The Ottawa free trader., 1889-05-04

A dearth OF devices Tor the quenchlng oil
Tres was the cause Of forty thousaud-dol,
la. fire in the usually quiet village of Utica
on Sunday morning. Saturdays sun had
gone down leaving the thoughtful Ii tie town,
nestled bet ween her rock bound hills with
the fathering head of old starved Rick
raised proudly above her, in the peace OF
pastoral repOse, her green leaves and pretty
! bones suggesting coming Sabbath of unin,
terrupted joys Sundays sun arose and
| found her pride and boast a mass Of smok-
| ing hdeOus ruins. Her only complete bus'
! mess block was u mass of reeking, smould-
ering embers
At two O'Clock on Sunday morning the
wild cry of fire, so fascinating yet so dread
ful sounded upon her streets aud her church
bells rang the villagers to rescue her fast
burning buildings. The overturning OF a
lamp in McGuire's store caused its explo.
sion. How il was overturned no one knows
Mcclure was asleep in the rear end but
heard no sound until he was awakened by
the cracking Of the flames about his head
lie was sound sleeper and 1t was not until
the quilt at the foot Of his bead began smOk.
ing that he jumped from his couch and
sought means of escape, finally emerging
into the open air, through the smoke and
flames, minus the greater portion of his hair
and beard. la twenty minutes after Nc.
CURES escape the adjoining buildings had
ingnited. Mcclure was in the center of the
block and the flames torched with equal
rapidi,y in both directions. A strong north
west wind was blowing and wherever fire
showed itself it was quickly famed into
blaze and the blaze into conhagration of
doomed business houses.
The villagers, old and young, hastened to
the scene of devastation in Gro owds. Bucket
brigades were formed and for an hour
frenzied attempt was made to halt the ad
vancing sheets of fire before they could
reach an adjoining structure. But the effort,
though most praiseworthy one, was una
vailing, for the burning buildings we're old
and well seasoned frame structures-ideal
tinder boxes-and thousand pals of water
would have had as little effect upon the roar
ing furnace as one. When it was seen that
The fire was wholly without the control of
the citizens, the fire departments of this city
and La Sale were appealed to for aid, but
on account of lack of trains the department
of this city was unable to embark upon the
cars until 3 40 m, and did not turn its
nozzles upon the burning block until quar-
ter after four. At that time, when the flames
had been cracking for two hours and half
it required Il three hours wrestling to re-
duce the embers and prevent the wind from
carrying them out aud over the town, which
was IN imminent danger. When the smoke
cleared away ashes were scattered over the
foundations of twelve buildings and their
contents, and Utica had suffered a loss of
not less than forty thousand dollars. The
principal losers are:
John Holcman, $4,000 hardware stock
and building.
NJ. Kavanaugh, $4,000, saloon fixtures an d
brick building.
Mr.. j. Donaldson, two huidings, So 900.
A. T. Griffin, building $1,000
Utica Cement Co., double frame house,
$1,000
Richard Hallett, meat market, 81 900.
j. f. Mcclure, groceries, 81 900.
folrad & Warner, meat market, 5000.
Little or no insurance was held on the
entire block and the loss is almost total
one. The fire laddies from this city were
treated royalty and are loud in their compli.
ments upon the liberalty of the gentlemen