Morning journal and courier., 1891-04-06
| NEWS BY TELEGRAPH. From All Quarters. LARGE FIRE IN LOWELL. One of the Worst BIazes in
 Many Years. BRUTAL MURDER IN JERSEY CITY. Big Conspiracy Exposed by
 Inspector Byrnes.
4 QUIET DAY IN THE COKE RIBBONS.
Comment on the COntrO-
 versy With Italy.
A DESTRUCTIVE FIRE.

Much Damage Caused to Business
 Property In Lowell - The Blaze
 Started by the Carelessness of Boys
 Several Business Blocks Destroyed
 Books of the Public Library Dam-
 aged-Loss of Lodge Regalia.
 LOWELL, Mass, April 5.-The worst fire Lowell has had in many years oc- cured this afternoon. Boys set fire to a box of waste paper in the alley back of the Edson block and the fire dropped into H. c. Church & Sons cellar. It spread rap idly and the basement of this shop and C.. J. Maynard & Co.'s dry goods shop were soon afre. An alarm brought the fire de- partment and after an hours work gen eral alarm was sounded. The Edson block was doomed. It WAS four-storied block. The flames burned up through to the roof, down to the ground floor. The Edson block was a complete wreck, only the front and back walls standing. Some few days ago O. J. Maynard & Go. added s6,ooo in dry goods to their already large stock. The new goods were in cases and had not been opened. This, added to about $24, 900 in stock, was a complete wreck. There is about $15 ,000 insurance on the stock. H. c. Church & Son, fancy goods dealers, have been nov ing to new quarters and only portion of their former stock was in. They are dam aged about $S,0O0; fully insured. On the second floor of the Edson block was the city's public reading rooms for men and women, board of health office and other offices. Everything was lost, the damage being principally to furniture; fully in sured. Other tenants in the third and fourth floors lost all they had, being obliged to rnn for their lives without saving any thing. Seven or eight of these suffer ed losses of $500 to $500 each; partially in sured. Simpson 6, Rowland of Middle street had their cellar filled with four feet of water and about s, 900 worth of grocer ies damaged, the insurance being $11 .000. The Edson block was insured for $11 1000, which is nearly it's value. The fire spread east by means of an opening in the celler aud a door connecting tho second floor of the twin buildings The Masonic temple, which is owned by the Hosford heirs, con tains on the first floor G. A. Mitchell's shoe store with $20,00 stock and store operated by the Goodyear Rubber compa- ny with large stock of rubber goods put in only last week. On the second floor isl the public library of the city with Al ,OO0 volumes. On the upper floors are the quarters of the Masons and Knights Templar. Mitchells store was scorched from end to end and what in the way of damage the fire failed to do here the water did. The stock was made @ complete wreck. There is an insurance of SIG, ,O00 on it. The fire burned all of the library books in the alcove under the stairs lead ing up to the Masons' quarters. The rest of the library was wet considerably, but the shelves gave considerable protection from the water and many thousand vol umes escaped. A great number, however, were blackened with smoke or soaked with water. The library was insured for s200, 900. In the masons' quarters, fitted up with an ex- pense of SIC, ,00O, the damage was mostly by water. The organ was burned up, sev- eral oil paintings of dead masters destroyed and a hole burned through the floor. About 300 Knights Templar regalia were somewhat damaged by water and smoke. A blanket policy covers the lodges prop erty, but the loss on regalia will fall on the individual members. The loss of the Goodyear company cannot be estimated. Their property was away from line of fire and the loss is mostly by water. The tenn pie was damaged about $7, 900.