LORRAINE HOTEL FIRE, SAPULPA, OKLAHOMA
December, 1949

The corpse of a fire victim was uncovered Saturday morning for the first known dead in the blaze that leveled the Lorraine hotel and neighboring buildings.

The body, wrapped in a blanket, was said to be Lewis C. Vincent, 71, of Oklahoma City by the Creek county health officer who checked the corpse for physical identification.

The body was uncovered by the county bulldozer operated by Joe Peeples, Sapulpa.

The right knee of the charred body was reinforced with wire and the ring finger of the left hand had calcitrated until it would not bend.

According to the missing Vincent’s nephew, Virgil Vincent, who came to Sapulpa from Oklahoma City this morning, his uncle bore those identifying marks.

Dr. James Bayless, county health officer, examined the corpse recovered yesterday morning and said he thought it was Vincent.

A suitcase holding $1,200 in savings bonds made out in Vincent’s name was found in hotel debris, Highway Patrol Trooper Jack McKenzie said.

The bonds have been sent to Mrs. Vincent in Oklahoma City.

Another man thought to have been trapped in the hotel blaze, Jack Graves of Sapulpa, has not been found.

A son-in-law of Graves’ daughter who resides in Red Fork searched all day Friday for the man, but reported all rumors holding that Graves had been seen were false.

Highway Patrol Trooper Dean Robertson said at 3 p.m. Saturday, there had still been no trace of the man.

Bulldozers continued scraping through hotel rubble Saturday in search of possible fire victims.

County workers have pulled down all broken walls of fire-gutted structures to facilitate the search. Firemen remain on duty squelching small fires that flash from under debris.

Total costs of the fire was approximated by various business owners at $299,500.

The biggest loss was suffered by Nick Duvas, owner of the Lorraine (continued on Page Six) hotel and Loraine Coffee Shop.

Duvas set his loss at $220,000. He did not have adequate insurance to cover the loss, Duvas said.

Buddy and Earl Stockton, owners of the Lorraine club estimated losses at $15,000. Buddy Stockton said he held only $3,500 insurance.

Joe Aycock of the Aycock Pontiac agency which lost its roof in the conflagration estimated losses at $10,000 but said he held full insurance.

Two buildings north of the Lorraine coffee shop were also totally leveled at an estimated loss of $35,000, owner Harry Rogers said. Rogers held $18,000 insurance.

G.L. Sporleder, owner of the Home Appliance store estimated losses at $17,500. Sporleder said he was “about half covered by insurance.”

Swift Naifeh, owner of the Swift Market, set losses at $6,500.

Joe Malanowski, owner of Joe’s Fish Market, reported smoke damage to the interior of his business and complete loss of stock totaling $1,000. Malanowski said he was protected by insurance.

Other buildings damaged included heat-cracked show windows in the St. James Hotel., Standard Chevrolet and the Firestone store.

Actual cause of the fire and point of origin have not been determined Fire Chief Bill Collier said today.

When firemen arrived on the scene at approximately 1 a.m. Friday, the hotel was so full of smoke that it was impossible to locate the central blaze, Collier asserted.

Nick Duvas, owner of the hotel and coffee shop, said he arrived at the hotel at 1:20 a.m. Friday and two girls ran from a second story room shouting that their room was on fire.

“That is where the fire began,” Duvas said, basing his opinion on the two unidentified girls’ information.

However, Buddy Stockton said he returned to the Lorraine club shortly before 1 a.m. and smelled smoke.

“Trying to find the fire, I looked into the coffee shop where I saw a deep-fry vat full of grease blazing up a ventilator over the stove,” Stockton asserted.

“Bill Powell, who was with me, called the fire department,” Stockton said.

While awaiting arrival of the fire department, Stockton, Powell and Glen Berryhill rushed through upper rooms in the hotel awakening tenants until smoke drove them to the street.

One of the last men to escape the fourth floor, was Earl Stockton and a man identified as Ripley who leaped from their windows to the roof of the Home Appliance store.

Stockton, who shares ownership of the Lorraine club with his brother, Buddy, said he heard shouts behind him as he leaped to safety but so no one follow.

Buddy Stockton said he and Powell and Berryhill roused several tenants before being driven from the hotel.

“I thought Earl was a sure goner,” he said. “I knew he was still on the fourth floor still trying to get people out.”

The night clerk, Doc Nayphe, reportedly called all guests who had telephones in their rooms before he left the smoking hotel that was soon to explode in flames.

The night clerk did not save the register as he fled the building, making an actual check of guests complicated.

With one corpse found and identified as Lewis C. Vincent of Oklahoma City, police and firemen are still searching for a trace of Jack Graves, a local signpainter, who is thought to be a victim.

Rumors stating that the man was seen Friday afternoon have all proved false upon further investigation by local authorities.

One of the unsung heroines of the fire was 75-year-old Mrs. C.O. Morris, who, according to residents of the Naifeh apartments, helped awaken residents of the apartment building and then opened her windows while the flames roared overhead and helped residents of the hotel crawl through her room and on to safety downstairs.

The hotel vault which acted as a huge oven in the fire was still warm inside the morning after the fire and a small box containing a rosary and the remnants of a wrist watch band (were found).

In the vault was a typewriter, melted and charred by the intense heat, four suitcases with the contents in ashes, a small electric fan, and a few china coffee cups were all that was still recognizable.

H. A. Baker, 617 Benton, Kansas City, Mo., man who escaped from the Lorraine hotel fire Friday morning leaping from the third floor onto a mattress and suffering a broken leg, was released from the hospital Saturday when his wife motored down to get him.

Baker expressed deep appreciation to the many Sapulpans who rendered him so many thoughtful acts of kindness at the hospital. “This city surely has the milk of human kindness,” Mrs. Baker told the Herald Saturday, “and we’ll never forget it.”

Baker lost four suits of clothes in the fire, two of them brand new.

His business partner was killed in a car wreck exactly two months ago Friday – the date of the Lorraine fire.

Fire damage totals according to owners of property lost are: Lorraine hotel and coffee shop, $220,000; Swift’s market, $6,500; Home Appliance store, $17,500; Loraine club, $15,000; buildings housing the appliance store, Swift’s market and the Naifeh apartments owned by Harry Rogers, $35,000; Aycock Pontiac, $10,000; windows in the Standard Chevrolet, $325; windows in Firestone store, $450; windows in St. James hotel, $225; Joe’s Fish Market, $1,000; fire department equipment of undetermined costs involving 35 foot extension ladder, 10 units of 2 ½ inch hose and 10 units of 1 inch hose.

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