St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-04-13

LOT elIner loss or insurance. as the salvage
cannot be other than roughly estimated.
The Boston block was built in 1881 by
Whitten. Burdett q Young of Boston, under
supervision of L. S. Burlington, and cost,
in round numbers $3.50, 900. Six stories in
height. of Ohio sandstone. with ornamental
pilasters and columns, it was a handsome
block and for time stood without peer in
the Northwest, though overShadOwed by
structures since erected. 1t was never
claimed to be fire-proof, and yesterdays eX-
perience proved it to be anything else. In
every way il made fire extremely difficult
to handle. yet subjecting the fire department
. to all manner Of criticism at the hands of
, the maSsed humanity on the streets-a
crowd which the police should never have
permitted to assemble and impede the work
OF the department.
DESCRIPTIVE.
The fire originated on the third floor, in
the warerUOm of Miller Bros. 6E Fletcher
and the first alarm was sent in at 1910. A
second call followed promptly and brought
the entire department to the scene. At
this time the smoke was pouring fercely
! from all of the rear windows of their upper
. floors but on the Third street front escaped
only in such small quantities as to give rise
to the belief the blaze was a small one and
might easily be eXtinguished. The origin
OF the fire was near an elevator shaft, not
far from the central court, and the heavy
draught famed the first sparks into a Wig
orous blaze. Within two minutes the upper
floors were filed with a
DENSE, sUFFOCATING SMOKE
that greatly retarded the iiremen, and made
the rescue of life and property difficult and
dangerous. The nerve and bravery of a
few men, in hoistiug ladder from the roof
o. Of .,Ii h,,il,
five women who had been caught by the
wall of smoke and flame, and penned where
death seemed inevitable. Fortunately. the
noon hour had nearly emptied these floors,
else fatality would have been added to the
story Of the fire. The last man who re-
mained on the upper floor was taken from
the window of the electric clock office bv
the HAYES truck. which had unaccountably
not been used before.
As quickly as possible the pipemen had
carried lines of hose up the stairways,
hauled them through windows and made
connection with the standpipe in the rear,
but the fire was steadily at work in the core
of the structure, sending out impenetrable
volumes Of smoke that baffled the firemen
and made the attack from the outside all
but futile. The inside of the building
seemed doomed and hundreds of hands
were at work i'll a short time removing
valuables. Much was thus saved, but on
the two upper floors The smoke prevented
any great effort and the loss there was very
heavy. Baskets, barrels and bags were
used to lower goods to the street. when
they were carried to places of safety. but
quantities of valuables were recklessy
thrown from windows and irTeparablv
damaged. The building was largely filled
with law offices and contained, besides
these valuable collections of books. the
county law library valued at $50, 900
at least Several publishing con-
Germs occupied the upper floors,
l.. S. Buffington's atelier took much of the
third. while the first was occupied by the
pOStOffice and Miller Aros. & Fletcher, hard
ware dealers, whose quarters extended in
the rear to the fourth floor. III all of them
the work of removal was briskly carried on,
while the flames steadily pursued the
workers and the water rained in over ALL
The smoke poured in binding clouds from
the windows and suTged through the corri-
dors, but the fire was confined and not a
glimpse of blaze had been seen from the
street below. Suddenly Chief Stetson ap-
peared on the fourth floor and directed all
efforts to saving goods below. announcing
the upper floors doomed. Presently the
flames burst through the composition roof
and taking deep breath of air rushed to
the destruction of the interior By judicious
measures after this time the fire was
M&Cc1 KEPT FROM THE FRONT
where the work of salvage went on briskly
What the waler and fire had left was re-
moved. but the fire and smoke had com
pletely blackened many of the halls and
rooms which with their contents were a
total loss. The fire ragged two hours before
it was under control and then obsti-
nately defed efforts at extingushment
for an hour longer. At 5 o'clock it was
practically over, but the stately Boston
block was sadly changed. The upper rear
portion of three floors had been completely
gutted: tile roof was gone and the Third
street front WAS cracked and scorched on
the upper stories. with the pilasters split
and Clipped and the stone blackened. The
building had been deluged as thoroughly as
though plunged beneath the water. Water
dripped like rain from every foor poured
trNtn the windows and stood feet deep in