70 DIED IN HOTEL INFERNO; FIREMAN SAVED TOM THUMB AND WIFE

Giant flames engulfed Milwaukee's Newhall Hotel, a once elegant lodging that had fallen into disrepair, claiming about 70 lives.

A newspaper hailed firefighters for risking life and limb in "a superhuman effort" to save lives, as flames mushroomed through an open elevator shaft - rousing sleeping guests.

Traveling circus performer Tom Thumb and his wife were rescued by ladder in the arms of a single firefighter, according to one account. 

In a harrowing life-or-death scene, "waiter girls were brought safely across frail ladders stretched over the alley from the sixth story of the hotel to the roof of the adjoining bank building," a newspaper said.

An inquest into the early morning fire on Jan. 10, 1883, found the hotel owners guilty of culpable negligence for lacking adequate exterior fire escapes and for failing to employ an adequate number of night watchmen.