The Evening Star (June 5, 1946)
58 dead, 200 hurt as fire traps hundreds in Chicago loop hotel; three explosions precede blaze
Disaster worst in his experience, marshal says
CHICAGO (AP) – At least 58 persons were killed – many suffocated in their beds without being awakened – today in an early morning fire that swept through the 22-story La Salle Hotel in the heart of Chicago’s loop district.
Fire department sources estimated about 200 persons were injured.
The first alarm was turned in at 12:35 a.m., when most of the 1,100 guests had retired for the night. Within 10 minutes the first three floors were engulfed in flames and both of the main street exits from the 37-year-old hostelry were impassable.
300 rattle blaze
Five extra alarms were sounded and more than 300 firemen battled the blaze bringing it under control about 3:30 a.m.
Most of those who were burned had been housed on the third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors. About the sixth floor, smoke and panic claimed their victims. At least 10 persons died as they leaped from their rooms and fell to the street or in a courtway.
On many of the bodies which overflowed the county morgue there were only a few fragments of burned clothing, which crumbled when touched. Most were clad only in negligees or robes.
Fire Marshal Michael Corrigan, calling the fire the worst in his 35 years of experience and “one of the hardest to explain,” said firemen had heard three explosions, spaced about a minute and a half apart, before the fire was discovered.
John Flanagan, chief house detective at the La Salle, said the fire started in the No. 5 elevator shaft. He quoted Detective Edward McNamara as saying the operator of the No. 5 elevator rushed into the lobby and said there was fire in his pit.
Fire spreads fast
Several persons with fire extinguishers went to the reported location of the fire, and the fire department was summoned, arriving in five or six minutes.
“But it was simply appalling the way the fire spread,” Mr. McNamara said. “In a twinkling the whole lobby was a mass of flames. From then on, everything was chaos.”
Coroner A. L. Brodie called an inquest this morning, and said he would use prominent hotel managers and engineers for members of the jury.
Firemen and volunteers rushed into the hotel to control the blaze and assist the guests from the building. Smoke and heat rushed to the upper floors through the elevator shafts, permeating all the halls and filling the rooms. On the fourth floor, seven bodies were found in a crawling position. The victims had been headed toward a fire escape, and had been overcome on the way.
On a glass canopy were found the bodies of a mother and her child, arms banding one another. Both were burned beyond recognition.
The figures of many persons appeared in windows, as if they were planning to leap. Even as flame and smoke menaced those in the windows, firemen cautioned: “Sit tight – we’ll get you out.”
Rescue ladders were quickly raised and more than 50 persons were rescued. Military police and shore patrol members banded together with police, firemen and other volunteers to stretch nets in the street to catch those who chose to leap. One woman was carried down a fire escape by a fireman and rushed to Passavant Hospital. Almost on arrival, she gave birth to a baby.
“If only some of them had not been panicked they might have been saved,” said Fire Marshal Corrigan.
A temporary morgue was hastily set up in the City Hall, only a block from the hotel. More than 600 policemen were called to the scene, and aided in carrying the dead, assisting the injured and shepherding the lightly clad and homeless persons who had escaped. More than 50 Red Cross people assisted.
First-aid facilities were established in the City Hall, and all available ambulances, from public and private agencies, carried victims to five hospitals.
Register destroyed
The hotel’s register was destroyed in the fire and an emergency list of those who had not been injured was compiled by police, to aid in answering the pitiful pleas of those seeking loved ones.
Other loop hotels quickly volunteered shelter for those driven from their rooms. Cots were set up in ballrooms and other guests in the nearby hotels shared their rooms with the dispossessed.
One fireman was killed and 20 to 30 were injured in battling the fire and smoke.
Many of the fleeing guests tried to carry personal possessions with them, but in many cases the loads grew too heavy and the corridors were lined with abandoned belongings, and a pile was assembled in the streets.
There were many stories of individual heroism. Taxicab drivers waiting at the hotel for fares went to the upper floors to assist. Walter Boris, an employee of the Chicago Elevated Lines, was credited with carrying 12 persons from the third floor.
Mr. Boris said he came on one couple overcome in their bed. He carried them to the bathtub, covered them with wet towels and called help. Police then evacuated them on stretchers.
Thousands of spectators gather
All streets were blockaded one or two blocks away from the hotel, situated at Madison and La Salle streets, in Chicago’s financial district, to keep back the thousands of spectators who gathered. This morning, the blockades remained in place and additional thousands, working in buildings in the roped off area, had to secure special permission to pass.
The hotel was opened in 1909 and City Building Commissioner Paul Gerhardt today said it had never been cited for any violation of the building code. The Fire Prevention Bureau said a warning had been addressed to the hotel on May 10, listing 10 points which needed correction, and giving the hotel 15 days to comply. Chief John L. Fenn of the Fire Prevention Bureau said warnings had been issued on various instances since 1927, resulting in corrections by the hotel.