Wilson, N.C., Feb. 12—Fire about 1 o’clock this morning gutted the Imperial Hotel on the corner of Nash and Lodge streets, endangering the lives of about 30 guests registered in the place at the time. Due to the quick work of the local fire department in reaching the scene, the building was saved from being totally burned.
The guests were forced to leave the building hurriedly, many of them being forced into the street in scant attire. Several men and women were rescued by firemen, while others made ropes of sheets and slid to the ground in safety. One man became excited and jumped to the ground from the third floor of the building.
The fire was said to have started on either the second or third floor in a closet which housed an oil stove. When the blaze was discovered, it had gained considerable headway, and flames were shooting above the building high into the air. The word went through the halls that the building was on fire and guests, many of them already retired for the night, grabbed whatever clothing they could get their hands on, and made a dash for the street.
Those on the top story of the burning structure seemed to be cut off from escape by the flames and smoke. Women cried for help, and men sought hasty escape. Ladders were leaned against the building wherever persons were seen in the windows, and with the help of firemen, descended to the ground. One woman, in hurrying down the ladder, almost fell to the pavement below, due to her nervous condition. She was caught, however, by a local officer and carried out of danger.
At a window on the third floor firemen rescued three men. A fourth jumped before firemen had time to save him. The man, whose name could not be learned, was not injured in the fall, he having landed on his feet. Local police officers after the fire told of a humorous incident. Practically all of the guests had been awakened and carried from the building when they burst into a room on one of the upper floors. There they found a traveling salesman from Winston-Salem wrapped in a sheet asleep. The officers told him to hurry out as the building was afire. The man drowsily replied while stretching, “Well, why didn’t you tell me.”
K.E. Hawkins, manager of the hotel, in an interview with a representative of The Mirror, after the fire was extinguished, stated that he could not estimate the damage, but believed that all his furniture was a complete loss. He said that he did not have any insurance at all on the furnishings. The building was owned by J.T. Wiggins and when reached on the phone stated that the building was insured, but he did not know exactly for what amount. The loss is expected to run into the thousands of dollars, but it will be later in the day before the exact damage can be learned, Mr. Hawkins stated. The lights were put out of commission on the two upper floors.
The manager denied the early rumors that the fire started from an oil stove. He stated that it was his believe that the fire started in a waste basket in the end of the second hall from a lighted cigarette.
From the front page of the Goldsboro News, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 1924
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