The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1884-10-29

| hOtel.
AS to the origin Of this terrible fire,
we can as yet-in the midst Of so much
confusion and excitement-hazard no
very decided opinion. The signs, how
ever, would seem to be those of diabol-
ical incendisrisn. In regard to this
matter, though. We deem it wiser not to
say anything very decided until our reg
ular issue next week.
The business part Of our towns a
smoking, desolate, barren, horrible
waste. And there are literally ard ap-
solutely no provisions for man within
our corporate limits.
The advertisers estimate Of the
losses as completed by my inquiries
here are as follows:
| w. K. Lynch, drugs and groceries,
owned the building occupied. loss
$4,000; no insurance. W. n. Burnett,
general merchandise, occupied Norris
building, loss 5000; insurance $1,000.
James NJ. Cobb, general merchandise,
owned the BUILDING occupied, loss
$4,000 no insurance. but c-fifth Of
stock saved, as the store was the last to
be reached by the flames. Wiley Turn
er. general merchandise, occupied Clis-
'bylbuilding, loss 1900; insurance $500.
w. B. Penn, drugs and groceries, own
ed the building occupied, loss $1,000 !;
insurance not ascertained, but very
slight. A. j. Norris lost the building
owned by him and occupied by Burnett,
loss $1,000 mo insurance. u. G. Tomp-
kins, lost four stores. one occupied bv
W. II. Brunson, the others unoccupied.
loss $4,000; no insurance. w. H.
Brunson, groceries, occupied Tompkin's
building, loss $1,000; no insurance.
Mccullough & Sons, general merchan-
disc, occupied one Of Lynch's buildings,
loss So, 1000: insurance $1,000. G.. l.. b.
ECliEby, groceries, occupied Marsh's
building, loss $1,000; no insurance.
.Iohn l.. Addison lost his fine new
building occupied by him as law office
and containing valuable furniture and
library, loss about 81, 900; no insurance.
The Edgefield Chronicle. published
by Ontzs 4 Daley, occupied Mr.. Outzs'
building, loss $1,000; insurance $5(W.
| Three Wooden stores erected by \. A.
Clisby in 1891, were burned Loss es-
tima,sd at $4,000; no insurance. Total
losses $4,000. Total insurance little
over $4,000. The buildings and stocks
were total losses, except that small
portion of Brunson's and Cobb's stocks
were saved. There are but three occu-
pied stores left in Edgefcld-one dry
goods store and two small groceries,
There is hook and ladder company in
the town, but the conhagration was SO
sudden and 80 wide spread that nothing
could be done to save any Of the build
ings on the square in which the fire
originated. The wooden buildings
were al dry as tindcr after the long
drought, and were we'll massed together
so that :hcy burned like lightwood.
The only brick buildidg destroyed
was the Chronicle office. This had a
shingle roof. The proprietors of the
Chronicle announced that they will oc-
! cupy the Sherif,s Office for the present,
and will rebuild as soon as possible.
The AdrertiScr does not give the rea-
sons which induced the belief that the
fire was incendary. These reasons |
| am Informed arc as follows: McCul-
Tough &c Son were robbed night before
last OF quantity of groceries. Yester-
day the goods were found hidden un-
der a#bridge near the town. Watch
was kept near the plunder last night
and two mounted negroes rode up and
began to remove the articles in the
sight of thecs8atchers, who came out Of
ambush and attempted to capture them.
The negroes fled, leaving their animals.
| One negro was captured, and q blood
| hound WAS put on the track Of the 9TH
er who, however, was not captured.
This was about o'clock this morning.
Tho negroes who heard the dog trailing
through the village were very indignant
at the idea Of having bloodhounds used.
Messrs. c. l.. b. Marsh and w. A. Nc
Cullough, Jr., were the principal per-
sons connected with che capture ard
pursuit. The fire broke out four, hours
later in Capt Marsh's store, where Mr..
Mccullough was known to sleep. He
and Mr.. Turner burely escaped with
their lives. There can be no doubt that
the fire was incendiary. An inyestiga-
ton will probably prove it so.
Edgcfield will soon rebuild her waste
places, it is hoped. 1t will be well for
her to use more space, more brick, and
carry more insurance.
White Brothcs have now in store
more than one hundred cases OF Boots
and Shoes. They sell Zeigler's Ladies'