Famous Club Burned; 2 Men Badly Injured

The Fire King yesterday did not carry a happy New Year into the New Year to the Inverness Club in the Kentucky Highlands, for at 7 o'clock Saturday night his cohorts swept down on the famous club building and today charred ruins tell the tale of his devastation.

Eighty-five young people, members of the Diplomat Club of Covington, were anticipating a New Year's Night Spread and dance at the beautiful club, but many of them, supperless and disappointed, were compelled to watch the lurid flames lick up the last hopes of the festivities.

The fire started from the explosion of an acetylene gas lamp which had been lighted in the ballroom, preparatory to the evening dance.

Allie L. Gray, of No. 4 Woodlawn-av., Ft. Thomas, owner and proprietor of the clubhouse, and David Satchwell, caretaker, were both in the room at the time, and were seriously burned by the flames enveloping the room immediately following the explosion.

The fire spread so rapidly that it was with difficulty that Gary and Satchwell were carried from the burning building.  Gray is at his home in Ft. Thomas suffering from severe burns about the head and shoulders, and Satchwell is in the Speers Hospital, Dayton, Ky. seriously burned, but it is believed that both men will ultimately recover.

The Ft. Thomas Fire Department was called to the blazing building, but when it reached the fire the frame clubhouse was a furnace of seething flames and nothing could be done to save the doomed structure.

The property, valued at $3000, was totally destroyed and was covered by $1500 insurance.

The Inverness Country Club recently abandoned these quarters, many of the members joining the Ft. Mitchell Country Club and other local clubs, and their property was sold about two months ago to Alfred, better known as Allie Gray, of Woodlawn-av., Ft. Thomas.

The club had been rented for several months ahead for dances and suppers and Gray will lose heavily on account of the fire.  Daniel Satchwell, caretaker, also lost all of his possessions in the flames, as he lived in the clubhouse.

Residents of Kenton and Campbell-cos originally constructed at a cost of $15,000, and for the pat 10 years it has been the scene of many of Kentucky's gayest social functions.

from the Kentucky Post, January 3, 1910