Everyone loves an interesting story and Bryan County history is filled with them. Each month we'll share one from our newspaper archives. Remember to check your family tree and see if your ancestor  might have read about or participated in the event, trial, or tragedy reported. 

            

 

Durant Weekly News

February 1, 1918

Avenue Hotel is Destroyed by Fire

Wednesday Night Fire Endangered Whole East End of Town-

One Guest Injured in Escaping from His Room

            Fire originating in the northeast corner room of the second story, supposedly from an oil stove, totally destroyed the Avenue Hotel, corner of First Avenue and Evergreen, with all contents, at 10 o’clock Wednesday night. The fire, fanned by a strong cold northwest wind, spread like magic, and the fire department was handicapped by insufficient equipment to the extent that it looked like the whole east end of town would be endangered, but the three lines of hose that the department connected and put on the blaze confined it to the hotel in spite of the gale, and the little frame house almost against the hotel on the east was not even badly scorched by the flames.

            To the south of the hotel is the stable of C. J. Malone and in the lot were some sixty head of mules. It seemed certain for a time that the stable would catch fire, and had it been caught, the immense Holland Wagon Yard across the street would have caught, and once that fire-trap were on fire, no dozen small departments could have coped with it and the results could be imagined.

            The mules in the stable yard were let out and driven into the streets and scattered, and up till noon of Thursday all but two of them had been recovered.

            G. F. Moore, a traveling salesman, had retired for the night in room 20 on the west side of the hotel and in escaping, broke out the window, cutting his hands on the glass and also badly burned them on the rope device fastened to the window sills of the room on which he slid to the ground in his night clothing.

            The room in which the fire started was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Jack LaPearl, members of a show company playing here and their dog, left in the room, was burned to death. It had been their custom to leave their 7-year-old child in the room while the show was in progress, but on this night, they took the child with them to the theatre.

            Fortunately, only one or two of the sixty guests of the house had retired, and they escaped easily. The others were either out of the house or in the lobby when the fire was discovered.

            The proprietor of the hotel, N. C. Moore, had oil stoves in the upstairs rooms for heating and the supposition is that the oil stove in the LaPearl room started the fire. Holmes Colbert, a boarder at the hotel, saw an unusually bright light through the transom of the room and opened the door, when the fire burst out into the hall and in a few moments the entire upstairs was all ablaze.

            The only thing of value saved was the hotel’s register, which Mr. Moore obtained by going into the office after it was smoke-filled.

            The building was owned by Lee Daugherty of Atoka and was valued at bout $4,500 and supposedly is covered by insurance. Mr. Moore’s loss on fixtures and furniture was about $3,000, with $1,500 insurance and it is presumed that the personal effects of the guests were of the value of about $1,500 at the least, which would run the total loss up to about $9,000.

Following the fire, the guests procured lodgings as best they could. F. D. Price, who was on the scene, took a number of the show people to his own home, and the other guests secured lodgings in other hotels and boarding houses as best they could.

Note: Jack and Rita LaPearl were members of the “Winter Garden Follies” troupe. They had appeared in OKC and Drumright in January. Also listed in the ads were Eddie Mack and Lillian Williams. The troupe presented “good singing, clever dancing, and happy jokes”.

Our Collections page will tell you about the many newspapers that are available for your research. You might be surprised by the stories YOU find.