Morning journal and courier., 1890-09-05
RUIN BY FIRE AND WATER.

RUIN BY FIRE AND WATER. The Large Brick Building on State
 Street Occupied by the New Haven Rattan Company, The New Haven
 Wire Goods Company, Kelgum
 Company and Other Concerns De-
 strOyed by . Three-HOurs, COnfla-
 tion-victOr Nuh1ich, the Incen-
 diary, Under Arrest for Arson-Loss
 Between $2O,OOO and $3O,OOO-
 Partly Insured.
 One of the most destructive fires which has occurred in this city for several months nearly destroyed the large brick four-story building at $50 and 552 State street early this morning. The structure was occupied until a short time ago by the New Haven Folding Chair compa- ny and was then owned by I. Fl. Damn & Co. Since this firm re- moved, it has been occupied by five con cerns The southern half was occupied by the New Haven Rattan company, which had large stock on hand. The first floor of the northern half was occupied by the New Haven Wire Goods company, the floor above by the Kelgum Betting com pany, the third floor by Whitmore's Eureka Tricycle. company and the top floor by c. von Gruttke, cigar box manufac- turer.
 Shortly after 12 o'clock Allen s. Ostran- der, g conductor on the New York and New Haven railroad, saw fire and smoke
 coming from the top floor windows Off,
 cers Ahearn and P. Doherty discovered the l fire at nearly the same time. They sent an alarm to steamer No. 3 and rushed to the door of the structure. Before they had
 reached it man staggered out and reeled along the walk. By this time large masses of flame were breaking from the upper l windows. The officers put the man under | arrest. He was in state of intoxication and gave his name Victor Muh- lich. He boards just across the street from the building and has been in the employ of Gruttke, the ci- gar box manufacturer. He had 8 key to the building and says he went up to the fourth floor last night to get an account book which he had left there when he left last night. He would say nothing when questioned as to his doings in the building and was too drunk to ac- count for himself. He was held at the police station under the charge of arson. The fire department arrived promptly upon the scene, but some little time was | lost in getting @ stream to reach the
 upper part of the building where the
 flames were bursting forth. A second alarm was sounded and it was not long be, fore all of the city fire department was
 hard at work upon the confagration. The chief attention of the fremen was to ! confne the flames to the upper story where
 they had originated. Below was the Kel- | gum plant. If this should be reached by | the flames, nothing could save the entire
 building from destruction. In their eff ] forts the fremen were success full and the damage to the building below the fourth floor 1 is confined to that done by water. | Flames continued to be seen about the upper windows for nearly three hours | after the first alarm had been sounded. The bright reflection of the blaze upon the sky and the noise of the engines at l tracted a large crowd to the spot in the l early morning hour.
 1 The building was an old structure and | had been injured twice before by boiler ex- l plosions. It made an easy prey for the flames. It was stored throughout with highly combustible materials. The New
 Haven Rattan company, the box ma nu
 facturer and the Eureka Tricycle. company all had a large stock on hand and thil
 was mostly consumed by the flames Q
 the outset. The entire stock in the build ing was destroyed either by fire or water The building was insured to o. B. Bow l This is held by Sperry & Kimberly, c. w
 Wilson & Go. and McNeil
 The damage to the structure will prob
 ably amount to about $20,000.
 The great loss upon the stock of tn
 concerns in the building was done mostl,
 by water. About half of the total loss i
 secured by insurance. George E. Whit
 more proprietor of the Tricycle. company
 had it's stock insured for about $2, 900 ant
 he estimates the damage at overdouble thi n c. von GruttEe, the e-cigr box manu facturer upon the upper floor where tn ) fire started, values his stock at &, 800. l l was completely destroyed. He held in surance of $1 ,0O0 upon this.
 The stock of the Kelgum company an
 of the New Haven Wire Good company could not be estimated b the officers of these concerns who were a
 the scene last night. Both have recent
 made large purchases of supplies. Tn loss to both firms, over insurance, is est mated at about 5000 The New Have Rattan company lost heavily upon manr factured stock which had not been ir
 sured.
 The aerial truck was early at work, bu
 its efficiency was badly impeded by th network of wires which surrounds tn |, building. Before it could be used effet
 tually these wires had to be cut by tn j firemen.