St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-23
4 City Which Has Been Fortunate in the
Absence of any Large
CONGREGATIONS.
Some of the Fires of Decade Ago and
How They Were Handled
by the Boys.
Two Runs TO Anoka and one TO
Shakopce TO EXtinguish
Ugly BlaZes.
Conhagration Incidents--Narrovv Es-
capes--A Dizzy Blonde who Fired
the City Hall.


equal growth can boast Of such gene raj
absence of the devouring devOurer. During
the last eight OF ten years hardly a SIOO. 600
IRE mas been recorded. with the exception
of the destruction of the Kelly block. and
little before that time. iii the same year.
the AueTbach ire. at each of which the
damage aggregated S500, 900. In each of
these cases the lire was confined to narrow
limits, the loss being through the
quantity Of stock destroyed rather
than the buildings. The history of
these aires is the history of ST.
PaulS serious fires for the past few wears.
The freedom on this point Is probably due
io natural good luck and efficient service ON
the part of the firemen. Alarms have oc-
CURED here as frequently as elsewhere.
bat the OlaZes. like the Egyptians children.
were destroyed in their infancy. A private
record of the more important and incidental
hres yielded up the following information a
few days ago:
In 1917 the number of fires in ST Paul
was limited 10 iifty-Seven. none OF which
were ~ all serious The first one of note
occurred Jan. is, when the string was
pulled for a blaze in Golfers bazaar. The
bazaar was located on Bridge square where
the old ninety-nine-cent store stood. The
loss was 5000. On the ped Of the same
month the malt house of Constants brewery
received damages 10 the amount of 81 900.
Despite the fact of its being a brewery. il
was found by the firemen 10 be
THE DRYEsT EVENT OF THE YEAR.
Three days later dwelling house OH
Canada street was consumed. At this fire
Dan sullivan. present stOker of No. 3. re-
ceived rather serious injuries from a falling
wall The only fire OF any account in Feb
ruary occurred in Murphy'S dry goods store
East Third street. which was damaged tn
the amount of about $1,000. On April
an alarm of fire was turned in FROM West
81. Paul. In running TO the fire the horse
on No. hose cart fell and broke his neck.
The Greenman house caught ire on MAY Z.
II was entirely destroyed. together with
two buildings which were crushed BY the
walls. On the 18th of August Axley's livery
stable went up in smoke and four horses
We're roasted. The most interesting part
of the fire was free-for-all scrap in which
Tom Hanley. now sentenced TO Still
water for life for murder then
member of No = paraIyzed
crowd of men known as the Old Red Cap
club. The next items Of interest eontaines
| in the official log are two tripd
70 Anoka made by Company No. ..
The company saved the Anoka mill and
30. 900 feet of lumber after fourteen hours
of labor. In the midst of it all, however.
they nearly lost the engine and horses.
The entire business was saved by being
pulled out by main strength and awkward
ness The heart and spirits of the visitors
were kept up by cOpious supply of biscuit
and cheese.
THE SECOND ENTRY
reads thus: Time, 1910 p. IN. Ordered
IN chief tn ~. 10
woods lumber yard; worked ten hours:
192, 900 gallons water used: 81, OOo. 600 feet
OF lumber destroyed. Received SIOO."
The entry for the year closed with the
burning OF two livery stables, with two
horses burned in each stable.
The record for 1878 shows the fires to
nave been more serious and the casualties
more numerous. There were sixty-four
calls during the year. The more notable
ones began with the burning of Croft ~
BeTkey's spice mill on Sibley street. The
hire was confined TO some bags of pepper
Whlch sent out n Sunocating smoke Ii
was al this ire that Dan Sullivan got the
name OF smoky" The old grand stand
IN the base ball park was Singed on April
"a. A serious event was the burning of
the Park Place hotel on May 10 of this
year Several accidents occurred bv run
in the breaking of John Ryan's arm. Two
iiremen, Frank Await and Briggs Geiss.
substitutes on truck. were SO badly burned
that the former died May % and the latter
ten days LATER. On Nov. q a canning and
sausage factory on Eagle street was par
tally destroyed. \ fire in the old St
PAU house was a serious event. 1t Oc-
CURED on Nov. 10. One man. O. Mont
gOmery. was burned to death. and Eddy
Bradley received injuries which caused his
death. Ii was always considered that
Montgomery
COMMITTED SUICIDE.
ut this fire ~ he had ATTEMPTED to do
SD before that time. The Offices Of the
81. Paul and Pacific railway. situated
where the baggage room of the union depot
now stands. We're damaged " the extent Of
So. OCV about this time. In running 70 this
ire the axle OH No. > engine broke down.
The team ran away and broke UP the en-
CINE more or less. \ flame on Nov. 2S.
when two buildings and two stables went
up on the corner Of Nelson and Harrington
avenues. has ALWAYS been kindly remem-
bered Dy the iiremen. Two demiiuhns
tell the tale. The fire caused a loss of
So. 500.
The year 1879 opened up comparatively
well. though there were Seventy-siX fires in
ali recorded. The 1irst one of interest oc-
CURED on February >. when the state re-
form school lock fire. The main work
shop and 900 cords OF wood were burned.
February % the fOur-stOry brick build
Ing adjoining the Sherman house
caught fire and was badly damaged. While
skinnishing through the building Chief
Strong ran into the elevator and narrowly
escaped with his life. As result the pres
ent ordinance was adopted. requiring ele-
varor doors 10 be closed Al nights. The
furniture store of Potter X Bale was the
next call oI any account. In running out
Of The way of
BURNING BARREL OF OIL
''Bill' Dewire got lett and would have been
burned Lad he not been rescued by the de-
parting iiremen. An entry OF July 20 reads
* follows: The city hall; May Fisk OF
the English Blonde troupe. was arrested
ard set fire to desk in the cell. Slight
damage"
On Oct. % part of the department was
ordered TO go TO Shakopee. After getting
in four good. solid hours work the fireInen
Were Toasted b. the citizens at the United
states hotel. Later in the evening they ae-
cepted an Invitation 10 visit Rev. Father
Plut, where they were treated to wine and
cigars anu addressed by Mayor Strait.
Judge Mcdonald and other prominent
citizens.
The only other fire of the year that
amounted 10 anything was OH West Third
street near Exchange, when frame dwell
ing was swallowed up. At this fire Koch
Of the hook and ladder company was struck
on the head with brick and slightly in
jured.
silence Ofthe Swsdes.
One great popularity of travelling in