Evening journal., 1890-07-02
LAST EDITION
PHILLIPS 8 KANE FIRE.
Losses to the Buildings and
Stock Aggregate $40, 900.
SEVERAL BUILDINGS DAMAGED.

oils and Burns With Great Rapidity.
Encient Work by the Firemen Pre-
vents Greater Loss.
The building No. East Fourth street,
occupied by Phillips & Kane, dealers in
paints and artists materials, was de-
stroyed by fire to-day. At 1880 o'clock
during the heavy part of the rain storm
an alarm Of fire was sent in from box
No. 10 in front of the City Hall.
Part Of the department quickly
responded and the remainder came out in
response to second alarm. The Wash
ingtun Company put it's engine at Fourth
and King streets and had the first stream
on. The other engines were soon in SER
vice and Chief Engineer Edward A Rob
insoa directed them with precision.
Origin OF the Fire.
About 10.40 o'clock this morning, John
King and Arthur Cuff, the latter young
colored man, were at work in the cellar
of the building moving some barrels of
oil Suddenly they heard noise in the
south west corner Of the cellar, and in
stsntly realized the fact. as clouds of
smoke arose from a keg of oil, that there
had been q spontaneous combustion.
They hurried to the first hoor and
seized reel of small hose which hangs
in a convenient place, and rushed into
the cellar, which was rapidly filing with
smoke. They had hardly gotten the
hose attached to the water pipe when
another keg near the first burst
and ran all over the floor
The men rushed upstairs and
alarmed everybody in the store. Mr.
Kane and the book keeper, Miss Maud
Todd, who were in the office. gathered
up ell the ledgers and most valuable
books, threw them into the large safe
and pushed the door to- They then ran
from the building, although with
great difficulty, as the smoke was blind
ing, and almost sitting George Mckay
and Edward Hunter, clerks in the store,
hurried to the street, and the former
left his coat, vest and a valuable gold
watch, which he had not time to get.
The Alarm Sounded.
Hunter ran to he City Hall and had
the alarm sent in The inhamm mmable
nature Of the material made The large
crowd which gathered, afraid to go near
the building The burning oils made
dense, sitting black smoke that OBJ
seured the building. The flames starting
in the cellar, rushed upward, eating into
the frat and succeeding floors With start
ling raDidity The work Of the fremen
was directed to confne it within the
walls, and was partially successful The
; smell Of burning oils and paints was
sickening ana filed the city.
Contents Of the Building.
In the cellar, among many barrels Of
paint, oil, and lubri Eating oil, were the
following combustible materials: One
barrel turpentine, one barrel benzine on
tap, one barrel OF headlight Oh tap On
the first floor were two large bulk
windows, containing artists materials.
The Office was ON the eastern side, and
the remainder Of the floor was heavily
stocked with paints, glass and similar
materials The second floor contained
dry colors and on the third floor
the headquarters of the linemen and the
store room Of the telephone exchange.
The First Regiment Band had its
headquarters en- the fourth floor. The
band had played on the Bachelor
Boat Clubs excursion last night and its
members had taken their Instruments
home Consequently the only loss to the
band was about $25 worth OF sheet
music, chairs and music stands
Bad Place for a Fire.
The locality is bad place for FIRE, as
the description viii show. The north
east corner of Fourth and Market streets
is occupied by the Delaware and Atlantic
Telegraph and Telephone Company s
building, in which is the banking house
of R. r Robins & Co.. the office of
Brickmaker Alvan Allen and Architect
n. ii. Cloud and the telephone exchange
MicSael Cardinelu has large fruit stand
in the basement. The three story build
ing, No. 3 East Fourth street, Is oceu-
pied by Holt, formerly Holt 6 Earle as .
rustic dairy Csrdinelli lives on the
second and third floors.
The Phillips & Kane building comes
next and is described elsewhere.
No. z was recently occupied by Smith
Il wilkins, dealers in glassware, but is
now empty
George Hollis has stove store next
door and is fully insured. Charles Yet
ter's bakery and residence. g. M Smeltz
4 Company's commission establishment
and residence, Hanf's jewelry store and
Janvier's -four store make up the square
to King street
The back of the burning building was
uncomfortably near the rear of many
Market street establishments.
Fire Lines stretohed.
Chief of Police Swiggett arrived on the
scene at II 80 o'clock, with large corps
of officers, who Immediately began
to stretch ropes, and keep the crowd
within bounds The officers worked
steadily all through the pour
ing rain and the chief white
plug hst soon resembled a dish rag
Hundreds of umbrellas covered the heads
of the multitude all along Market
and Fourth streets, and during the pro-
gress of the heaviest rain the crowd
diminished but slightly. The street
markets, which had been thronged
all the morning, were deserted. The
stores in the vicinity of the FIRE did very
little business, so great was the crowd
about their doors
The Market and Fourth street lines of
horse cars ran to the fire lines on each
side and transferred passengers. The
horses were attached 20 the opposite end
Of a car, and in this manner the trans
portation of passengers was continued.
Work of the Firsmen.
The work of the fremen was not ONLY
constant but effective, and many of then
stayed at their posts until completely
overcome with the smoke, exertion anc
heat and almost drowned by the heavy
spray from the high s treams The
''played out" ladGies were brought into
the street and resuseitated after which