The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1891-09-12
WORK OF FIRE BUGS
Three Incendiary Attempts
to Burn The Dalles.
THE LOSS SINCE WEDNESDAY
Citizens Stand Guard All Night to Pro-
tect the City from Pire--Pub-
lie Meeting Called and
Action Taken.

soon dlscoYered TO proceed from the Ia
grounds. As quickly as possible larp
crowd of excited people ran to the scene {
the conAagratIon, and found th
the long line of stalls near the pavilio
wrapped in flames. Very little water wa
available, and the only way of saving tn
structure was by tearing down some of tn
sheds, and thus allow the destroying ele
ment to exhaust itself. This was activel,
done, and to the efforts of John Dexter, Ed
| Mays and others whose names we woulC
| gladly publish if we knew them, the re
mainder of the stables were saved. There
were some of our leading citizens who
formed bucket brigade, and kept the sides
of the large pavilion well saturated with
water. At the first alarm the greatest ex-
citement prevailed to take the horses out,
and this ,Sas successful except in three
stalls. The flames had so far progressed
that it was impossible to take these out,
and they burned in the stables. They were
valuable animals and were in training for
>the races. As far as we can learn one was
owned by Mr.. j. H. Larsen, and the other
two by Mr.. Andy Allen.
Las. night, about o'clock, an alarm of
fire was sounded, ana as quickly as possible
the engine and hose company werc rushing
to the scene of the confagration. 1t proved
to be the barn of Mr.. J. T. Peters & Co.,
very near to his planning mill and lumber
yard, and the flames were bursting through
every part of the building before the de-
partment began work. There were three
horses in the building, and 1T was impossi-
bic to remove them, as the flames were un-
der such headway that no one could enter
the barn. The department worked hero
ically and used every endeayor to Hubdue
the flames, and remove the lumber. At
the corner of Madison and Second the en-
gine was engaged in pumping every availa
BILE gallon of water from the cistern; bu
twice the water gave out and the depart
ment had to wait for the cistern to fill.
After two hours determined work the
flames were got under control, and the
losses sustained were the barn, three horses
and one or two lumber piles. 1t was a
most fortunate evening, as there was not
breath of air stirring, and the fire could be
fought from several directions.
The planning mill was well protected by
wet blankets and by men. standing on all
portions Of the roof. 1t was in great dan
ger from the start. and il the usual breeze
had bee. slowing, nothing could have
saved the building. As IL was, the barn
was the only structure destroyed, and one
or two lumber. piles burned. Afr. Peters
loss is estimated at 81 900; but we presume
he has some insurance.. This falls particu-
larly heavy on him. as his two-story store
went up in flames Wednesday afternoon,
and Is the second loas by fire to him during
the week. .-.sf.,, a..
The two incdndiarY fires of Saturday aud
Sunday nights aroused the citizens to a de-
termination to place guard at every street
corner, and when the flames at Peters lum.
ber yard were under control, armed men pa
trolled every street corner and marched
through the alleys. These were composed
of business men who had pecunisry inter
terests at stake, and who were fully deter
mined to stop incendiarism at all hazards.
About 3 o'clock this morning an alarm of
fire was sounded, and this was found to
proceed from the frame outhouse attached
to the second story of the brick Union
lodging house. Mrs. Britton, who occupies
the dwelling in the rear of the lodging
house, said she smelt coal oil and heard two
or more persons climb over the fence and
beat hasty retreat. She Immediately gave
the alarm to the guard; but the fire bugs had
escaped In the darkness. The flames imme-
diately shot up this high closet, and rem
dered exit from the building quite danger
Gus. All persons were removed without in
jury, and the prompt action of the depart
ment stopped the fire from making further
progress. The little building attached was
charred almost to cinders, and it was very
fortunate that 1t was not made the means
of destroying the remaining portion of the
city. This SO aroused and alarmed the peo-
pie that public meeting was called this
morning at 10 o'clock, at the court house,
at which there was fair attendance.
THE PUBLIC MEETING.
A citizens meeting was called this morn
ing to devise ways and means to meet pres
ent emergencies, which was called 70 order
by Hon. J. B. Crossen, and q. J. Farley
was elected chairman and George P. Nor
gan secretary.
On motion of E. Schultz, committee Of
five was eppointed TO consider and suggest
ways and means to report to the general
meeting. The committee consisted of E.
Schultz, J. o. Mack, Geo. A. Liebe, d. M.
French and S. L. Brooks. Mayor Mays
was also made 3 member Of the committee.
After deliberation, the committee report
ed in substance as follows:, That the COM
mittee had full confidence in the constituted
authorities, both city and county, and re-
commended that council meeting be called
by the mayor for the purpose of passing an
ordinance authorizing the employment Of
sufficient number of men to fully protect
and guard the property. The first duty Of
these policemen will be to send all ques-
tionable characters cut of town. 1t was
also recommended that all places Of bust
ness except eating houses, be closed at IL
o'clock midnight and remain closed until 5
the next morning; and that no intoxicating
drinks be dispensed. either in public or pri.
vate, during any conhagration, be 1t large
DR. small, and that any person violating
this ordinance shall forfeit his license.
A resolution was passed that a committee
IF three be appointed to investigate all fires
md causes of fires, and if necessary, in
heir Judgment, have the same pub
ished in the city papers. The committee
consisted of B. s. Huntington, Geo. Wat
kins and Col. I. s.. Lang.
On motion of Col. Lang, every citizen
was to constitute himself committee of
,ne to report to this committee Of three
any information relating to the matter.
Before purchasing railroad and steamship
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