St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-24

4I9Sc ana May Ac at 1850. November oats
are lIsc better at 34Ac. December s4c up at
3234c, and May gained the fraction at 334c.
December pork is down 212c at S.. 42l5, Jan
uary lost lUl2c at SIl.15, and May is 12l4c
lower at S115O.
we shall do toward Carrying on our business.
We will figure on that in the morning. We
cannot stop work entirely We have orders
fill and will make some temporary ar
angement to fill them until we eau get To-
ated again: While we are undoubtedly COW
red by the insurance. our business will suffer
tremendously from the fire"
Made Fierce Blaze.
The wind was from the right direc-
ton to protect the big buildings along
the west side of Third street. There
was SO little heat there that not one
pane of glass was broken. The crowd
was ranged along there through all the
fire. Buildings to the south of the
burning block were the ones that were
in danger. The strong wind caught up
the torrents of sparks and flaming Gin
ders that were thrown into the
air high above the burning shoe
factory and whirled them south
ward over the highest buildings,
dropping them i'll the streets and on the
roofs. Hennepin avenue looked like a
bed of live Goals. The cinders were
even carried. over on to NicOllet avenue
in such clouds that they made travelling
there uncomfortable. About ten
streams and the water tower were kept
at work on the burning building and all
the other apparatus was employed to
save surrounding buildings. q
At one time it looked as if kthe build
lngs along Hennepin avenue between
Third street and Washington would go.
The rear ends Of these blocks were
closest 10 the flames of any buildings.
On the corner is the block the corner of
which is occupied by the Flour City
National bank. That was the safest Of
the lot. 1t does not project back as far
as the rest. Next comes the six-story
was in danger. The window
frames were smoking at one time
and here and there could be seen little
tongues of flames that were all ready to
burst into serious contiagratiOn. But
the windows on that side are protected
by iron shutters when the shutters are
closed. The firemen had to go up and
close them. Then the wall needed a
good deal of wetting before 1t was en-
tirely safe. Some damage was done
up Sin fthere, principally by water.
The block is filled with offices and the
damage cannot be estimated, even, until
the owners get around this morning.
In some offices the damage extends only
to the paper and carpets, while the fire
got into others and created little loss.
Next to the Sykes block is one of those
shells that were probably here, from
surface indications, when Col. Stevens
built his first house. 1t is q three-StOry af-
fair.and flied almost entirely by dodgers.
The building is owned by man named
Bach. 1t used to be called the Phelps
block. Out of that building poured
nOndeScript colony of human beings
that would defy the descriptive
Pen of IL Dantc.
They carried everything with them
from babies cradles to curling tOngs.
One woman was SO anxious to
save her photograph album that
she forgot to take her baby with her
and had to send Officer MOrrISSey back
for the little one. Those buildings were
really in danger, but the danger was
exaggerated by the enants. The firm
men were ND in all the rooms with lines
of chemical hose pouring the mixture
| on every suspicion of flame.
! Only their prompt attention saved
| the chemicals were in all the blocks
| facing on Washington, between Hen
nepin and First avenue north, too.
! There was not much danger there at
! any time. The NicOlet house people
| were already to leave at one stage
| in the progress of the confagra-
! ton. Some of the guests even
carried their baggage down stairs
! The dodgers in the blocks along NicOl-
let. between Third street and Fourth
street, were also frightened. They all
carried their traps down to the sidewalk
and shivered in the chill night air.
There is not an awning On Nicollet or
! Hennepin, between Third and Fourth,
that is good for anything nOw-all are
| riddled. At one time it was impossible to
walk up either of these avenues because
of the sparks. The cinderS fell as far
south as Fourth avenue south and then
drove people out of the blocks down on
Second avenue south. No one in Min
neapOlis ever saw so much property de-
strOyed in such short space of time as
last night. The fire started, as
stated, at $50, or few min
ties before. Within an hour $3.50, 600
worth of damage had been done and the
fire was under control by midnight.
There was little left of it-a pile of rub
| bish in the basement was burning and
that was all. The fire department did
excellent work on the fire. In the
teeth of hard wind they
confined the flames to their birth
| p. ace. 1hey could not nave Done
more. There will be some lively igur-
ing among the insurance companies
after this fire when it comes to settling
up the losses.
Insurance Companies weak.
1t was the common talk among sew
eral insurance men last night that three
or four companies that have been Sc
verelY punished in the recent fires
will go to tile wall. None of
them would say what companies
they were, evidently being afraid of
casting the first stone. But they were
positive that there would be several
break down. Another effect will be
that some of the companies that have
been making the biggest effort to get
business in Minnesota will draw out of
the state entirely. They have suffered
so much here of late that they will refuse
to write Minnesota Insurance hereafter.
The Minneapolis agents are dreading
the settlement day. Every Office in the
city has some of the loss to bear. it is
reported that several companies have
been caught for amounts running pretty
high into the thousands. The Mime
apOliS agents have been taking
such risks, too, that it will go
hard with some of them when
they came to settle with their COM
panies. The losses that will have been
paid on fire in Minneapolis, as!sOOn as
the losses on this one are settled
amounts to over S2,000,000.