Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-02-17
MIGHT HAVE BEEN WORSE
Last Evenings Fire at Harper's
Theatre.
A Blaze in the basement Causes Much
Anxiety and Considerable Damage
The Firemen.

hbt
At a few minutes before o'clock las
, evening, an alarm of fire was sent into
the water works building from the THIRD
ward. The great whistle groaned out the
number and shortly after second alarm
,, was given, 1t was apparent then, thai
the fire must be of serious nature and
people tlocked down town to learn par
ticulars. When it was learned that il
was Harpers theatre the greatest an
xiety prevailed, for one of Rock Islands
! proudest institutions was IN imminent
danger The fire was discovered through
the windows of the vacant store room in
the southeast corner, and appeared to be
under the stairway. 1t was over five
minutes before company arrived, and
then it was the Wide Awake's. only two
blocks distan,-very good time. however,
for volunteer service, The tremen at
tempted to attach hose to the hydrant on
the corner opposite the theatre, hut found
it frozen AMI then hustled down to First
avenue, where they made connections,
broke into Beardsey 81 Burgh's whole
sale liquor store, smashed the partition
wall in and put stream on the fire The
along during the course OF
the evening, but the fire WAS
controlled without the need of other fire
men. 1t would have been better, 10 fact,
| if there lad been less tiremen engaged in
the operation than there were, but with
the exception of the fact that some of
the trcmen put a ladder up to the trent
balcony aud cut hole through the plat
form at the first landing of the stairs, and
| flooded that portion of the theatre where
there WAS no need of doing so, the
fire was quite cleverly managed. Unjust
be said, though, that the absence of
proper discipline is one of the most las
inevitable failures of the Rock Island deN |
partment. The fremen are personally |
some of the most industrious and deserv>
ing men there are in the city, and are
deserving of credit for the volunteer aid |
they attempt to render the city, but when
composing the fire department, they are
an aimless, irresponsible set, that in
nine times out of ten will cause more
ruin to property than afford protec
ton But for ex Assistant Chief Sulli.
van the beautiful theatre building would
have been literally flooded last evening.
A ladder was raised and tremen started
up with the intention of taking the hose
into one of the upper windows, when MIR,
Sullivan interfered and directed them to
the exact location of the fire. Atterward
severa! of the fremen made a break for
Clemann & Salzmann, and were for car
rying out the firms furniture and flooding
the store, and getting away with the fire in
that way, but Mr.. Clemann had his senses
about him and locked his store door in
the nick of time. 1t is a matter of doubt
if there need have been anything like as
much water thrown as there was on this
occasion. When the tiremen approached,
knew the exact location of the fire, re
luested Chief Knox to allow him to show
lim where it was and thus save throwing
more water than was necessary. but the
chief showed him aside with the admoniN ,
ton that he was running that fire"
The loss was in the neighborhood of l
5 900, while the walls of the theatre are
llackened considerably by the dense ,
smoke which swept up the opening,
which was fooishly cut in the stairway
aDding. The property was insured for
$4,000, $4,000 in E. W. Hurst's
agency, and the Connecticut Glenn Falls, :
British American. North British s. Mer- J
chants, North American and Springfield
and $4,000 in j. Ed Loosley's
md German American companies.
3eardsley & Burgh loose 800 on damag- I
ID stock. which is covered by insurance. T
The origin of the fire was traceable to
he fact that plumber had been at work
n the cellar during the day thawing out =
he frozen water pipes and replacing s
amaged sections, and they necessarily 2
mployed torches in their work, and the
woodwork being dry was easily ignited
]ol. Burgh detected the smell of smoke :
efore leaving the store, and left orders S
0 have it investigated when he started
ONE. Mr.. Rettig, engineer at the Har-
er, had been directing the repairs in the i,
fternoon, and consequently was fully fl
cquainted with the locality of the fire. :
nd might have prevented considerable 4
amage, had he been permitted to do so.
What the ARGUS wants is a paid de-
and unless it is provided,
roperty owners will some day have
Jason to cry out to the city fathers, S
protect US from our protectors. \
The theatre will be repaired at once,
nd none of the engagements booked
ill be Inconvenience as result of the