Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-07-25
Fire Consumes One of the Best Business
Blocks in the City-A Mar.
row Escape
From a General CoDfiagration-Thirty.
one Hundred Barrels of Oil and
Quantities Of Merchandise
Devoured by the Flames-The Loss Al
most a Quarter Of a Million
Dollars,
Nearly All Covered by Infuranee-Two
Men Make Marrow Escapes
Notes and Incidents.

At AGO o'clock yesterday morning one Of
the most disastrous fires Memphis has ever
known, broke out in the rear of F. W. Brode
q Co.'S storehouss, Nos. $50 and 1862 Front
street, and spread rapidly 10 the house of
Stewart, Gwvnue & Co., on the north, and II.
B. Shanks & Co. and John Reid & Co. on the
south.
THE ALARM
was sent in from box IL, Peabody Hotel, and
the Babcock extiDguisher, located on the
bluff at the corner of Union street, was the
first on hand. The other companies turned
out At once and were On The ground in An in
credibly short space of time, but owing to
come delay in sending In the alarm, The
flames were licking the fourth.story windows
in the rear when they arrived. The origin
of the fire is unknown. No one occupied
the store of Brode & Co. at night, and il is a
mystery that the FIRE originated there-hi-
i'm possible 10 say wh-.hr-p began in
th--% oetfdr, on the 6rst floor or in
the alley, as the entire rear lower
portion OF the store ives in a blaze when dis.
covered by The Waterman, Mike Scully.
Twenty-six hundred barrels of refined oil,
Stored in Brode's, cellar caught fire almost
Immediately and sent up vast volumes Of
heavy smoke and ugly fame. Six hundred
barrels OF oil stored in the cellar of Il. B.
ShaDks & Co., next south of Brode's q, were soon
in a bItz- and the gravest fears were enter
tanned for the safety of property across the
alleys on the east and north, which are &C.
cupied BY some of the leading wholesale
grocers of the city.
THE FLAMES SPREAD
almost al the same moment, from Brode's and
Shanks's to Stewart, Gwynne & Co.'s on the
north and Reid q Co.'S on the SOUTH. The
former had just received a quantity of bag
ging, some 5000 rolls, which being very
light added materially to the fury of the
flames and gave the fremen all they could
do. The houses of M. L. Meacham & c..
ard A-E TrsadwslI 81 Co, aoroe.-,hs-way,
The cornlce OF Brooks, Nicely & Co, on Front
street opposite, and Amss, Beattie & Co,
Schmidt & Co., A.. J. Vienna and r. G. Craig
& Co. and w. and s.. Jack & Co., on Main
street, caught fire, but were e~xtipguished
with little damage. The sheeting under the
tin rool OF Jack q Co. was in a light blszs
when discovered by Mr.. Joe Cimpbeil and
the porter, and extinguished with buckets OF
water. the others were put out by the fire
mer, who had their
HARDEST WORK
with the house of Craig & Co. The fremep
of Company No. l we're stationed in the
alley behind the burning buildings, and de-
voted themselves 10 the work Of saving
Craig's by drenching the rear walls with
water. As soon as the crisis there was past,
and they were confident the fire could not get
through TO Main street, they directed their
energies toward saving the building on the
corner OF Front and Gsyoso, occupied by
Fulmer, Thornton & Co. The storehouse OF
John Reid & Co. was already in a light blszo,
ard the fremen were obliged TO fight their
way through binding smoke, which poured
from the rear, iu order 10 get in and throw
water upon the side of Fulmer, Thornton &
Co.'S. They got in about half way of Reid's,
but the front portion tumbled in with n
crash about this time and the firemen we're
! Obliged to retire. The water they had al
| ready been enabled to throw against the
wall cooled il, however, and il was kept up
for several hours, until there was no longer
sBy danger.
A QUARTER IF A BLOCK
was burned altogether, except the store occu-
pied by Fulmer, Thornton & Co. The stocks
were all heavy and the home Insurance COM
mere shells, and have for a long time been
looked upon as fre-trape, though it ia said
by architects that they could not be replaced
for less thau $S5. 900. The house occupied
by Stewart, Gwynne & Co. was three stories
nigh and the others two %siories, with a cellar
under each. The rom and rear walls soon
tumbled in, and yesterday evening only about
half of each partition wall remained stand.
ing. The burning oil under the debris is
still burning, ard as it blszes only from the
surface it ia expected it will be several days
before it is all consumed. The No. 8 engine
remains at the scene to save the Craig build
ing, which is still in danger. Offices over
the stores burned were occupied by s. c.
De Pass & Co, Hardwig- Peres, Tate Bros.
aud III. G. Trader & Co. Several young
men also had sleeping apartments there,
among them r. A. Clsrke, William Stewart,
John billiard, Harry May and Sim Speerr.
The latter couple had a narrow escape and
Speers scorched his bare feet in his mad
search about his room for q pair Of socks.
He got out with a pair of suspenders and q
| HalloU-failed coaf -.