The Portland daily press., 1893-12-13
DOANELL BLOCK.
It Burned With a Blaze
Last Night.
ATKINSON FURNISHING co.
SWEPT OUT.
The Flames Caught and Spread With
Great Rapidly.
FIVE MINUTES AFTER THE ALARM
THE BLOCK WAS ABLAZE.

$500
the Fire Spreading-No One Know.
How the Blaze Started-It Burst Into
Full Life in Second on the Third
F1oor-The Losses and the Insurance-
Smaller Buildings Crushed by Falling
Walls-Incidents of the Affair-Great
Crowds Witness the Spectacle, which
was Alarmingly Brilliant.
A very disastrous fire occurred last
evening. The Donnell block, on the
corner of Pearl and Middle streets, bet
ter known as the headquarters of the
Atkinson House Furnishing Company,
was totally destroyed, together with the
large stock of furniture owned by the
present Atkinson Furnishing Company,
successors of the old concern which was
managed by Mr.. Isaac G. Atkinson.
AS is generally the case where build
ing is filled with such inflammable mate
rial as furniture. the beginning of the
fire was remarkably violent, and it
spread SO rapid as to defy all efforts to
stop it.
The fire department were laboring I'M
der some disadvantages which gave the
fire an advantage at the start; but noskill
OF appliances could have stopped such a
blaze, and after the department
got to work it handled it wisely and eff
ficlently.
No one could tell last evening how the
fire started; and it is doubtful if it will
ever be known. The store was shut up
at o'clock as usual 1t was an i'm
mense store, occupying the whole of the
great block. and the work of shutting up
occupied those in charge some minutes
after the hour of 6. After Messrs. Cook,
Everett & Pennell moved out of the
block, Mr.. Atkinson, then manager OF
the business, hired the whole block, cut
archways through the partition walls
and threw all the floors together. Tt will
be seen that this arrangement gave great
facilities for the rapid spread of a great
fire.
Mr.. George S. Hichborn, one of the
managers of the business, was among
the last out of the building.
1t was about ten minutes past 6
o'clock when MI. Hichborn, hav-
ing gone through the building, started
for his home on Bracket street. He
saw nothing unusual in any part of the
building when he left, but had got only
to Dow street when the alarm was rune
in. In relating these particulars to the
PRESS last evening, Mr.. Hichborn said
he could conceive of no way in which a
fire could be started so soon. There was
no paint, oil or varnish in the building.
electric lights were used, so there was
probably no explosion of gas, and there
were no lamps or anything of the kind
to kindle blaze. Yet the fire started
and at a most rapid pace. AS near as
can be ascertained it was about 6. Ii
o'clock when the fire started. Several
who were near give this as the time
Mr.. Lucien Snow, of the firm of Bolster
Snow & Co., was just coming out of his
store, which is just across Pearl street
when he saw a light shining in one Of
the third story windows. In an instant
almost, the light burst forth into a great
blaze. Mr.. Snow ran at once turned il
an alarm. At the same time some o.
the employees of Cloudy & Kent saw the
burst of flame. They shouted "Firep
and Mr.. L. A. Goudy, who was in his Of
flee at the time, Immediately pulled az
alarm on the auxiliary attachment in his
establishment.
Mr.. Michael Cady, the Furnishing com
pany's fireman was in the building wher
the fire broke out. Mr.. Cady had about
finished his preparations for leaving
when he became aware that the building
was rapidly filling with smoke. He rar
upstairs and found the upper stories
ablaze. So thick was the smoke by thi:
time that Mr.. Cady had hard work tx
breathe as he made his way out to give
the alarm, at about the moment thai
Messrs. Goudy and Snow discovered the
fire.
At the same time, Officer Emery, who
had gone to the vicinity on the patro
wagon to extricate drunk from snow
bank. heard the cry of fire and pulled the
box. As the gong in the police station
hogan tapping out it's warning, Mr.
Newcomb, the turnkey, was at the tele
phone about to call up Engine SIS house
to notify them of the fire, somebody
having telephcned the news to the police
station. The fact that so many persons
gave the alarm at almost the same
afanaA Sla l,o,,