The Blount County News-Dispatch, 29 Dec 1892 A Destructive Fire. The Bynum Hotel Totally Consumed. The burning of the Bynum Hotel at an early hour last Friday morning is cause for great regret because it is a heavy loss to a very worthy couple, and was the best building in town. The fire originated in the kitchen but how is not known. It was not discovered until two o'clock a.m., when that structure, which was a one story building, was a sheet of flame. Mr. Frank Fontaine, the watchman on the train, first gave the alarm, and at that time the blaze was above the roof, and the proprietor and guests were sleeping, unconscious of their proximity to death. Mr. Frank Bergen, wife, son and daughter boarded there, and Mr. Charles S. Roberts, wife and child; they occupied rooms on the second story and had a close call, barely escaping in scanty apparel. They furnished their own rooms, and lost nearly everything. Their loss must be about $250 each. In trying to save all that was possible Mr. Roberts met with a severe accident. When making his way from the second story he found the stairway blockaded by an organ that got wedged there, and undertook to slide down a post, the post gave way throwing him to the ground, breaking his right arm in two places between the wrist and the elbow, and dislocating it at the shoulder. Mr. Bynum had an insurance of $1,500 on the building which was worth $3,000; he had no insurance on the furniture. Mrs. Bynum lost all her cherished souvenirs that had an intrinsic value to her alone. Mr. Bynum will probably build a residence on the site where the hotel was situated.