Wichita daily eagle., 1886-08-01
THE FIRE ALARM

That was sounded about half past seven
o'clock yesterday morning called the depart
ment to the scene of small fire at 51S south
Topeka avenue, a residence occupied by a
family named Brubacher. The fire was
ca used by the explosion of the oil tank of a
gasoline stove The explosion threw the
burning fluid over everything in the room
and through an open door into a bedroom
al Joining and before Mrs. B. could do any
thing to extinguish the flames nearly every
thing IN the house appeared to be on fire. So
rapid was the spread of the fire that nearly
all the furniture, bedding and wearing ap-
parel in the house was burned before it
could be removed and but very little was
saved from the burning building.
The furniture was all new. having been
placed in the house but a few days ago, and
being poor man the loss falls heavily on
Mr. Brubacher, his loss aggregates about
$500. The house was the property of Mr.. j.
B. Carey and was too badly damaged by the
fire to admit of repairs.
The building on the adjoining lot had q
very narrow escape, the hose company com
ing upon the scene Just as it was beginning
to ignite from the heat of the burning build
ing. As it was no damage was done to it.
No personal injury was sustained by any
one though the flames made a pretty close
call on a little boy of Mr. b. who was
asleep at the time on the bed that first caught
fire The little fellow was rescued by his
mother as she rushed through the room ana
out of the house.
In addition to the loss of household effects
and clothing Mrs. b. had diamond ring III a
by some one who was present, ostensibly to
assist in saving what little was gotten out OF
the house
Mr. b. family were kindly afforded
shelter from the drenching rain that fell
shortly after the fire 10y generous neighbors.
INCIDENTS OF THE FIRE.
When the hose company arrived the inn
mense crowd cried out: ''The fire company
can do nothing. There is no water" But
when the hose cart ran up in front of the
First ward school house and strung their hose
down Lewis street, thence down Topeka and
the burning shingles thirty feet into the air
and sending a couple of brick spinning from
the flue, they sent up hearty cheer for the
hose company and the water works.
Before the hose company arrived a large
number of men assisted by a half-dozen
women were throwing wates against an ad-
joining house to keep it from taking fire.
Hugh Fortner, dressed in summer pants and
shirt ran in front of one of the ladies and
stopped to pick board from the ground just
as she made an effort to throw a bucket of
water. The entire contents Of the bucket
struck Hugh about midway between the
back of his head and his heels. Mr.. Fortner
stood not on the order of his going, but went
fast. As he climed the fence back of the
house the reporter heard him say something
like hod, lam, bell if you think the water
works can't get up a pressure just get in the
way. He thought the boys had turned the
hose on him.
Mr. Brubacher hearing that the fire was at
his house started down Topeka avenue on the
run. On the way he met a man who told
him that his house had burned and his young
est child had perished in the flames. The esor-
row stricken man knew no difference until he
found his family at the house of Mr.. Hughes.
his sorrow was turned TO joy. Last evening
a reporter called at Mr.. Hughes residence
and saw Mr.. Brubacher sitting on the steps
looking at the blackened ruins of his late
home. when bright little three year-old boy
came from the house and put his arms around
the neck Of the homeless man Mr. Brubacher
said, with love beaming in his face, This is
my baby boy that l thought was burned,
Oh, l am SO happy tonight in spite of my bad
luck