Milwaukee, in Wisconsin, has been the scene of a cata-
strophe which may be a warning to Londoners. A huge hotel there, able to receive 800 guests, took fire on Wednesday, at 4 a.m,. while 167 persons, guests and servants, were sleeping in it, and in a few minutes was entirely enveloped in flame. There were no means of exit, as the staircases were burning, and the lifts useless for want of workmen ; and the unhappy in- mates were either burned or leaped from the windows, and were smashed literally in dozens on the pavement below. Nearly fifty maid-servants, who slept in the sixth story, perished, the deaths known exceed 100, and it is believed they may reach 120. The proprietor, who had often been warned, and had accumulated fire-escapes, which proved useless, went mad. We shall have a scene of this kind in London some day, in one of the modern gigantic hotels, with their high-pitched roofs, and their dependence on lifts, in place of supplementary staircases. The fire brought out the energy of American firemen in a novel way. Milwaukee wanted a steam fire-engine, and telegraphed to Chicago, ninety miles off. It was at work within two hours, the firemen having traversed the ninety miles in eighty minutes, a rate of going previously unreached on any American railroad, and we should think as dangerous as the fire.
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