Omaha daily bee., 1891-11-18
MILLIONS co UP IN SMOKE.
Valuable business Property Destroyed by
a ST, Louis Fire.
BRICK WALLS ARE MELTED LIKE WAX.
Heroic Work Of the Firemcn-One
Life Lost, Four Men Wounded
The Boss-Other
BlaZcs.

ST. LoUGs, Mo, Nov. 1.-THE cold wave
which reached this city last evening was the
cause of one of the most disastrous fires
which has visited st. Louis in many years.
AT an early hour this morning one person
was probably killed, two badly hurt and
sl,0OO,OOO worth of property went up in
smoke.
1t about 4 80 o'clock fire was discovered
in the furnace room Of the large dry goods
establishment of Penny & Gentles, on the
corner OF Franklin avenue and Broadway.
The Waterman quickly turned In
an alarm seeing the terrible We
locity with which the flames greed
lily devoured the iDhammable material
In the basement in a second, and within Ten
minutes after the discovery Of the lire a gen
eral alarm was sounded, which brought the
whole fire department to tho scene Not-
withstanding the heroic work of the hremen
the flames quickly ate their way to the top
OF the building, and within an incredibly
short space Of time the entire store was a
mass of s~eething flames, the roar of the bre
being heard for two or three blocks. A cold,
high westerly wind was blowing at the
time, rendering the work of the tiremen
almost useless, as the water poured on the
DNAllNihb SciAh' w
more of Uil than water.
The flames spread to Sonnenfeld's MILL
merry store, south of Penny IL Gentles on
Broadway. This is the largest establishment
of the kind in st. Louis, occupying four floors
of the north end Of tho Famous building.
Efforts of the Firemcn utile.
The most strenuous efforts of the firemen
to quench the fearful flames seemed like
those Of liliputians, and, Notwithstanding
their noble work, the fire swept on towards
the south, eating its way through thick fire
proof walls into the mammoth shoe and
clothing house of the Famous company. Ihls
is the largest house of the kind in the
west, and here is where the most destruction
was wrought by the seemingly unquenchablc
fire fiend. The Famous company occupy the
building on Morgan street and broadway,
about 1875 feet front and seventy-hve feet
deep, four stories high. AS soon as the fire
attacked the Famous establishment the
flames here found ready fuel ard the fire.
mems efforts were futile to stay the spread
of the devouring element, so they turned
their attention to saving adjoining property
on Broadway, Franklin avenue and Morgan
street.
The fire was so hot, however, that no one
could remain on the street facing the burning
buildings and Crawford ~ Co.'s i'm
mense dry goods store, on The southwest
corner OF Broadway and Franklin avenue,
was greatly damaged by the terrible heat,
which broke the thick window glass and
started a fire in that building, the whole
front part of the store at one time being on
fire, but the firemen, by almost superhuman
efforts, managed finally to subdue the flames,
and by this time the heat from the other side
of the street had subsidized somewhat, enab-
ling the tiremen to go on Broadway and
fight the flames from u better vantage
ground.
At :45 the walls on the west side of the
Famous and Sonnenield's building fell into
tho west alley with a loud crash, and a
moment later the Morgan street wall of the
Famous fell. A squad of tiremen al work In
the alley narrowly escaped being caught
under the falling walls.
Shortly after 8 o'clock a flame appeared
at the cornice of the Weineman house, which
is directly opposite the Famous on the east
side of Broadway. In a few moments the
roof and upper story Of the large four-story
smoke from the fire or the other side
of the street made it impossible
for the tiremen to work at this point for some
time, but a lull in the wind, or rather a
change in the direction, swept the smoke
away and gave the firemen a chance to COM
bat the terribly destructive flames.
Losses by the Fire.
Before the department could obtain the
mastery, however, the row of retail stores
from the northeast corner of Franklin avenue
and Broadway to the middle of the block
were badly damaged. These were as follows
Square Deal Clothing company; L. b. Stowe
81 Co., groceries; Mrs. M. Tobln, millinery
the top floors of this building were occupied
by the Weineman house, the guests of which
made their escape in safety; G. Thai & Co.,
clothiers New York Millinery company and
the koppelman Furniture company.
The row of stores on Franklin avenue were
also badly scorched. These buildings were
occupied by the following firms: O.. w.
Heyer, drugs; Ed f. BOIL, hats; Grierson 81
Co., hats; E. II. Korthamp Il Co., jewellers;
st. Louis Tailoring company.
Next to the Penny II Gentles store on
Franklin avenue was the dry goods emporium
of Thomas Hodson. The firms occupying the
Famous building. outside of the Famous Shoe
and Clothing Ompan and the Sonuenfeld
Millinery company, were: Mcdonald Bros,
hats; g. Il. Clements, shoes, Charles Silk,
gents furnishings and cloaks. and Specht 4
Ritter, clothing. These were completely de-
stroyed, nothing but a pile OF ashes marking
the place where stood three of the largest
dry goods and clothing houses IN the west,
The fire throws about 1900 people out of
employment, a majority of them being in the
employment of the Famous company.
One life was probably lost aud four per-
sons were injured by the fire. The where
abouts OF Night Waterman Jasper, employed
by lthe Sonnenfeld Millinery company have
not been discovered, and 1t is thought he was
killed.
tircmen John Lynch ard Alonzo Sims
were hit on the head by falling bricks and
badly hurt-the former so seriously that it
was necessary to remove him to his home.
Mike Corners, n roomer at the Weineman
house on Broadway and Morgan streets,
jumped from a third story window, and his
life was saved by his fall being broken by
electric wires. However, his leg was
broken.
A. S.. Taylor, n newspaper man, received n
severe shock from an electric wire and was
hit by falling debris.
The losses and insurance are as follows:
Loss on stock and fixtures of Famous Shoe
and Clothing company, S7OO,O00; on build
ing, sos, 900; on stocks of Perry Il Gentles,
5000, 1000; building, $4,000; on Sonnenfeld's
stock, $4,000 0 cd building. $50, 900. The in
surance is; On stock owned by the Famous,
S15O, 0OO; on building, $4,000. On stock OF
Penny & Gentles, Sl50, 900: on building, $780,
900. On SoGnenfcld's stock, 100000; on
building, $4,000. Minor losses will aggregate
$4,000,
Other Conhagrations.
New YoRK, Nov. l7.-Fire broke out at 9
o'clock this morning IN a row of wooden
tenement houses. The prompt work OF tho
police and iremen undoubtedly saved many