The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1879-07-29

Its Ineidents, Lessons and Con.
quences.

body volunteered their services for the
saving of the town, and were pu. on
the brakes Of the hand engine. Th.,
engine Is perfect man killer, using up
ordinary men after very few minutes
e1ertion. These hearty fellows. how.
ever, hung 10 it until long after day.
light, sioging good ns,urelly as they
unceasingly worked the brakes. They
did power Of good that would proba-
bly, have gone undone had il no, been
for them. Among others who l.5ored
hard and made their labor count we're
Capt. Christiansen and his crew Of the
bk'n Mococ The Captain put him. elf
10 petition Of the utmost reril, on th.
hay barn near the sswmi.l, and his men
carried water for him 10 throw Oh the
fire. They did no. dcsiht until the
barn was out of danger, and in saving
the barn they undoubtedly saved
score or moro OF other buildings which
must have gone had the hay got abla,e
Capt. Nordberg. of the barkentine Eu-
reka, st Biakely. was in town and
worked like hero 70 save the property
OF our citizens, getting lawfully hurt
while doing so. We give these men
especial mention, as from them, being
strangers. nothing could be expected,
and. their services being as valuable as
they were voluntary, are worthy the
grateful memory Of all our people.
We are griesed to record it, but it is
nevertheless true. that large number
OF persons developed the .ooundrel in
them on the OCCASION Of this fire. The
drug stores, book stores. cigar stands,
grocers and Others lost heavily by theft.
Broken boxes Of cigars aud tobacco,
packages of paper and envelopes, axes.
liquors. buckets. etc, disappeared in
this way to the value Of not less thar q
Thousand dollars. 1t was found abso-
lutely necessary to place guards over
the property left in the streets to save
1t from being destroyed or stolen. but
unfortunately they were not placed
there until the loss above recorded had
occurred.
The steam engine was not broken OF
clogged with sand or IN any wise ont of
kilter. a. at first reported II was
twice thoroughly examined ty machin-
lists Colmsn and Camp bell. who pre-
nounced IT al right, and who then b.
came assured that the fault was else
where After examination it was
found TO be In the hose, and, by the
use OF knife in cutting sort Of bis
ter, was remedied Four or five hours
Of valuable time were thu, lost to the
particular de.rimcnt Of the Crawford &
Harrington warehouse Pumping was
resumed by the steamer at 1 o'clock Cd
Sunday morning. and kent up uncess-
ingly until half past IL at night,
throwing at the rate of 400 gallons Of
water a minute or 500 900 gallons dur,
ing the whole time. Ii proved its eff
cacy III a manner thoroughly satisfac-
tory to oil property owners. Added to
our corps of brave and willing firemen
1t established beyond question its claim
To be defsnse against ordinary fires Of
the most invaluable chsract~r.
The old hand engine is al-o des~rv
ing OF more than passing notice. II
took tie place i'll the breach made VA
cant by the disablement of the steamer,
aud it did 1t in a manner of which it
was not previously thought capable.
Worked by gangs of volunteers it
poured water on the flames in An I'M
ending stream for six hours. and with
out it the conviction is general that the
number Of houses burned would have
been doubled or trebled at least. Sc
attic cannot afford to do without that
old hand engine until second steamer
is obtained.
The necessity for Q Fire Marshal, OF
some such officer, was plainly made APP
parent. In one man-strong. cool,
practical and relisble-should be- vests
ed the direction OF matters in such en-.
ergencies. Such an individual would
save the useless. wild running about,
dissensions aud disiointsd operations
usually so apparent on such occasions
We commend this suggestion to the
city authorities for consideration.
The losses will probably not 60 over
. hundred thousand dollars. The esti-
mates are yet q little wild, and will
probably be toned down considerably
in the course of few DAYS Including
mill and lumber Mr.. Colmsn is out in
the neighborhood Of twenty-five thou
sand dollars. and he is the principal
loser.
No time will be lost in repairing
damages. The fire was not entirely
extinguished before Vergon had young
Centennial saloon bujlt aud stocked.
nor before temporary building t. re-
place the Mcdonald blacksmith shop
had it's walls raised. In this tie men
will resume their work while another
and larger building. IS BY 20 feet. is
prepared for them. Wolf & Smith will
ct once put up . building Of 30 by 60
feet on the corner of Mill and the al
ley, while Keenan, will re-erect his shop
on the old site. continuing bis work
with the loss of hardly day. Carkeek
will also resume. Mr.. Colmsn was
down with force of men bright aud
early yesterday morning resurrecting
the burned machinery. the greater part
Of which he will save. He will also
rebuild. though not on the former site.
but at some point TO the north. Card