick Fox, Publisher, 1879, p. 121. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=SIhDAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

History’s Time Portal to Old St. Louis. “St. Louis Firemen Killed in Action.” (No longer up.)

Iola Register, Allen Co., KS. “Current Events” [Southern Hotel Fire, St. Louis]. 4-21-1877, p. 1, col. 1. http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=159216098&sterm=southern+hotel

Lynch, Thomas. “The Burning of the Pacific Hotel.” Pp. 87-88 in The Volunteer Fire Department of St. Louis, 1819-1859. Saint Louis: R. & T.A Ennis, 1880. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=T2VHAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

National Fire Protection Association. “Loss of Life Fires in Hotels.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 34, No. 3, Jan 1942, pp. 247-257.

Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, WI. “St. Louis. Continuation of the Coroner’s Inquest.” 4-19-1877, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=8789398&sterm

Palo Alto Reporter, Emmetsburg IA. “The St. Louis Horror,” April 21, 1877, p. 2, col. 3.  Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=90735048

Scharf, John Thomas. History of Saint Louis City and County: From the Earliest Periods to the Present Day (Vol. 2). Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts & Co., 1883. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=lIk6AQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

St. Louis Firemen’s Fund. History of the St. Louis Fire Department. St. Louis, MO., Central Publishing Co., 1914. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=HxUPAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Sullivan County Union, IN. “The St. Louis Fire.” 4-25-1877, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=190108325&sterm=southern+hotel

Titusville Morning Herald, PA. “Another Holocaust. Southern Hotel, St. Louis, Burned. Ten Persons Perish in the Flames; Others Supposed to be in the Ruins.” 4-12-1877, p. 2. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=102896554&sterm=southern+hotel

Titusville Morning Herald, PA. “Missouri. The Southern Hotel Fire.” 4-16-1877, p. 2. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=102896560&sterm=southern+hotel

Waymarking.com. “Southern Hotel Fire – St. Louis Missouri.” 7-4-2007 posting. Accessed 3-16-2013: http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1RYQ_Southern_Hotel_Fire_St_Louis_Missouri

[1] With so many sources giving so many differing fatality figures, it is difficult to determine which is correct.  We think that Scharf was probably correct in noting 16 or more deaths (with missing persons comprising the unknown number above 16.  We do not know where the Missouri Historical Marker figure of 22 derived – possibly from a newspaper report, but we do not know.  The Titusville Morning Herald report the death after the fire reflecting perhaps as many as 50 fatalities appears to us to be based on sensationalism and worst fear reports.  The St. Louis Fireman’s Fund report appears as something to which credibility, though perhaps not certainty, should be attached.  Thus, we derive a range of 16-21.

[2] Sixteen deaths enumerated and note of reports of several missing persons., perhaps killed, but never confirmed.

[3] This article contains the names of 13 fatalities.

[4] Or “Moneys” (Brownstown Banner, IN. “Burning of a St. Louis Hotel – Many Lives Lost.” 4-26-1877, p. 2.)

[5] Meaning, in usage at the time, flammable.