Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-12-19

] Dwight c. Smith Frank Chamberlain, +.
| Chandler, James Coyca. j. T.. Craver '2D
| Wilfred O. I. Elmore, c. H. Fuller, DR.. c.
| w. Horton, J. c. Herrck, Henry May, Noise
Maynard, Thomas Nixon. Alfred Nutting,
Horace Prefontaine f. W. Page. Geo. II.
Smith, Z. Slater, i. L. Warner NJ II. Viii
der
Ladies Elizabeth Anderson Julia T.
! Brown, Ellen A. Bennett Abbie Bartholo-
new, Mrs Arvilla W. Gilmore. Mrs J. II.
| Harris, Ella Knight, Maggie I. O'Brien, Mag
/ gle Snyder, Mary Ward.
/ Miscellaneous - Batchelder a Lincoln.
THE DBooEs HOUSE PRE-
On Tuesday night at II 0 o'clock it was dis
covered that fire was working under the
| flooring Of the fourth floor Of the Brooks
House, about midway Of the house. An axe
and crowbar were brought and one or two
/ holes made in the floor, when the air being
thus admitted, the flames began TO show
| themselves. The manager, clerk. and few
Of the guests at first tried to put ont the fire
| with buckets Of water, but, finding that they
could not do this, an alarm was given and the
/ department WAS soon on hand lines of hose
were carried up TO the third and fourth sto-
ries, holes cut in floors and partitions, the
house thoroughly drenched, and after up
ward Of an hours work the FIRE was soaked
out The damage TO the house which WAS
chiefly by water and the cutting Of holes 10
/ get at the fire. is very serious and is various
| ly estimated at from 5000 or $4,000 to $40
600 OF Sl2, 900
The cause of the FIRE II unknown. and prob
ably will never be Rscertained with certainty.
Ind frgv 10 70 ~ &
timbers were found to be charrcd to a depth
Of two inches or more the ere must have
been at work for some hours aud perhaps
during the whole day During the afternoon
Of Tuesday il was noted by Mr. Franks clerk
Of the house. that the front door or night
bell rang twice in an uuaccouutable muuner.
No other suspicious circumstance was noted,
however, until, at il O'Clock one Of the
room bells rang, and, on answering the sup
posed call, Mr. Franks was told by the occu-
pant Of the room that he had not ruuc the
bell Just after this several Of the bells be
gan to ring violently and without cessation.
This showed that something was wrong Mr
Goodhue was aroused. an investigation was
made one Of the fourth fboor rooms was
found to be densely filed with smoke, and
then the work Of discovering and fighting tho
FIRE was begun as already stated. One theory
Of the origin Of the fire was that there was
leakage in gas pipe, and that the electric
current over the bell wires set the escaping
gas on FIRE Experiments made by Col Full
er on Wednesday, however. show that, with
batteries twice Is powerful as those used at
the Brooks House, spark cannot be obtained
Of sufficient power to ignite Illuminating gas
A second theory is that the tmbers were set Oh
FIRE 10y coutact with the steam pipes beneath
the floor and a third and perhaps the most
reasonable one Is that the trouble cam, from
rate having carried matches to their nests IN
der the floor
After 4 serious affair Ike this. or one which
might easily have become very serious ouo
is well over, it j. easy to criticise and find
fault. and tell how things ought 10 have been
done. largely upon tins basis the immense
amount Of water which was thrown into the
house. Tuesday night, soaking it through and
through TO the utter ruin Of walls, ceilings
and carpets, has been I'll, subject Of no little
uufavoraile comment With much Of this
talk We cannot sympathize, for the reason
=
J hrildir~ ..i~--1 .--,0.. cob ~
wa not thrown for every gallon that wAs re
ally necessary Still again, much Of the nd
verse criticism Of the management Of the de
partment OF Tuesday night comes from PEG
pie who do not realize the Roadway which
the fire had made OIL both the third and
fourth floors and the really critical condition
Of affair 1t did and does seem to US. how.
ever that, had the head Of the fire depart
partmeut nj, say half past H. left the scene
OF the fire for moment il the hands Of his
assistants, and taken look at the real coudi-
tlon Of things, up stairs and down, he would
have stopped every mac Line from throwing
water into the house, cleared the house Of
the crowd. found out a. nearly a. possible
where the water was wanted and then have
taken one or more streams. a. was necessary.
and vi III few good men. have put the wa
ter whore it was needed. Such al act could
have been attended with no danger, because,
with the whole apparatus Of the department
in position and ready for instant service the
whole building could have been flooded at a
moments notice-aud by such course burst
ed hose and streams Of water not in use
would have been saved from running valuable
property. The place Of the chief engineer
of fire department is not 10 do an axeman's
or hosemau's work. but, if he has head for
his position, TO have the direction and over
sight of the whole scene Of ope rations.
One more if" 1.-TWO or three chemical
fire extinguishers had been at hand at the
outset, the first might unquestionably have
been stopped with them, and there would
have been no damage from water. When ].
j. Estey arrived at the fire or food and Sd
the condition Of things, he sent to his house
for three extinguishers, obtained leave to put
them in use, and did effective service with
them.
The insurance upon the Brooks House.
which is carried by Moody d Howe and Sher-
man & JENNIE in New York and Hartford COM
panies, will cover the damage Adiusters
from the several companies are now in town.
SiArkey Wellmau's clothing stock suffered
serious damage from the water They re-
moved their goods to the town hall building
but will resume business as soon as their loss
has been adjusted with the insurance com
panes. The tenants of the other stores in
that end of the block were not hurt by the
water Hawley and Barrows were somewhat
drenched but not seriously
THE KNIGHTS OF HONOR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRA-
TON.
The second anniversary of the formation
of Alpha Lodge, Knights of Honor, of this
place, was celebrated on Thursday evening
of last week with an address in Crosby hall
by Rev Francis Lobdell of New York, Chap
lain of the Grand Lodge of the United States.
As preliminary to his address, Mr. Lobdell
gave a short statement in regard to the order.
COMPRISING facts relative 70 its objects. histo.