© 1998 - 2020 Nexstar Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Another man named Sidmore Hayden was one of the fortunate to have a ladder reach his window. Beginning at a firehouse, O’Toole was carried by a Skinner escape to the (Old) Cathedral. I have a special project in mind for the Pat Connolly Tavern, so for this post I decided to cozy up to the bar at the other Irish bar in Dogtown, Seamus McDaniel’s. Prior to demolition the company offered the house to anyone who could remove it from the property. The house was originally located on a plot of land 1.5 km (0.93 mi) southeast of its current location, at the intersection of what is now Adelaide Street (then 64 Duke Street) and Frederick Street. That’s the Southern Hotel fire of April 11, 1877, a fire I know well since my pal at the Campbell House Museum (Robert Campbell) owned the hotel at the time. The museum also includes an art gallery. Awarded with a gold medallion, a substantial monetary reward (which he promptly donated to charity), and musical performances held in his honor, Phelim O’Toole became the toast of the city. As Reese did this, another firefighter stationed at the top of the ladder was able to grasp the woman and pull her to safety. I ordered a pint of Guinness, and while getting a good pour from one of the nicest bartenders around, I raised my glass to Phelim O’Toole and toasted to one of the bravest men in the history of St. Louis. After Lady Campbell's death in 1844, her estate auctioned the property and the contents of the house with the proceeds distributed amongst their heirs. The preservation of the house was an important turning point in architectural preservation in Toronto. Death found him on the balcony below. The Southern Hotel fire was a devastating event in the city’s history. Wondered if you’ve ever pondered “Three Flags Day” as an installment. Lowering him to a position on a wider widow sill below, O’Toole brought the rope back up. As firefighters rushed into the hotel’s main entrance, they found the floors and ceilings on the verge of collapse. After the memorial service and being transferred to a hearse, more than 100 carriages and 70 buggies followed Phelim O’Toole to his final resting place in Calvary Cemetery. Another man named G. Frank Gouley initially found a path to safety, but then made the tragic decision to return to his room to retrieve a cherished photograph. After arriving and “making better time to the fire than we usually do” as O’Toole reported in his own journals, O’Toole’s Skinner escape made its first stop in front of the hotel’s main entrance on Walnut Street. Now that it’s done, I plan to get back to blogging here as much as I can. With the hotel’s interior made almost entirely of wood (including the duct system), and rooms lavishly decorated with flammable carpets and drapes, the fire raged unchecked from within. Anyway, I’m excited to get back to the great stories (and watering holes) St. Louis has to offer. [5] The move was a major spectacle, and attracted a large crowd as it closed several downtown streets. Holding tight, he shouted for Kennedy to “Drop!”. Kate Reilly, a hotel employee with no means of escape from her fifth-floor room, jumped from her window rather than be consumed by fire. I really enjoyed this post. And now that the entire archives of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch are available online (with a subscription), finding a good story has become immeasurably easier. With assurances that “I’ll save your lives”, O’Toole was able to grasp one end of a sheet thrown by a Washington University professor named Reese. So, not long after I knocked on the front door of the department’s headquarters and asked if anyone could help, a captain from Engine House No 1. named Michael Corson reached out to me. Walk into the St. Louis Fire Department’s headquarters on Jefferson Avenue, and his portrait can be seen prominently displayed in the lobby. Thanks for returning to your blog you have been missed. Rioters set fire to historic Campbell House, Budweiser’s St. Louis Metro Boxing Showdown postponed indefinitely, Hospitals see shortage of beds, elective procedures may be canceled, New COVID restrictions in St. Louis County could be issued Thursday afternoon, Stores react to pandemic with altered Thanksgiving plans, What’s your restaurant’s response to COVID? On the Elm Street side, a man named Charles Kennedy was spotted outside his fourth floor window. A professional association of trial lawyers known as the Advocates Society, launched a campaign to save the building. His name is Phelim O’Toole, and it turns out it his story really is that good. I can’t remember what I was looking for, but I forgot it as soon as my eyes landed on a 1949 article with the word “snorkel” in the title (the firefighting “snorkel”, not the thing that lets you breath under water). Dropping to the floor to catch his breath, Russell found himself crawling over more than a dozen people screaming for help. It wasn’t possible to lower Reese to the top of the ladder (which remained five feet back from the wall), so O’Toole ingeniously made Reese a part of his rescue effort. The hotel’s guest book was destroyed in the blaze, and newspaper accounts had numbers varying from fourteen to more than thirty. While some extra height was provided by positioning ladders on top of porticos and on top of Tony Faust’s restaurant next door, many remained out of reach to ladders that could reach no higher than the hotel’s third floor. With no option but to follow, Einstmann’s wife and mother-in-law descended the rope after him. Within minutes, fire carts arrived on the scene. Already undermanned due to the late hour, hotel employees failed to adequately warn hotel guests, the key to the city fire alarm telegraph box couldn’t be found, and heat-sensing mechanical alarms didn’t activate (the sensors were turned up too high by employees frustrated with false alarms). Before hitting the ground, he was gored by a hook mounted on the outside of the hotel. Russell reported that he did his best to lead people to safety, eventually reaching the servants wing where he found many of them in a “state of panic” and “running wildly about”. Here’s their go at it. Furthermore, the flaming elevator shaft was located next to the hotel’s primary staircase. As the fire quickly spread to the hotel’s upper hallways, the 500-room Southern Hotel began to burn up from the basement and down from the top floors at the same exact time. The fire department then turned their attention to saving lives and preventing the fire from spreading to other buildings. Book Campbell House, Twentynine Palms on Tripadvisor: See 581 traveler reviews, 409 candid photos, and great deals for Campbell House, ranked #1 of 11 hotels in Twentynine Palms and rated 5 of 5 at Tripadvisor. Well written account and you are correct he would have preferred the whiskey! The Southern’s chief engineer, J. E. Russell, told the St. Louis Globe-Democrat two days after the fire that he was rousted from his fifth floor room shortly after 1:00 a.m. by the sounds of women shrieking. In the spring of 1877, Phelim O’Toole was a captain of Hook & Ladder No. The older house had belonged to James Boyd, Sr., a steel and railroad magnate from Pennsylvania, who brought his family to Southern Pines in 1904 to establish an estate. I have always wanted to learn more about him because his story always sounded too good to be true. 6 reviews of Campbell House Museum "The Campbell House is one of the oldest houses in Toronto. Almost immediately, O’Toole had his rope around Reese and ordered him out the window. Phelim O’Toole is an important figure in the department’s history, and I wanted to make sure I had my facts straight. In a fit of despair, Munster produced a revolver and fired a bullet into his head. But Skinner escapes were cumbersome vehicles, and getting a good position on the ground proved almost impossible with obstacles such as the hotel’s porch and double-car tracks in the street. By the time hotel employees became aware of the situation unfolding around them, the fire was already out of control. With assistance from maintenance trucks of the Toronto Transit Commission, the 270 tf (300 short tons-force) home was moved 1,617 m (5,305 ft) northwest from Adelaide Street to the north side of Queen Street West, between University Avenue and Simcoe Street on March 30, 1972. While writing this post, I decided to reach out to the people who probably knew Phelim O’Toole as well as anybody, the St. Louis Fire Department.
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