The Portland daily press., 1883-10-12
he aggregate
FIRE LAST NIGHT.
The Gazelle. of the Forest City Line, Ser
ously Damaged.

About $50 o'clock last night the fire alarm
rang out from box 50. Considerable excite
ment was occasioned in the city by the alarm,
as the fire was supposed to be in the Forest
City Sugar Refinery, and on the track running
parallel with the building was a train of
freight cars loaded with sugar, to the value
of $4,000, ready to start this morning, over the
P. & O. railroad to Chicago. Neither the re-
fnery nor the warehouse was the cause of the
alarm, but the old steamer Gazelle. The Ca
zelle was moored at her winter quarters. at the
end of the wharf on which the bonded ware
house of the sugar refinery stands. few
inmates after o'clock smoke was seen coming
from the boat by men looking from some of
the sugar house windows. They promptly gave
the alarm, the hose of the sugar house was run
) out, and the side of the building fronting the
wharf thoroughly wet down. The men then
turned their attention to the Gazelle. AS they
stepped on board they found the planks hot to
their feet. AS much was done toward check
ing the fire as was possible to he done with tho
limited means at hand. On the arrival of the
fire department Chief Llttlefield found much
difficulty in getting the hose to the steamer
The doors Of the warehouse were locked, but
the lines of hose were run up over the building
and thence to the boat, and means were found
to pass line in another way Flames we're
coming from around the pilot house and smoke
stack when the men went to work, and it
seemed as if the vessel must burn. A hole
was promptly knocked through the deck, just
astern of the wheel-house, and soon the flames
were checked, while in their place dense
smoke arose. But the fire would break oat in
different places, and at one time the bow, on
the starboard side, was brilliant with flame.
Progress was continually made, however, and
after the fremen reached the lower deck,
knocked several holes in it and turned the wa
ter into the hold, it was steadily subdued,
though at 10 O'clock an hour aud a half after
striking the alarm, the fire was not wholly IN
der control. The fire undoubtedly originated
in the forward hold. The boat was thoroughly
shut in with canvas, and SO gained strong head
way before it was discovered. The sugar
house men attempted, at first, forecast off the
lines of the steamer and set her adrift, bat the
tide was on the ebb, and there was not enough
water to float her. The timbers were burned
in varying degrees, as far back as the cabin on
the lower deck. The boat was fairly deluged
with water, and undoubtedly the loss will be
quite serious. This fremen worked well under
rather unfavorable circumstances. The fire
boat was telephoned for, but up to 10 o'clock
had failed to respond. Sugar to the value of
about $1,000, was stored in the warehouse at
the end of which the Gazelle lays. The in
surance on the boat was given by Capt. Will
lard as $4,000, placed in the office of Morse &
Pinkhana. The cause of the fire is unknown.
1t was rumored that boys and men were in the
habit of making the boat sort of rendezvous
where they went to smoke and play cards.