Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-04-23

Cured in Rock Island was that which
happen ed shortly before midnight yester-
day. and which involved the destruction
of the centre station. car house and
stables of the Moline & Rock Island horse
railway line of the Holmes syndicate. to,
gether with fifteen cars and forty-two
head OF horses. The actual loss will, al
the least calculation. be $4,000
| while. when inconvenieb CO and loss
of time is taken into consideration. the
amount will be much more.
1t was II: 20 O'Clock when the fire was
discovered by the Waterman. VIM. See,
who was eating a lunch in the office in
the northeast corner of the building. All
the cars on this branch had then rLn in
for the nigh except one. No. II. which
was coming from Moline with the Rod
man Rifle military company, which had
attended battalion drill there in con-
nection with Company F. Car No. II
was being driven by Fred Ordell. barn
boss. and was on the top of Gordon's hill
the other side Of the railroad viaduct,
when the fla mes burst forth from every
part of the roof of the barn. 1t was just
at this instant that Watchman Slice dis
covered the FIRE and gave the alarm.
Ordell whipped up his horse and reached
the barn as soon as possible.
THE SCENE.
The water works whistle gave the
alarm for the Seventh ward, the fire
bells set up changing and the volunteer
department responded as promptly as
could be expected, but by the time the
tiremen arriv ed on the scene the building
was so completely enveloped in flames
that nothing could be done save to pro-
tect adjoining property. The frame
dwelling Immediately west, and formerly
occupied by VIM. Gamble, the old SUI
perintendent and into which Assistant
Superintende Robert Hill had Just
moved. soon caught and was partially
destroyed, ard. but for the service of the
Rodman Rifles, who formed themselves
into salvage corps. Mr.. Hill would have
lost all his household furniture.
Mr.. Hill had been through the barns
at II o'clock, and all was right then. He
had hardly retired when he was aroused
by the cracking sound of burning tins
Der. He arose with the thought that his
own house vas on fire, and hurying
forth broke open what doors of the sta
bles were not already open, hop
ing that the horses might, in this way.
escape. He attempted also TO break in
the rear door In his efforts to save the
horses. but the flames and smoke beat
him back. Hill struggled bravely to
rescue the horses, even to the neglect of
his own effects in tie house adjoining,
but to no avail. and forty-two of the
unfortunate brutes
Persisted IN THE FLAMES
OF this number was Supt. Schnitger's
familiar little sorrel mare. which he had
driven for q number of years and for
which he had a particular attachment and
priced very highly. Last night for the
first time he left the horse at the stables,
as he had driven it considerably yester-
day and it was somewhat lame. When
he arrived last night and learned that not
only his own horse, but that .forty-one
others had persisted. he was visibly af-
fected. A horse belonging to E. P. Rey-
nolds, which was being tried with a view
Of purchase. was likewise destroyed.
The sight and sound of the horses in
their frantic efforts to escape from their
imprisonment beggars description.
Doubtless a large mum Der would have
been saved. had they dashed out of the
doors, as many broke loose from their
halters and we're to be seen running
about the building and falling as the
deadly smoke Frustrated them. They
we're all with one exception too much
frightened to come outside of the build-
ing. One of the number, however, q bay
horse known as Punch" rushed out
with halter, N ane and tail ablaze and was
caught and 50 we'd, and the others were sll
lost, with the exception, of course, of the
gray horse. Colonel" which was at,
tached to the car en- route from Moline.
Fortunately the work OF cremation was
short. as the animals were suffocated by
sense of feeling must have been partially,
at least, destroyed, and the whole catas.
trophe was oyer in less than three quar-,
tiers of an hour, and a mass of ruin only
remained to indicate the site of the sta
bles.
TIL CARS DESTROYED
were fifteen in number. but these. of
course. did not include the six new blue
cars run on the Union branch, which,
with number of the old original cars of
the Moline d Rock Island road, were in
the Union barns just within the Moline
limits. The stock of the Union branch
was thus also saved. The cars lost in the
burned building were numbers /, 2,
4, 8. and 9 of the old Union
line, and which were all comparatively
new and had been running on the
through line FOR the past four months.
They were painted yellow; car IL. one OF
the last purchased by the Moline & Rock
Island company before, and the com
panion to II. cars 9. 8, 2 and ID. the lat
ter the large open car. all being red carl
/ e .Le cid MoIine a Rock Island. road 10