Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-05-05
The Night of Fire.
MONTPELIER FIGuTING FIRE. Thirty
Two BUILDINGS DESTROYED. TWELVE
BUSINESS Firms BURNED OUT lHiR
TY-SIX FAMILIES HOMELESS. Loss

TY-SIX FAMILIES HOMELESS. Aooo'
SI32. 900. INSURANCE, 500 900.
The night Of April 3oth, will be a red
letter one, in a double sense, in the men,
prv of al Montpelier people. They saw IN
.yn hour, and Il half the worst fire that
rs ever visited Vermont, grow to It's bad
rmincncc, only to fail back beaten in IT.
ambition to destroy the town. The story
IF the fire his to be picked up here and
here for 10 one could see it ALL and no
me hal any business to try and see it, for
here was work to he done.
THE FIRST ALARM.
At a quarter of eleven there was q cry of
ire on State Street, opposite the American
.Ipusc 1t was at first thought at the
american, to be boys upon the street, but
he cry continuing, some went out ard
.ounl the noise proceeded from the yard OF
he Falrs house Mr.. Filcs said, " our
lou>c is on fire. and of course Il rush WI
nude for the building. and the alarm OF
hr town had become general. The fir,
va in Il closet at the back part of the
lotl>c. l. mad evidently been built on thu
20 II AMI given Il chance to work in thu
tthinr. but climbing up to the next floor,
upward progress was s.ayed by tn
nrc~ yht Of tn builder, who had made :,
Il, of for all drafts and flames. Mr. L
rrur va, the first man to reach the closet
,nI he soon had the she'll in which the fir
y.> working kicked in, and water cnougl
applied to extinguish the incipicnt contll-
ration.
There WIS no difference ofopinion in re
ard 10 the point that the fire WI, inccn
Harry. Mr. F;tlcs had sold his house. an,
Va on the point of moving out-in fac
II the. beds were taken down, and M
F,le- >:,v~ they did not intend to renal
in III house that night. but rs they WEI,
nearly ready to leave, it WAS discovrre,
Hat a back door which lie had bolted Wa.
open, and Mrs., Fades did not propose /
y.t,.-,tr the premises and have their good
Glen. soon after Mrs Falcs and the cir
>,nt up stairs to fix the windows. ant
yhlr there ~mellcd smoke ana made tn,
ti-covrry of the fire.
y pile of shavings was discovere,
awtin-t the chimney in the attic also, an,
ihcv were thought to correspond with 9th
er- in the woodsheI. There is no con
rlu~ion ~ to the Fales house fire except tn
one which any body will come to at one.
on seeing the place where it WAS, that i
was set by an inccndiarv.
TIE SECOND ALARM.
At Il quarter before twelve another CT,
IF fire was heard, and blaze was discov
cred climbing up the back part Of tn
paint ship on the rear of Bruce's bric'
block on Mum Street. This block wa> tn,
next building south of the gap on the we
side Of Main Street, made by the fire O
March l. About half dozen feet We
Of the back of the shop where the fire WA
discovered, WIS the livery stable occupied
bv J g. Adams and owned by I. J. Hub
b tr,l Mr. J ID. Clark and others VIII
looked ont at the first cry of fire, saw til
column Of flame creeping up the back o
the shop and driving about in the wind
which was blowing tierccly, Thus driven
about it swiftly attacked Adams Earn an,
ran up the sides of the two buildings.
TIE FIRST WORK.
In the stable an effort WAS 1T once mad,
to save the contents and the carriages
were rpn out and placed in the basement
of the Fred Smith block, which had beer
destroyed by the March fire. Mr.. Daw cS
vino keeps the Capital Billiard IIall, va.
soon in the stable and cut the haltcr> o
the Ii r~e-. There were tif cen horses IT,
ont and they at once took les bail-a
least ali except one that had II broken leg
AMI this one was got off out of danger il
som" way by the help which was at hand
Engine, No. , and No. / were now OF
their way and We're run down to the riv
,r'> e!.c The buildings first involved
t,re her with those thanking them. Were b.
this time blazing.
TIE FIRST STAND.
III lllf IN hour the stable. Braces bri X
block. his wooden house iu-t to the sou, h
al still farther on the three story Frcnrl
block were, filming ticrcc.y. The sm,l
nnl~r owned hv Mr. French. and occupir,
nv Mr. West. wa also catching. and to tn,
north he Lang IN building That WIS par
tia'lv burned in March WAS in huncs
irrc The first stand was made, first to pre-
ven, he spread of the fumes t. the north
on ne v,-~t of Nam Stree. in which M
!crtaking the iirr-proOf huil'iing Of Car
ios Btucrolt proved citadel Of strength
,nd To- hinder The fire from crossing Main
street t. the cls:. \ HIGH winl from tn
west drove the flames across the street and
in III. general direction of iIinklcy X Best s
and Ms. \. !. Cartons stores Il WI
during the prevalence of the wind in this
direction that the house of DR.. Brighpm
on the hill caught fire from the cinlrrS and
c,ln, very near burning before the dang
was discovered The two engines for Il
time struggled to prevent the fires crossing
Main Street, but the attempt was unSuc-
cr~SfHl and the house occupied hv Philip
Preston AMI the house to the south were
soon beginning to burn. Gen. Pitkin See
ing that the flames were by a slight change
of the wind working rapidly southwark,
along Main Street, ordered No. to change
position and get into place near tie Wells
River depot. The No. bows with will
to run their tub through Main
Street. They found it hot work. and for u
minute. having run their machine against
L post, We're obliged to abandon her to
ret All instead Of fire for breath. They
plunged again into the street which the
Times We're now sweeping across. and
ragged their machine along to the south