St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-02-03

cHGlIcly ulllllS Gildt pdI6 vi CdiIOll SblCOe
directly in front of the doomed building.
A few minutes after 3 o'clock the heat
Was so intense as to be almost unbear-
able, even at Seneca street. The sky
was
ILLUMINATED FOR MANY MILES,
and crowds from all parts of the city
kept the police busy. At 1925 the rear
of the siX-story building of Sibley &
HOLLYWOOD had caught, and portions of
the back of the Broesel house were
smoking. There were nearly fifty tons
of starch stored in the top floors of the
Sibley & HOLLYWOOD building, according
to the statement of one of their employees,
and the starch burned like finder when
once ignited, carrying the flames through
from the rear to the front of the build
ing in few moments. At 1927 the rear
of Swift & Stambach's and T. G. Rey-
nOld'S stores, Oh Seneca street, were in
full blaze, The fire ran along the roof
as though the material that composed it
was paper. At 1886 the southwest
corner of the Broesel house was burn
ing fast. The guests were moving out
their baggage, and large number of
firemen went to the aid of the
guests in the hotel. The wind had
shifted to the northwest, and the
sleet was coming down in torrents,
which added to the difficulties under
which the firemen labored. At $40 the
roof of S. F. Egan's whisky store, just
east of the Broesel house, was on fire.
The firemen on Seneca street directed
their efforts to the buildings OH the
other side of the street. The front of
the Broesel house had become mass
of flames. Shortly before o'clock the
sixth floor of the Sibley 81 HOLLYWOOD
store fell with tremendous crash,
SENDING A STORM OF DEBRIS
and embers in all directions. AT this
time the top floor of the Jewett build
ing appeared roaring oven. The scene
on Carroll street was appalling. On the
north side of the street the Sibley &
HOLLYWOOD building was in ruins. and
the Jewett building was blazing from
basement to roof. The large six-story
building occupied by Moffatt Bros,
Hotfeld & Co. and other firms on the
opposite side, next to the Root &
Heating ruins, was yet untouched
but at 4:10 the corners of the top story
began to blaze, though the firemen held
them in check for time. The walls of
the Jewett building now began to
bulge. and the crowd gave howl of
warning to the firemen. At :15 the
walls fell with shock that fairly shook
the surrounding walls, and before the
cloud of dust cleared away a ter
rible panic took place. A fran
tic struggle was made IN get
ting out horses from stable
next to the Jewett block. By 4:05 o'clock
the Broesel house was abandoned to
the flames. At rs the front of the
Broesel fell in with laundering crash,
and the firemen in front narrowly es
capped. One fireman was felled to the
ground, but heroic fellow-worker
rushed to his assistance aud carried him
off. Despite the efforts of the fire
men, Egan's whisky story was in
full blaze. There was nothing to
do but leave the fire to run its
course. At 4 40 fire. burst through the
fronts of Seneca street stores of August
Eys, and an empty store adjoining.
Fowler & Sons place was filled with
wood for carriages. Adjoin-
ing was small fruit store, and then
came Sidney, Sheppard & Co.'s man.
moth stamping works. At o'clock the
Seneca street stores up to Shephard'S
HAD BEEN WE'LL Quilted.
The wind by this time had died out.
The fire extends from A. L. Kerr & Co.'s
down Seneca to Sidney Sheppard 81
Co.'s; all Wells streets burned through
to Exchange street and the corner is
burned completely to the Arlington
men were at work in the ruins at the
rear of the Arlington hotel, when the
western wall of the rear extension
fell without any warning. ALI of
the men were out of the way
of the falling bricks and timbers but
Driver r. Marion, of Engine No. 10,
and John Moest, foreman of Engine No.
9. MOest was struck on the head with
some of the bricks, receiving bad scalp
wounds and being otherwise injured,
Poor Marion was Instantly buried in the
ruins and, if not killed at once, his
life must have been soon crushed
out by the great weight resting on him.
Frantic efforts were made by his COM
rades to reach him but without avail.
Marion was about thirty-four years of
age. Part of the wall to the east went
through the American Express barn,
demOlishing large section
of the roof and one side of the structure.
The official record shows that between
8 and 5 O'Clock this morning, wind
velocity of thirty miles an
hour, and at times between 8 and 4
D CLOCK ICdClSu Unity -uNC MIiCo. IhC
fire beginning in the big Root & Keat-
ing building, spread by contact or the
force of the wind blowing at the time
in all directions, but chiefly to the
northWard and eastward. Wells street
IS A COMPLETE DESERT
from Seneca to Exchange street. an ap-
palling chaos and brick. twisted iron
and an inextricable tangle of wires.
The total area included in the burned
district is roughly estimated at seven or
eight acres. and the total num-
Der of buildings destroyed or
Quilted. at forty. The principal
losses are figured about as follows:
Root & Heating, $3.50, 1000; their tenants,
e2OO, 600; s. s. Jewett & Co., 500, 600;
Broesel house, $3.50, 900; Sibley & Holm
wood, $3.50. 600; Fowler & Sons, $50. 600;
s. A. Egan, $40, 200; Sidney, Shepard &
Co., $50, 900; the Arlington hotel, SIC, 900;
a .T.Kerr & Co., $50. 0OO; Strootman build
ing and tenants $500, 900. Losses on Ex-
change street. $75, 900; losses on North
Side Seneca, $500, 600; other losses, $780,
300. This would make total of 1885,
600. Opinions have been given, how
ever, that the entire loss will not fall
short of $S.000,000.
COMPANIES HOLDING RISKS.
The following is list of assurances
as far as completed: Niagara, 81 800;