Morning journal and courier., 1880-04-13
GArnania Hall.


 Rered-A Boarding House Excitement
 NIT. NIil1er's LOss-RemOving Horses
 and Carriages.
 At few minutes before o'clock yesterday morning, smoke was seen by several persons almost simultaneously issuing from amid the
 cluster of brick buildings, in the midst of
 which stood Germania Hall. A JOURNAL AND
 COURIER carrier boy was one of the first to
 see the smoke. He was hurrying along de-
 livering his papers. A policeman returning to the police office after his nights duty, and
 two day police officers on their way down
 Chapel street commencing their duties, espied the smoke also. A hostler at Clark & Carter's
 stables, in the rear of Chapel street, also saw
 the smoke There was no time lost in giving
 the alarm, and soon box 26 was striking on
 the bells and the fremen were on their way to
 combat what soon proved to be desperate
 and dangerous fire, and culminated in great
 damage to Germania Hall, whence the smoke
 seen was issuing. The fire must have been burn
 ing some time and burst out all at once with
 great ferceness, and the frsmen are entitled
 to great credit for restraining the flames to
 the building where they originated and pre-
 venting their spread, especially with such
 high wind prevailing and the immediate vicin-
 ity of various other buildings on three sides
 of the burning structure. The value of brick
 partition walls in resisting the spread of fire
 was also very apparent in this fire. A second
 alarm was sounded very soon, the need of the whole department being quickly apparent. The Gsrmania Hall building was of brick and it stood on lot fronting about fifty feet on Wooster street and running back about 190 feet It was divided into three buildings, al- though all were connected. The one front ing on the street was three stories high. Back of it WAS the hall proper Gin reality 8 part of the front building). used for dancing
 and theatrical purposes. Underneath the hall
 and the building fronting on the street was
 large and spacious basement, di
 vided of into a bar room, supper
 rooms and dressing rooms. In the rear of
 he hall was a small, one story brick building,
 containing but one room, which was used as
 8 society meeting roou1 and for musical and
 dramatic rehearsal purposes. At the farther
 end of the main hall, divided from the re-
 hearsal room by brick partition, WAS stage,
 fitted up with scenery, etc. Here it was the
 fire had its origin.
 Across the street from the hall the ianitor,
 Rudolph Fechner, lived. He states that there
 was no entertainment or gathering in the hall
 Sunday night, as is sometimes the case. The
 last social affair that took place was on Friday evening, when the Foresters had dance in the hall. Saturday there was some teaching in one of the school roomR in the front build ing There was also meeting for instruction in drawing in one of the front school rooms from 10 till 11:3O o'clock Sunday morning. But no one had any need to go into the danc- ing hall or near the stage where the fire started. Mir. Fechner adds that the build ing was heated by steam, the furnace being in the front basement, far away from the stage. After heating up the school rooms for Sunday mornings gathering he shut of the steam. There were no steam pipes on the stage and if there were he is certain they would not have caused the fire. At 7:30 o'clock Sunday evening he made a tour of the building, and all was well. The next he knew was his being called about o'clock yesterday morning. and the information that the hall was afire was conveyed to him, coupled with request for his keys. Hastily dressing, he ran across the street and opened the doors. He saw that the fire was confined to the mid de building, in which the dancing hall was, and that the flames had made consi iderable | headway.
 The fire did it's work pretty effsctua1ly, | leaving the main part of the building in ruins. The front walls of the building show but few marks of the sweep and riot of the flames, | which left so much of the building 8 wreck. The front part of the building was l the old part, where the German English school was held, and where the committee | rooms were. This part is mainly intact, al-
 though much damaged by water. But near \ ly all the new portion is gone except the side | walls. The little one-story building in the
 rear of the stage still stands quite apart in the | midst of the rains. It's brick partition wall and the fremen saved it. Nothing was saved | in the burned part of the building, the piano. | pictures, scenery, etc., being destroyed. The ! hall was 8 great credit to the enterprising ! organization through whom it was erected. | It WAS as large if not larger than the Athe- ! neum, with finely frescoed ceiling and side walls. also adorned with representations of ' Goethe, Schiller, etc., together with fanciful music, etc. In it had been held \ 8 series of entertainments of the finer class \ the past winter, given under the auspices of | Horeb Lodge. Weddings in high life among | the influential friends of the societies had \ taken place within its walls, and concerts and \ private theatrical entertainments at the hall | were getting quite in vogue. The hall had | achieved popularity which was very gratify- \ ing to it's founders, and was paying for itself ! when the fire broke out, and in an hour or so ! was swept away the fruit of so much patient, ' self-sacrifcing labor and public spirit
 The school children who attend the school | had red letter day yesterday, and will not | soon forget the day which had brought hol- | iday in such an unexpected and startling way. The schoolroom furniture, blackboards and the several hundred books which formed the | library all show the damaging effects of smoke and water. The bar-room down stairs was flooded, as were the dressing and supper ' rooms, and the ladies' room on the floor above, in which were carpets, looking glasses, furniture, etc. The roof of the building fronting on the street was also on fire and was badly burned.
 MT. John Ruff, who has been one of the prominent men in the building of Germania
 Hall, estimates that the building was damaged from $20 OCO to $25, ,0OO. The insurance is $14, 900 as given below. Ths Teutonia Menner Chor, which had rooms in the building, had it's $700 white silk flag, several smaller silk flags and 8 lot of theatrical wardrobe damaged by smoke and water-perhaps $700 worth. No insurance. The German-English school did not lose much outside of the library, most of the furniture belonging to the city. The teacher of the school, Hermann Trisch, loses books, apparatus, cases of minerals and but terfies and personal property, valued at from $20O to $500. Uninsured. The Menner
 Chor rented the hall two nights in the week. the German club (composed of older mexn- bers of the Chor) one night. and the Schil- lerbund one night. This last society will have slight loss. These were all hesocieties that rented the hall regularly. Other organizations
 had it at times for meetings, dances, etc.
 The damage is not entirely confined to Ger
 mania Hall. On the west side is a two story
 brick house, owned by Mir. Bristol, who has
 the stables on Court street opposite the rear of R. B. Bradley's. MT. Bristol owns clear
 through to Chapel street. This building is
 rented by MT. Joseph Miller, who keeps a boarding house there. The house was touched on one rear corner by the flames, and the
 whole interior was damaged much by water. Back of this house is the rear end of Clarke $
 Carter's livery stable. This end of the stable premises is occupied in the lower part for the
 storage of carriages, sleighs, etc. The upper
 part was built over into sleeping rooms, and is connected with MT. Miller's by passage
 way which is covered with corrugated iron.
 The iron covering withstood the flames.
 There was of course great excitement
 for short time among the lodgers of Mir.
 Miller and all the furniture, etc., that could
 be moved out of the building before it's being
 drenched with water was rapidly taken. But
 little could be removed, however, and the
 beds, clothes. etc., were much damaged. MT.
 Miller had no insurance on his property, and