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!

Sworn Statement Discovered

An original 1946 copy of a sworn statement given by Winecoff fire survivor Paul Lankford has been discovered. Lankford, 26, of Birmingham, Alabama was an Army Air Force veteran of World War II and was in Atlanta working for the Southern Natural Gas Co. He was asleep in room 324 of the hotel when the fire broke out and was one the first to discover it.
In the weeks that followed, he was one of many asked to give sworn statements to insurance investigators.
His son Wayne recently made the find: his dad's carbon copy of the statement. The statement is here. Paul Lankford's story is told beginning on page 21 of The Winecoff Fire.

Grady Hospital Nurse Faces Grim Duty

Winecoff Fire reader Rusty Tanton has discovered that his own great aunt played an important role in the emergency response to the Winecoff Hotel fire. Betty Jane Tarrant was a night supervisor at Atlanta's Grady Hospital when the alert was sounded, "be prepared - the Winecoff Hotel is on fire." She tells her story to Rusty in this explicit five minute video interview. Click here for the interview.

Bainbridge High Senior Girls

Pictured here shortly before The Winecoff Fire are three who perished: Sue Broome (left), Ruth Powell (center right) and Maxine Willis (right). The three Bainbridge, Georgia high school seniors were Youth Assembly delegates and were registered into room 920 of the hotel. This photograph appeared in The Bainbridge Post-Searchlight in 1993. Also pictured is Mary Francis Barber (center left).

Richard Turk - Newly Acquired Photo

Richard B. Turk, room 1022, used a blanket and a rope to help three other guests escape the fire before escaping himself. His story is told beginning on page 68 of The Winecoff Fire.

Crime Scene?

Little doubt remains that the Winecoff Hotel was the scene of a vicious crime in 1946. Today, some claim it is also the scene of a colossal case of mortgage fraud. Writing for OpEdNews.com Micheal McCray raises the issue anew. His article is here. His second article is here.

Bob & Pauline Bault - Newly Acquired Photo

Few survived The Winecoff fire as narrowly as Bob & Pauline Bault. Fourteen floors above Peachtree St. searchlights found them and spectators gasped as they moved precariously from the window of room 1404 to the window of room 1406. Trapped there, room 1406 became a virtual oven during the fire. It was directly above the middle floors which were roaring flames from their windows during the fire's explosive flashover. Fortunately, eleven month old Sally Bault was safe at home with the family's maid. The Baults' story is told in chapter three of The Winecoff Fire.

Tested And Found Worthy

Atlanta firefighter Richard Ellington, 56, moves across his ladder from the roof of The Mortgage Guarantee Building toward room 1518 of the burning Winecoff Hotel. Even through dense smoke rising in the alleyway, many were rescued using this method. Ellington's son Relford, 26, also fought the blaze.

Margaret & Warren Foster - Newly Acquired Photo!

Margaret and Warren Foster were rescued by ladder from room 508.
It was what Warren overheard happening in the room next door, prior to the fire, that has intrigued arson investigators ever since. He overheard an argument, a fist fight, breaking glass and a threat as a man departed room 510-12, "I'll get even with you before the night's over!"

Connie Foster

One year old, Connie Foster and her parents were recued from room 508 by Atlanta Fire Captain Rick Roberts. He carried little Connie down a ladder to the safety of Peachtree Street. "That baby was smiling all the way down the ladder," said Captain Roberts.
This newly acquired photo shows Connie in the dress her parents bought for her at Davison's Department Store following the fire.
Connie Foster and Rick Roberts were reunited first in 1993 after the publication of The Winecoff Fire and again in 2006. Said Roberts, "I recognized her eyes immediately!"