The daily gazette., 1882-05-03
A FIRE-SWEPT SQUARE.
FULLER DETAILS OF YEsTER-
DAYS BIG CALAMITY.
THE LOSS AND THE INSURANCE.
Work of Rebuilding Soon 10 be Com
menced-Some Interesting Points About
Old st. Anne's Episcopal Parish-Narrow
Escape Of the Bank.
Especial correspondence of the Gazette. !

menced-SOme Interesting Points About
Old st. Anne's Episcopal Parish-Narrow
Escape Of the Bank.
Especial correspondence of the Gazette.
MIDDLETOwN, May 3.--The story of the
disastrous fire which swept through the
heart of Middletown with such serious con-
sequences was told very fully In the dis
patches TO the GAZETTE yesterday afternoon.
There are many other facts of interest.
The fire had practically ceased to spread
when the special train bearing the Whining
ton firemen and the representative of the
GAZETTE steamed into the depot shortly
before II o'clock. The last building, the
one occupied by Mr.. Fisher, the barber, was
in flames at that time, and the danger of
other buildings had becn diminished by the
falling of the wind. A gale had been blow
ing almost directly from the south and q
number of buildings on the north side of
the main street had beeen on fire. The
wind had fallen and the trying ordeal was
about over.
It only took the efficient body of firemen
20 minutes to get into service. Middletown
has no water supply Of its own, and Superin-
tendent l. N. Mills, of the Delaware railroad,
who had run down with the special train,
allowed the water in the depot tank to be
used. The Reliance engine, Hugh Duffy
cIlHluetTt III nTbt lOTCeu Lne water from u
well % feet deep through / ,425 feet of hose
TO where the Weccacoe engine was standing,
near the town square. The Weccacoe, James
Burns engineer, then forced the water
through $50 feet of hose to the fire. In less
than one hour there was not single blazing
brand in the whole desOlated square.
THE BANKS NARROW ESCAPE.
The National Bank of Middletown had d
mn I ri
site the carriage works of A. g. Cox IL Bro,
where the fire broke out, and was on fire q
number of times. The books, money, ETC.,
were thrust into safes and these were run
out into the middle of the street, and men
with wet blankets and buckets mounted to
the roof and fought off the flames. The
damage to the bank is slight.
The Transcript office also came near
burning. II stands close to the bank and
the heat from the blazing Cox building was
intense. The paint was blistered upon the
doors and window shutters and the bricks
were heated through. Editor Way of the
Transcript was whole fire department and
salvage corps in himself, and armed with a
Babcock extinguisher he fought the flames
with boldness and hardihood which comes
from long editorial experience.
THE TowN's GRATITUDE.
At special meeting of the Board of Com
missioners of the Town of Middetown, held
last evening, the following resolutions were
unanimously adopted:
RESOLVED, That the sincere and heartfelt
thanks of the Town Commissioners and all
the citizens of Middletown and vicinity are
due and are hereby rendered to the Fire De
partment of Wilmington, the Queen City of
Delaware, and especially to the brave and
efficient companies who so promptly and
generously responded to our cry of distress
during our dreadful fire this morning, and
rendered efficient aid in staying the flames
that threatened to lay large portion Of our
beautiful town in ashes.
Resolved, That like vote of thanks be ex-
tended to Mr.. /. N. Mills, Superintendent of
the Delaware Division of the p, w. Il b. r.
X. Company, for furnishing the means by
which the firemen with their apparatus
reached us with such promptness, rs well as
for generously permitting the use OF the
eompany's water for staying the flames.
ResolVed, That we extend further vote of
thanks to the courageous citizens who
worked with such heroism and SO effectively
to save the property of their neighbors and
friends.
ST. ANNE's CHURCH.
The burning of ST. Anne's P. +. Church
has been a very severe blow to to the con-
gregation. There was no insurance upon
the fine furniture, and the loss is exceedingly
heavy. The Rev. w. G. w. Lewes is rector.
St. Anne's parish has a history of no
small interest, although like many old
churches its registers, ifregularly kept, have
not been well preserved. On June LIZ, 1701,
"The Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in foreign parts" was established
and entered upon its work ut once with
much vim. Within ten years after the
society was organized number of churches
were founded, among them st. Anne's, Ap-
poquinimink. The date of its establishment
is fixed in the year 1705, and the first settled
minister, In 170S, was Rev. Mr.. Jenkins.
The parish had varied experience for the
first one hundred years of It's existence, and
the attendance and number of communi,
cants varied considerably, and in 1882 the
number of communicates was only 10, while
1896 there were 81 reported. Bishop Alfred
Lee, in sermon delivered at the eonsecra-
ton of St. Anne's on the 4th of April, 1872,
concludes his remarks concerning the old
parish, its work and its pastors as follows
"When first became acquainted with the
parish, in 184l, 1t labored under the disad.
vantage being united as pastoral one with
Smyrna, and consequently enjoyed but hall
the time and attention Of the rector. Tho
aspect of things was by no means cheering
and the church seemed to be sustained by
the lingering love of a few aged worshipers
| In 1917, under the ministry of Rev. A
f. Freeman, the church, having been re
paired and the interior remodeled, was con
secrated according to our authorized form
this Office having never been previously per
formed. In 1852 convenient rectory wal
built by the jealous exertions Of Rev. Hiram
r. Harold, who was not permitted long tt
occupy It, resting from his labors April 2S
1856. Within the last thirty years the mum
Der of the congregation and communicate
increased about fOur-fold. For some year
| past the remoteness of the church from tn
village has been felt to be a great hindranc
TO the success of pastoral labors. The urgen
representation of the present rector, and 0
his immediate predecessor, Rev. j. w
Brown, have given birth to the enterpris
which eliminates in the glad solemnities o
to-day"
To Improve st. Paul's.
The Trustees of st. Paul's NJ. E. Church
| Mt meeting last night, were instructed Il