San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-02-25
DESTRUCTION
WORK OF THE FIRE FIEND
A HEAVY LOSS BY AN EARLY
MORNING BLAZE.
Two Acres of Business Property
swept in the Centre of the
City and Only Walls
standing Today.

dun ~, COl hOi iiooSSS
Flores street, gave the alarm this morning
at 2:45 o'clock.
Officer Bovee turned the key.
He had discovered a fire on his beat,
and it was burning brightly by the time
he gave the alarm. i.
The fire was located in the block OF
iron clad and stone buildings on the south
side of Houston street from the bridge
west to Soledad street.
1t apparently originated in the rear
part of the Chinese curiosity store owned
by Quong Sam Long, but just how is
not known. The Chinaman who sleeps
there probably kicked over his opium
lamp. The occupants saved themselves
but did not save their goods.
The fire department was quickly on the
scene, and went to work the best they
knew how to quench the flames. They
met with great hindrance, however, both
from the immense crowd that had gath
cred from all parts of the city, and from
the fact that in two OF the lire
hydrants they could get no water.
men not knowing how to work the
plugs, or from there being no water in the
h%ydrants, it cannot be determined, but
the fact remains one hydrant on
Soledad street could not be made
to produce the necessary water
and one at the corner OF Houston
and st. Mary's streets was in a like condi-
ton. Thirty minutes OF valuable Time
were consumed by some of the tremen in
the>e m%anuevIes and the fire was roaring
and cracking. IL had communicated to
both Olsen & Wakes large furniture es-
tablishmenJ on the left and to the great
store house of Alling & Cumins Milbnrn
wagon establishment on the r ght.
The firemen finally got a plug open on
.,,oot Ann, fha falnnhnnn nIhnn
and several more streams being secured,
they went TO work outside, throwing
water. Meanwhile efforts were made by
the police and the crowd who were Will
ing to work. trying to save goods and
chattels in the burning buildings. This
was a severe and risky undertaking, for
by 3:15 o'clock, not only the house of Oh
sen & Wake and the Mil
burn Wagon company were burning,
but the three-story stone building owned
by Mr.. George Maverick, corner of Soledad
and Houston streets. had caught and the
fire crept around on Soledad street and
communicated with No. 3S, occupied by
GuessaZ & Ferlet and the Democrat print
ing office and even threatened the county
courthouse.
1t was a very hot fire and
threatened to overleap Soledad street,
and sweep the block in which Mr.. Wolf
sons great dry goods establishment is To-
Gated. ,
Bucket brigades were organized and
did effective work on the roofs of adjacent
buildings. Among these Messrs. Druse
and Dan Lewis, on the courthouse roof,
discovered and e~xtinguished lire
in one of the Mansard towers.
to the right of the figure sof
the Goddess of Justice. This part of the
roof is a regular fire trap and had 1T got
well aire the county commissioners would
have had to hold court on the founda-
tions of the new courthouse today. The
record vault was very hot, the iron shut
tiers of the windows being al
most red with the heat. The corner OF the
rear part of the Devine building caught
from the heat and burned out a n
and part of a room.
From the time when the fire started
until 6 o'clock this morning the hremen
and the people worked trying to save
what they could. A great deal of office
furniture in the Maverick build;
ing was saved, and a great deal
more was lost. The fire was gotten I'M
der control but the buildings were totally
wrecked. The Maverick building is roof
less and completely Quilted. So Is the
Ross Kennedy building at No. 50 Soledad
was saved. A large lot of valu-
able printing material, presses and
other machinery, stationery, etc., was
rendered one c~onglomerate mass oSmelt-
ed lead. iron and glass. Guessaz a. Fer
let lost all they had, and even some val
liable guns and some Knights OF Pythias
swords in the house were burned. =,
The Milburn Wagon company had
fronts on Houston and Soledad
streets. The building on Soledad street
was a two story one and the whole. estab-
lishment carried a heavy stock OF valu-
able wagons and carriages. These were
reduced to nothing but iron work, which
filled the cellars. The company's safe
was in the front on Houston street and
lies today in the midst of the w~reckage:
A safe in the third floor OF the Maverick
building, owned by Chas. Sauer, came
tumbling down when the floors burned
out and nearly killed a man working at
the fire. The great press In the printing
office took a tumble too, and lies today
tilted on one side in the ruins.
The view from Houston street bridge 10
the corner looking west is unobStructed
today, and nothing can be seen In the
ruins except the sheet iron OF which the
buildings on this side was constructed.
The loss is very heavy n a great many
firms are losers, besides many professional
people and little shop keepers. One In
surance man estimates the total loss at
from $4,000 TO 100000. though this is
probably q high figure. Taking the cost
of the buildings into consideration, rough
estimates on the stocks of goods carried
and the insurance the, loss Will go, al
conservative estimate, at about S23O,UU.
The people dislodged by the ire are as
follows:
Olsen e. Wake, furniture; a barber
shop and a fruit stand; a stock OF Second-
- -. a.. TAf,nCn cfnFn. Al1nn N