4
Canby Our Town
1912
— Canby was shocked to its very
foundations Saturday morning when the
entire population was roused to be pre-
pared to fight fire in case the blaze which
had already doomed the City Hotel
should spread.
It was discovered on the second floor
of the hotel at about 3:30 a.m. by Henry
Mosley, a waiter, who was awakened by
dense smoke pouring into his room. He
ran out to the head of the back stairway
and was struck in the face by a puff of
flame and badly burned around the face
and neck. He immediately, at the risk of
his own life, roused the twenty or more
inmates by hammering on each door and
calling fire. After he and three or four oth-
ers made their way down the front stairs,
even that means of egress was a
seething mass of flames and all others
were compelled to jump from the win-
dows or porch. At this time, Mrs. E. Brad-
ford, the lessee of the hotel, and her
three children got as far as the bottom of
the front stairs when a man, blinded by
the smoke rushed down upon them,
knocking down the eldest girl and
painfully injuring her.
Mr. J. Rosencranz, of Liberal, who oc-
cupied room 11, was seen throwing his
clothes out the window and then go back
into the room from which he never re-
turned. In a few minutes all but he had
been accounted for. Mr. Rosencranz was
82 years of age and is survived by three
grown children, to whom his body, which
was recovered after the flames had sub-
sided with the arms and legs completely
burned off, was given.
The fire department, which was on the
ground in record time and gave its atten-
tion to saving other property when it was
seen that the hotel was doomed, did
wonderfully effective work by keeping the
fire from the Cottage Hotel, which adjoins
and was thought at different times would
also be destroyed. For nearly an hour the
old barn between the two structures was
the scene of a stubborn fight and was
afire a hundred times. Had this old build-
ing been allowed to burn, nothing could
have saved the Cottage.
Fire Guts
City Hotel
1,2,3 5,6,7,8