Daily Republican., 1882-05-27
TEE FIERY ELEMENT.
MeLear & kendaIi's Carriage Fac.
tory Totally Destroy ed--A Heavy

About 12.15 O'Clock last night an
alarm of fire was struck simultaneously
from signal box No. 3 at Tenth and
Orange streets by Officer Dowlin, at
| No. & at Tenth and Walnut streets by
Officer sparks, and at No. IA at Front
and Poplar 10y the watchman at Pusey
| 81 Jones. The different alarms caused
some difficulty among the tiremen and
they ran hither and thither, which &C
counted for their being a little behind
hand. In a very short time after the
alarm struck the whole heavens were
Illuminated and numerous surmises as
to the location of the fire were indulged
in. Some thought it was the Opera
House, some the Court House, and in
fact, every person located ii differently.
They were not long, however, in dis.
covering that it was the large and ex.
tensive carriage mandatory of Nc.
Lear and Kendall, situated on the cor
ner of Ninth and King streets, and ex-
tending back to French, being three
( stories high ON the latter street and two
stories on King.
| About II 80 o'clock, Officer Sparks,
was standing at Tenth and Market
streets, and started down Market to
Ninth going down Ninth to Lombard.
In passing by the carriage factory he
| noticed the watchman, Mr.. Horn, just
returning from his round through the
building, but saw no signs of fire.
Before he arrived at Lombard street he
saw bright light and upon turning
around discovered that fire was
raging.
He Immediately ran to Tenth and
Walnut and struck an alarm, which
was followed by the others as stated.
| While he was striking the alarm, the
| fire seemed to take a sudden ump
from the rear to the front of the build-
ing, and in a few minutes the entire
structure was in flames. A strong wind
was blowing fiom the South at the
time, and the building burned like a
tinder box.
! A number of persons who first saw
the fire were interviewed by REPUBLI.
CAN reporter this morning, who was
also on the scene during the lprogress
of the fire, and they stated that the fire
originated in the rear of the third story
in the vicinity of the wheel department
and the paint room, and Immediately
| bpIttu W buO llohu Vi bn
though line of powder had been laid
for the purpose.
Officers Sparks, Richards, Pierce and
Bidwell, together with a number of the
workmen and citizens who had arrived
on the scene, broke in the doors and
r removed to safe distance about 60 or
70 finished carriages that were in the
show room on the first floor. The heavy
safe, desks, books and the entire con-
tents of the office were saved before the
fire reached that quarter. A large
quantity of bows, Rms, spokes, etc,
were also saved In the rear, fronting
On French street, ID large amount o.
unfinished work was saved from the
smith shop.
The fire ragged tiercely fox over an
hour, and it was impossible for any one
to gain access to the upper floors. About
half an hour after the fir, broke out the
roof fell in with crash, sending sparks
smoke, etc high into the air, present
J ing u brilliant sight. Immediately fol
lowing the falling in of the roof, thu
floors all gave way and fell to the eel
lar beneath and in one hour and hal
the entire building was in ruins. TIT
firemen worked nobly and succeeded il
saving all the adjoining property.
Several of the houses ia the vicinlt.
were badly scorched and were on ii r.
several times, but the prompt action o
the tiremen kept the flames back. L
was with great difficulty that the Eziol
aDd the A. U. M. +. churches, togethe
with the residences in the vicinity wer
saved, and much credit is due to tn
firemen for their noble work last night
The cause of the fire is a mystery AM
) various conjectures as to its origin ar
INDUCED in. From the fact that tn
watchman passed through the entir
building only 10 minutes before, make
, the mystery still harder to understand
CONTINUED IN THIRD EDITION