Brenham weekly banner. [volume] (Brenham, Tex.) 1877-1907, 1886-01-14
LARGE FIRE,
Newbouer Bros. Extensive Dry
Goods Stock Greatly Damaged
by Fire and Water.

ing Ou luS corner Oh MalH al
Douglass streets. The fire alarr
was given and the department res
pended quickly. The doors wer
broken down and the entire lowe
story was found to be on fire an
full of smoke. The hose compan,
made connection with the fire by
drant and soon had stream 0
water playing on the flames; tn
pumps were at work at the pumI
house filling the stand pipe, an,
very shortly direct pressure wa
put on. The steamer was read,
for work about tho same time. tn
combined efforts of the hose com
pany and steamer furnished 81!
heavy streams of water and il
about half or three quarters of Al
hour the entire building was liter
ally flooded with water and tn,
flames extinguished. The fire il
supposed to have originated in the
vicinity of the stove which wa'
located in the southeast corner OIL
the ground floor; the store room il
about go feet square and the cell
ing was festoned with drapery con
sisting of display of light goods
such as shawls, dress goods, hosie
ry, underwear, etc., all ofthe most
lnfamable character, and of course
as soon as it caught fire it spread
over the ceiling like train Of
powder. All the shelving and
counters were considerably burned
The second story i'll which was To-
Gated the clothing and whole
sale dry goods department
did not catch on fire as
several streams of water were
thrown there. In the second story
the damage was entirely from
smoke and water. The stock on
the ground floor comprised the re-
tail dry goods department and con-
tanned q large stock of fine goods,
al of which were damaged almost
beyond recognition by water, fire
and smoke. Mr.. Ed. Newbouer
and three other gentlemen had left
tho store only about half an hour
previous to the discovery of the
fire; when they left everything
was all right. The Glddlngs build
ing was erected in 1881 and extends
from Main to Sandy streets, about
$50 feet and is sixty feet wide, to
the alley running north and south.
The afternoon was quite cold, but
notwithstanding this about half
the male population turned out to
see the fire. Every member of
the fire department worked like
the Trojans of old mot man being
present who did not do his duty.
Had the fire occurred late in the
night it is probable that the entire
block would have been consumed.
The extensive grocery establish
ment of Mr. Thomas Smith, and
the warehouse of Mr.. F. Krentzlin
in the same building were slightly
damaged by water; 5000 or $500
will probably cover their loss.
Newbouer Bros. had by far the
largest stock of dry goods in the
city. Mr.. Ed. Newbouer estimates
the stock at $4,000. They were
insured for $4,000, viz In the
Heber Stone 6 Bros agency, New
Orleans Insurance Association,
$500; New York Underwriters.
$4,000; Continental, New York,
$4,000; Western, Toronto, Canada,
$4,000; City of London, s2500 /;
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, $500;
Fire Insurance Association, Lon
don, s25OO, and in Engelke's agen-
cy, in the Hartford Insurance Co.,
for $4,000. AS already stated the
damage is very heavy and it Is not
at all likely that the insurance will
cover the loss. The Messrs. New
bouer started in business here in.
1871 or y in a small way and had
increased their business.
A fire inquest Was began on Mon
day by Justice Hackworth and ad-
iourned over till Tuesday. No
evidence so far has been elected to
show that the origin of the fire
was other than purely accidental.
Col. Giddings estimates the dam
age to the building at about $4,000,
which is fully covered by insur-
ance. The damage TO the fixtures
is estimated at about $500 with
only about 500 insurance.
PosroFrIcE. Tho appointment
Of Judge James E. Shepard as post
master at Brennan gives entire
satisfaction to both parties. Of
course the Republicans expected
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