Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-12-15
Smoke.

About half-past 2 o'clock on the after.
noon of the 18th, the upper floor OF the
A. E. Shapleigh e Cantwell Hardware Com
pany's extensive establishment, on North
Main Street, st. Louis, fell in with a crash.
This floor was covered with heavy agricult-
ural machinery and in it's fall carried down
the third floor, stocked with shelf goods,
and the second floor filled with sample
goods. In a moment or two the debris
caught fire, presumably from the over
turned stoves, or possibly from the furnace
in the basement, and with startling
rapidity flames shot up through brok-
en- timbers to the roof The building was
soon mass of ruins. Two employees are
supposed to have been burned to death.
The house carried q heavy stock, valued at
the present time at about 100000.
What part of this, if any, can be saved is
not known, but the probabilities are that
it is all ruined. The insurance amounts to
$3OO,OOO and is divided among one hun
dred companies, chiefly Eastern and foreign,
in sums ranging from So, 500 to $4,000.
The extensive wooden mills at Clinton,
Mich, burned on the 18th. The loss was
$1SO,O0O. The building was lighted by gas
made from gasoline. A pipe had burst,
filling one room with gas. Eddie Coddling,
bobbin boy, went into the room with a
lantern at 6 O'Clock and an explosion fol-
lowed. The fire spread rapidly over the
mill. The boy was badly burned, but was
rescued alive. Ed. Hutchinson, the boss
carder. was cut off in the second story. He
jumped from a window and his leg was bad
ly hurt. The building was of brick and was
five stories high. The business employed
ninety people and was a profitable institu
ton. The mills were built in 1866 by q
stock company of Clinton capitalists, but
we're mostly owned by David Hamilton, of
Detroit. The insurance is $50, 600.
The business portion of Attica, O., was
destroyed by fire on the 10th. The loss is
$15O,OOO; insured for about SIS, 900.
The fire broke out at o'clock in the bust
ness center, in q grocery owned by John
Carpenter. The whole block was soon in
flames. There was no apparatus to fight
the fire with, and a bucket line was of little
avail. The principal losers are J. r.
Strandler, hardware, $4,000; r. T.
Hearsop, druggist, $4,000; Arma-
tage IL Wurtz, hardware; $4,000;
John Carpenter, grocer, $4,000; Jacob
Englehart, carriage warerooms, SIS, 900;
Joseph Halter, builder, $4,000; Small &
Horn, building, $4,000; Isaac Tanner,
building. So 900. All the business blocks
on the other side of the street were be dIy
scorched, and the Grand Army of the Re
public hall was burned with all it's furni.
ture and records. j. r Strandler's build
ing, large three-story brick, on the corner
of the square, was blown to atoms by an
explosion of dynamite and gasoline in the
cellar. The insurance is divided about
equally between the German American,
Cooperative, Phoenix, Milwaukee Mutual,
Home and Columbia insurance companies.
Fire at Buffalo early on the morning OF
the Sth destroyed the large candy factory
OF Slbey & HOLLYWOOD, the Brozel House
and the large building on the west occupied
jointly by Frank A. Campbell as hat and
cap store and T. w. Reynolds, boots and
shoes. The loss is 500. 900; insurance $780,
900. The guests of the Brozel House lost
their clothing and baggage
The loss on the Lyons mansion at Utica,
N. Y, burned on the 9Th, will amount to