St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-09
CAUSED BY CROSSED WIRES.
The Western Union Building at
ST. Louis DESTROYED

The Western Union Building at
ST. Louis Destroyed.
ST. LOUIS, No., Jan. S.-The Western
Union Office, at Third and Olive streets,
is in ruins. Its walls still stand, but the
inside is completely Quilted. A network
OF wires and cables leads into the build
ing by way of the roof that tops its five
stories. The storm of Yesterday loaded
down the electric wires, as well as the
telegraph and telephone wires, with a
heavy coating of ice. During Yesterday
and last night many breaks occurred,
and service was badly interrupted. At
abont o'clock this morning a wire lead
ing to the basement of the building came
IN contact with broken electric light
wire, and at once the building was
on fire. The basement has few people
IN 1T and the trouble being anticipated
from the wires on the roof, if at all,
little attention was given the basement
and the fire had gotten beyond control
when discovered. The fire department
made hard fight, but the mass of wires
which almost shut the light out of the
streets near the Western Union build
ing, prevented successful work, and the
firemen would not risk their lives in
cutting them until the electric light
wire currents were turned off. About
ten streams of water were poured into
the building for over an hour before the
fire was gotten under control. The As
ISOLATED Press office was situated on
the second floor of the building and
WAS TOTALLY DESTROYED.
But few persons were in the building
when tine fire started. and although sew
eral had narrow escapes, all reached the
ground in safety. Several firms occu-
pied offices and stores in the building,
and their loss will be total. Following
is list of occupants of the building and
estimated losses: Western Union Tel
egraph company, $4,000; Daily Print
ing company, $1,000; Allen & Ginter.
cigarettes. $1,000; Bradley Printing &
Roll paper company, $4,000; Nj. A.
Dahlgreen, cigars and tobacco, 1000:
Charles Schiller, restaurant, $1,000;
Stephen Ruigley. owner Of building.
$4,000. Adjoining buildings were
water. The Western Union Tee-
graph company are fixing up temper
airy office near their former site, and eX-
pect to be in condition to handle bust
ness in a few hours. The Boston CeIe-
graph company'S wires were not af-
fected by the fire, and large force of
men are successfully engaged in hand
ling the enormous amountOf extra bust
ness. Business at the stock exchange
and mining exchange was almost totally
interrupted owing to loss of wires and
quotations. The Associated Press is
without wires so far, but expect to be
in condition for transmission of news at
about noon. The United Press wires
are working in good shape, and bust
ness being taken care of with prompt
ness.
CLEVELAND, o., Jan. S.-The fur
niture establishment of RaffSon d Rug
Ter, at SanduskY, o., burned tonight.
Loss on stock, 5000; insurance. $50
coo. Loss on building owned by G. E.
and 6. A. Cooke, $4,000; insurance,
$4,000.
SALT LAKE, Utah, Jan. Sat an
early hour this morning the hosting
works of the Anchor mine, in Park
in short time all the buildings, COIL
sisting of the hosting works, ma
chine shop, blacksmith shop and
saw mill, were entirely con-
sumed. In addition to the buildings,
the machinery and engine are a total
wreck, as also is the drilling apparatus.
The loss cannot be estimated, but it is
many thousand dollars, covered by in
Surance. The plant was one of the best
IN the country, being complete in every
respect.
New YORK, Jan. S.-The stable of
the Central Park Riding academy, at
Fifty-ninth street, was damaged to the
extent of $1,000 by fire this afternoon.
About 200 horses were turned into the
street to save them. ALI were recap
tured during the evening. Some classes
of young ladies were riding in the acad-
envy, but left the building without hay
ing been in danger. The loss is coY-
cred by insurance,