St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-12-16
The Firemen Called From Their Ball to
Wrestle With An Obstinate $780,
900 Blaze.
Many SalOOnkeepers in OOurt-some of
Them Plead Guilty and Settle
For $40.
The Case of the Man Who Built on
Another'S Land Now in the
Courts.
Fourth Annual Ball of the Ffremen--
Turkey for the POor--The
Mills.
A $4,000 FIRE.
a Paint Factory and n Laundry Con-
Sido.nI ,Ir N m .auesl s.nSsnS

a Painr Factory and n Laundry Con-
sidera1ly Damaged--EOSses.
The firemen had something to do last
evening besides attending their annual ball.
A fire broke out on the second floor of the
brick building at 211 Sacond street south.
and it was two hours before the flames
were entirely extingrished. The building
was occupied on the first floor by the Office
of the Minneapolis steam laundry of L. Z.
Mercer and the W. w. Sly Paint Manufac-
turing company; on the second floor by the
the apparatus Of the laundry. and on the
third floor by the Minneapolis Towel eX-
change and W. T. Phelps sign painter
The fire was discovered at O'Clock by Z.
]. Savage, one of the laundrymen, who
was sitting in the office. His attention
was attracted to the second floor oY
cracking noise, and, going up stairs, he
found flames issuing from the drying room.
situated in the center of the second floor.
He turned in ar alarm as quickly as posi-
Bile. but before the arrival of the
firemen the flames had eaten their way
through the third floor and were licking the
rafters of the roof. By using the Hayes
truck the firemen succeeded in getting
stream of water on the roof. and fought the
flames from the inside with several Otaer
streams, fairly flooding the building. The
water froZe quickly and the tiremen resem-
bled so many animated icicleS as they
moved about. while the building was COM
pletely covered with ice. The roof and
third floor fell through, the charred
timbers falling upon the second floor
which has probably sagged under the weight
so that practically the destruction Of the
two floors, with their contents and the
roof, together with damage by water to
stock stored in the cellar, constitutes the
loss.
LOSSES AND INSURANCE.
The building is the property of S. S.
Skinner, of New York, and is a brick
structure, three stories high, with a thirty
foot front. The damage probably amounts
to SIS. coo. which is Just about covered by
the insurance. T. E. Mercer places his
loss at 81. 1000, which includes damage to
his laundry apparatus, and the loss of
some 900 packages of clothing belonging to
customers His insurance amounts to
81, GOO. which is with companies repre-
scented by S. c. Gale and E. b. Ames. The
loss to the w. W. Sly Paint Manufacturing
company consists largely OF damage by
water to dry stock stored in the cellar, and
cannot be accurately estimated. The en-
tire value of the stock is $50, 600. which is
probably damaged to the extent Of from
So. 600 to 81. 600. and is fully covered by
insurance placed with W. A. Barnes.
S. c. Gale and [. c. Seeley. The
total loss is in the neighborhoOd Of
$50. OOO The occupants OF the building
announce that they will resume business
this morning without interruption, and last
night had secured temporary quarters,
which will be occupied until the repairs to
the building are completed. The origin of
the fire is something Of a mystery. The
second floor, upon which the dry room was
located, was covered with brick, and had
been pronounced to be reasonably safe
from fire by inspectors only few days ago.
1t is not unlikely that leaking gas was
primarily the cause of the conflagration.
One of the incidents of the fire was the
blockade of street cars on Washington
avenue, lasting over an hour, and affecting
four of the principal lines of the city.