nal trial
was acquited.

* * * * *

The greatest hotel fire in the history of St. Paul occurred on the
night of Feb. 3, 1869. The International hotel (formerly the Fuller
house) was situated on the northeast corner of Seventh and Jackson
streets, and was erected by A.G. Fuller in 1856. It was built of brick
and was five stories high. It cost when completed, about $110,000. For
years it had been the best hotel in the West. William H. Seward and
the distinguished party that accompanied him made this hotel their
headquarters during their famous trip to the West in 1860. Gen. Pope
and Gen. Sibley had their headquarters in this building, and from here
emanated all the orders relating to the war against the rebellious
Sioux. In 1861 the property came into the possession of Samuel Mayall,
and he changed the name of it from Fuller house to International
hotel. Col. E.C. Belote, who had formerly been the landlord of the
Merchants, was the manager of the hotel. The fire broke out in the
basement, it was supposed from a lamp in the laundry. The night was
intensely cold, a strong gale blowing from the northwest. Not a soul
could be seen upon the street. Within this great structure more than
two hundred guests were wrapped in silent slumber. To rescue them from
their perilous position was the problem that required instant action
on the part of the firemen and the hotel authorities. The legislature
was then in session, and many of the members were among the guests who
crowded the hotel. A porter was the first to notice the blaze, and
he threw a pail water upon it, but with the result that it made no
impression upon the flames. The fire continued to extend, and the
smoke became very dense and spread into the halls, filling them
completely, rendering breathing almost an impossibility. In the
meantime the alarm had been given throughout the house, and the
guests, both male and female, came rushing out of the rooms in their
night Clothes. The broad halls of the hotel were soon filled with a
crowd of people who hardly knew which way to go in order to find their
way to the street. The servant girls succeeded in getting out first,
and made their way to the snow-covered streets without sufficient
clothing to protect their persons, and most of them were without
shoes. While the people were escaping from the building the fire was
making furious and rapid progress. From the laundry the smoke issued
into every p