Georgia Tradition Continues

The sixty-fifth Georgia Youth Assembly session at the State Capitol was concluded with remarks by Bob Travis remembering the thirty delegates and two advisers who perished in the 1946 Winecoff Hotel fire. Awards to the current delegates are given in their honor. Travis made his remarks to the young delegates from the well of the Georgia House of Representatives. They were recorded and posted on the popular website: youtube. Click here.

Children of Bainbridge

The Youth Assembly delegates who perished in the Winecoff fire are remembered in Bainbridge, Georgia. As part of a college assignment, Addie Livingston,17, has written about them. She was asked to present her work to the Rotary Club in Bainbridge and it's been picked up by bainbridgega.com. Livingston deserves an A+ for her poignant and focused remembrance of the tragic event that continues to shape the values of Bainbridge. The article is here.

Anniversary Article Published

To observe the sixty-third anniversary of the Winecoff fire FireFighterNation.com has published on their website an article by Mica Calfee remembering the nation's deadliest hotel fire. FireFighterNation.com is a social/professional networking site for firefighters and emergency medical technicians everywhere. Winecoff Fire co-authors Sam Heys and Allen B. Goodwin were consulted during the preparation of the article. The article is here.

Reid and Cary Horne

Pictured here shortly before the Winecoff Hotel fire are Reid and Cary Horne. Together they ran a grocery business in Cordele, Georgia. They were frequent visitors to Atlanta. Young and full of life, they enjoyed the excitement of "the big city". This photo shows them walking in front of Davison-Paxon's Department Store, a stone's throw from The Winecoff Hotel and on the same side of Peachtree St.

They were in the hotel on December 7, 1946 - room 1606 - on the Peachtree St. side when the fire began. Their struggle to survive included several acts of high drama acrobatics on the outside of the hotel - fifteen stories up. They were forced by smoke to leave through the window of room 1606, down to 1506, then to make a terrifying, sidestepping journey along a tiny ledge at the fifteenth floor and eventually up by sheet rope to room 1612.

From there the Hornes' survival strategy had to be revised several times, risks re-assessed. New escape plans were implemented and abandoned as other hotel guests perished all around them.

The Hornes' harrowing story is told beginning on page 97 of The Winecoff Fire.

Listen to a brief segment of the authors' original 1986 interview with Reid and Cary Horne. Reid tells about the unusual thing he did, standing at the window of room 1612, when all hope for survival seemed lost. Click here.

Major General Paul Baade

During World War II Winecoff fire survivor Paul Baade was commander of the 35th Infantry Division in Europe. His division saw almost continuous combat action during the eleven months that followed D-Day. His wartime papers are housed at the Truman Library.

A veteran of both World Wars, Paul Baade, 57, was sixty-eight days into retirement when he and wife Margaret were guests at Atlanta's Winecoff Hotel.

"My wife and I were awakened to the screams of, 'help help'. We got up. I smelled a little smoke. I opened the door, found the hall full of smoke and realized we could only be saved out the window," Baade said. They were trapped - six stories up.

The corner room afforded a view of both Ellis Street and the back ally. Slowly the enormity of the event and the urgency of their situation within it became evident. Fire was below them and rising. A grueling period of uncertainty ensued. An areal ladder was fully extended toward room 618.

"When the ladder did arrive, it was only six inches on the window and how Mrs. Baade and myself got on and down is still a miracle," he said.

Baade said of the Winecoff fire, "I have never seen anything worse than this in all of my experience in the war. There you have chance for an escape. You can lie down or you can move. Here you just had to wait."

Nell McDuffie

Nell McDuffie came to work at the Winecoff Hotel in 1928. She was a capable secretary to several general managers during the next eighteen years. She knew the hotel's operation top to bottom. "I was sort of the assistant manager and just general flunky really," she said. During World War II she moved into the hotel.

She survived the Winecoff fire when Atlanta firefighters rescued her by ladder from the window of room 1120, across the ten foot ally way and into the Mortgage Guarantee building. She was still there when Ed Kiker Williams fell - unconscious - from room 1520 and landed miraculously on the ladder still stretched across the ally - a three story plunge. He was injured but survived.

McDuffie later recovered the Gideons bible from her room and claimed it as her own with an inscription. She also typed out some of her special memories of her years at the hotel. Nell McDuffie moved to Raleigh, NC. following the fire but eventually returned to Atlanta.

Listen to a three minute excerpt from The Winecoff Fire authors' 1987 interview with Nell McDuffie. She is asked about co-lessor Robert O'Connell and a disturbance in the hotel's bar on Thursday night December 5th, 1946. Click here.

Awestruck

Atlanta Journal photographer Bill Wilson captured this photo on Sunday December 8th, 1946 - one day after the fire. (Click on photo to enlarge it.)

Medical College of Georgia Magazine Article

The Medical College of Georgia has published in its quarterly magazine an article on the extraordinary life of Grady Hospital Nurse Betty Jean Tarrant including her vital role in the emergency response to the Winecoff fire. The article by Christine Hurley Deriso is here.

Dwight Morrison Photo Newly Acquired

This photo of Winecoff fire victim Dwight Morrison, 26, and his wife Hilda was taken in early 1946 shortly after their marriage. They'd met a year earlier while Dwight was stationed at Tyndall Field in Panama City, Florida.

During World War II Dwight Morrison was a B-26 pilot who flew sixty-five bombing missions over Europe. His fellow pilots felt safe when Dwight would lead their group because he was "lucky," one said.

Like several other Winecoff Hotel guests, Morrison was on terminal leave from the service at the time of the fire. He was in room 1026 on the building's back side above the alley. His brother, Wilbur Morrison, went up to Dwight's room the week after the fire and found a rope made of sheets in the room. Two months after the fire Hilda gave birth to the couple's son, Dwight Jr. A few years later Hilda was drawn to room 1026. She told Winecoff Fire co-author Sam Heys, "You think you want to go up there but then you get up there and it's like you don't have any legs."

To honor the memory of her husband, Hilda - along with another of Dwight's brothers, Carlton Morrison - attended a remembrance ceremony in Atlanta in 1993 recognizing the 119 victims of the Winecoff fire.

The Morrisons' story is told on pages 168, 169 and 217 of The Winecoff Fire.

Ethel Stewart - Photo Newly Acquired

From the very home in which she grew up comes this photo of Winecoff fire victim Ethel Stewart. Miss Stewart, 20, and five other young female victims were University of Alabama students. They were in Atlanta working internships at Davison's and Rich's department stores. Ethel Stewart was prepared to work the Christmas rush at Rich's. She had worked at her parents' country store during high school. She was a senior at the university and was engaged to be married.
"She was very outgoing, very lovable, very smart, down to earth and easy-going" said her hotel roommate, survivor Rose Harvey, in an interview with Winecoff Fire co-author Sam Heys.
The photo was submitted by her nephew, Allen Stewart of Ralph, Alabama. He lives in the same house where his Aunt Ethel grew up. Her personal dressing table is still kept in the home. Ethel Stewart's story in told beginning on page 53 of The Winecoff Fire.

Winecoff Table Discovered

A Winecoff Fire reader in Roswell, Ga. says this table has been passed down within her family along with a story: It was bought at an auction of furniture recovered from the Winecoff Hotel. She says it originally showed scorch marks from the fire but was later refinished.

In the days following the fire some furnishings were put into storage, which brought accusations that the hotel's operators were attempting to hide assets. The furnishings were eventually ordered sold at auction to help satisfy the judgment of the court.

Today the sturdy table upholds the family television and DVD player!