Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-04-15
csEAT FIRE ~ TACOMA.

LEDGER, April 18th.


List q. losses. ea~.
Ledger, April l3th.l
Half of business oiocs on rac,nc nc
s'n,no AN alarm of nre was raised on
DOLL and IN An instant more the
the aocnni4d bv Samuel Simons As a
stoIe .stsbIlshment the real CO ate
tooae'f If Rebard & Williams, the Office
onI1 n Rail. contractor. Deonis 6
o, " harber Stop. and the photograph
nsiu ~ Croveil Bros was mass of
g'hc.s pis,oIs were fired aud cry
ha";osd f,om one end Of the avenue
va, o,her. awakening manV people,
fifteen minutes bringing
a,iu ' ~ several hundred people to the
'nioon Refore auv force Of hrenen
ece HIS he organized the bsiiding IN
n;st tho 6rs WAS first seen WAS beyond
.ssihility Of being saved. few
sno we're saved from the place OF
S!Sonus bnt little, if anything. from ~"
.a,abIishmeuts. lne nfe fapto!t
osnh nh, IN. building containing the fur
..'.. store of A. Parker d Co. no one
,.;un ahont the premises IN time TO save
s,ock On the south side OF Par
n".s;s s,ore WAS that of Chilberg a ma
sdr dealers in hardware, which In
a.. no;nn,es more was also IN coarse OF
ao,roct;on. and Immediately after II
~ oIn,hinp store Of lsaBcs BROS,
nown ~. as the lXL. The next building
na,,b of the starting point ef the fire
W. story frame building, oocu-
"a IN the first fiopr by the drug store
- Kost wick 4 Davis, and up stairs by
~, Ashmore. Very little WAS saved
from the drug store. and 50 iar ~
Lnogn nothing from up stairs.
In sbout twenty minutes after the
alarm was given the regular volunteers
and other firemen organized on the spot
were doing active and valntnie "orf.
The Wholesale and retail clothing sore
NJ Gross Brothers was separated from
the store Of Bostwick 4 DAVIS by VA
cant lot. and the flames were delayed In
crossing it. affordlng An opportunity 10
save many valuable goods. Nearly ~
men we're working inside the store, car.
ryipp goods from both the front and
hack doors. The stock WAS valued at
10000. with $4,000 insurance, and
about $4,000 worth was saved. Next
10 Gross Brothers WAS two story brick
building. the first floor occupied by the
g,ooerv store Of j. s. l.aksr x Co. In AN
inor,dibly short time the fire had brok-
an through the roof of the wooden rear
addition, but many goods had already
been taken out Next to 1t. on the cor
ner OF Ninth street. WAS the Tacoma
Savings Bank and on Ninth street. III
the rear of the bank, " the roal es-
tate and insurance office OF Alternately
SCo. Up stairs we're the Offices Of Drs.
Mc(Iord d Bartran, and the Law offices
of Mr.. Robbins, Whiitlesy X Macready
and Hooker & Ashton. Before anything
could be done to save the building the
tvo-story frame above 1t on Ninth street,
occupied on the lower Il por by John h.
Hall, real estate and insurance agent,
and nsed in the upper story as part OF
the Eureka lodging house, was wrapped
in fire and burned like finder. The
fremen worked like beavers, lighting
tho fire for every inch Of ground. but
at a sad disadvantage IN being untbls
TO turn on single strong stream of
water. A hose WAS attached To the hy-
drant on the corner of Ninth street. IN
front of the bank. but It WAS OF little
more use than to fill water pals.
Desperate efforts were made t. pu'l
down the frame buildings to cut off the
fuel, but the material was highly IN
hammable and the wlud strong enough
10 force the fire, 80 that little real good
could be done. On the opposite side OF
the avenue, house owners and occu'
pants were busy hanging out wet
blankets to prevent the heat, which
was intense, from setting another row
on FIRE, and bucket brigades were busy
on all the roofs and house fronts. AT
the south end Of the burnt district was
q vacant lot, and next to that q one
story cottage, which WIS saved by the
most extraordinary txertions. The
roof and side Of the house We're GOV
cred with blankets. and buckets and 4
garden hose were kept IN constant ptry
npon them. At tae north end, across
Ninth street, u b rd fight had to be
made to save the building Of W. J.
Fife. Ladders were hurriedly built,
and with some belonging to the fire de
partment, lines OF bucket passers were
s0on ut work from one end To the other.
Fortunately there WAS "A long ditch near
the building filled ith rain water shed
from the hill. From the ditch the
buckets were filled and passed to the
roof, although at times the heat was
almost enough to drive the workers
from their stations. The blankets
steamed, and sometimes there was AL
ominous crackle Of shingle, tut nn
damage resulted. II WAS less than half
nh hour from the time the fire started
until all the buildings we're iu one mass
Of solid flame. shooting arks ard
cinders high into the air, the breeze
carrying many flaming pieces tu dis
81.
work to prevent new outbreak.
Tue vacant lots back of K,ilroad
street were piled with goods. m ostly
f,om the stores of Gross Brothers and
BAKER CO. and on the opposite side
walk Of Pacific avenue WAS an uue-
qualied assortment of household and
store goods thrown in every style of
confusion. Many goods were stolsn by
men who pretended to be helping To
save them, but the work of those who
were earnest to save property was COM
inendable IN the highest degree. To the
nre boys much credit is due. They
fought close to the flames and did every
thine that pluck and hard work uld
10. In the excitement II WAS hard tn
lear1 anything of the losses aud insur-
ance. As near rs could toe ascertained
tney were as follows: John ). Baker,
loss $4,000. partly insured /; Gross
brothers. 10000; insurance SO, 900
pestwick q Davis, $1,000 insurance
unknown; Sam Simons, $500; no in
surance: Crcwell Brothers. 5000; iu-
sufance, II an, unknown Dennis 4
nam, flNU no insurance A. Parker
$la.0O; Chilberg Il Macready. loss
S"V; no insnr ,nce lsaacs Brothers
loss estimated at $s0oO the loss of Ab
e,hethy Co. is trifling, nearly all arti
cies IN the Office being saved. The loss
oi MIR. Hall is unknown.
Al half past ) O'Clock this morning
tue ruins We're still burning brightly
ana the only vestiee of the block wa.
sne bare wallis of the bank building
Iue names of the owners Of the build
,uRs burned and the amount Of theiI
.osses were not stated. The origin oi
Nue hre Is not knowa. Two stories wers
current on the street One WAS that il
ane rear of one building WAS n party oi
young men and some fast women whc
ne we're drinking aad knocked over h lamp
ihe other was that a defective fu,
caused the damage. Mr Granger. o
StaihRef q Williams. states that severa
uays ago he noticed several bad chin
ss, dangerous for FIRE. and he notifie,
sse Vty Marshal that they should b,
Inspected and the defects remedied
,a narshal promised to attend {,