Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1874-07-30
Our semi-lAnnY,al.r Fire

an unearthly ecfeechtng,
he IRE bell soon took up the general
alarm, and every one rushed pell.
nell for Main street. When We got
to the top of the hill on jefferson
street, We saw the Are breaking out Of
the roof Of the old Burlington House,
east of the Ballingall House, and by
the time We reached Main street, one
half of the roof was solid sheet of |
flame.
The Hook and Ladder Company
were promptly ON the ground, the Fire
Company, with the fire engine, were
also promptiyout and had their hose
laid In good time, but no sooner
did they let the, water ON than the
hose commsnOed bursting, one after
another, until some half dozen had
been SUCCESSFULLY taken out and re-
plaeed. BY this time the fire had got
under such Roadway in the combust-
ible frame houses, that it was clear
that nothing would or could stop it
until IL reached Criley's brick on the
east. The Hook and Ladder Com
pany, headed by Major Mahon, work
ed msnfuily trying to tear out some
OF the smaller frames, and thus arrest
the fire, but such was the rapid pro-
gress Of the flames that they would
not succeed in more than tearing off
the front of one building before the
Intense heat would drive them to the
next ono. They finally succeeded in
demolishing the one story brick Of H.
T. Graves, next to the Criley building,
and thus arrested the farther spread
of the fire. Altogether there were
burned and torn down eight build
ings.s t9sl,A @'4.sg sGe
The hest on che opposite side of the
street from the fire.; was intense,
breaking out the glass from the frame
buildings owned by D. Boyer, z. G.
Daum, 8. h. Worcester, w. B. Arm. !
strong and Geibrich and blisteringI
them I'M ,terrib,v. T,ha heroic $780,
Of numerous o;tizan. n Eaen;n- .hasa
buildings wet with water was all that
saved them from tieetruct;or and nr.
vented the spread Of the Are through
the next block. Once II had crossed
the street IL probably conld not shaveE
been stopped before Il resched sacond
street. The Fire Comnanv a. g.,,s
that men could do with the short ann.
ply and poor quality al hoae thev h.d /
and we hope the Council win moi de.S
lay another day IN procuring sufacient
quantity OF hose to meet Al em.,rran
cfes. - ass1 !. g - = Is
The bu;,d,ru. h,,,,.a ,,... Z -, 2,
A follows ,Rnrl;rv,or Han.s ~
ii, Merrill and % u Ta;rhton
valued at perhaps $500: the next two
!buildines were owned nv Rallinoal,
worth say $1,000; next to I'D. TEN.
pie, worth perhaps $500 next one own.
ed by W. B. Bonnifield worth $1,000;
the next three buildings were owned
by H. p. Graves and Frank IHaslach.
and were worth about $1,000. We
make these estimates from our own
knowledge, but don,t think their value
would vary much from the estimates
we give: The Burlinkton, House was
only occupied by a barber shop ON the
lower floor, the balance was emptv.-
The rest of the buildings were soccu.
pied successfully ~ J. q. Booz. na;nt
shop; J. g. Smith. second hand store
John Wagoner, saloon: s. ". Huaus,
boarding house VIM. stellar. butcher
shop; Hugus & Cochrane, undertaker4
and upholstsrers and the one story
brick by colored family. The occu-
property, except Winner, the barber
who lost all his chairs and other barber
tools. The loss to the occupants will
be small, and $500 will perhaps cover
all their actual losses, saying nothing
about damage by removal. On the
opposite side of the street the damage
to buildings and glass win perhaps