St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-06-07

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ity were filled with smoke.
By 8 o'clock the fire was practically
eXtinguished. though the firemen re-
manned nearly an hour longer to make
sure that there would be no renewed
outbreak.
The weather. the time of day. the
streets being comparatively empty, the
absence of wind, were all in favor of
tne'department, and the fire was
Handled With Skill.
Quick work was done by the men as
whole, and there were several in
stances of individual bravery. Men
were seen entering buildings when the
| interior seemed from the outside to be
hill of swirling fire. When the roof
Tell several men were nearly hurled to
the burning crater underneath, and it
! took steady head and a strong will to
retain position on the narrow walls.
No one was seriously hurt. A few
firemen cut their hands on window
| glass, and two or three spectators were
| hurt in the surging crowds. The po-
lice had their hands full to keep space
| clear for the firemen. The crowd was
one of the largest seen at recent fires.
The people seemed to look upon the
spectacle as frst-class entertainment.
and were i'll the best of humor. A band
OF college boys came along In body
and gave the college yell, which also
added to the merriment.
The Secretary Talks.
j. w. Haywood. seen after the fire
was over, said that 1t was impossible to
estimate the exact loss. He understood.
however, that the insurance agents esti-
mated it at IS per cent OF tine value of
| the stock. He could not cay what the
| stock was worth exactly, but an eSti-
mate of 100000 is not far from correct.
| 1t was insured for so per cent of its
value or about 1926, 1000.
The company is known as the Brad
street-Thurber company, incorporated.
Dexter Thurber is president, and j. W.
Haywood is secretary, treasurer and
general manager. Mr.. Thurber is at
present In Europe.
The origin Of the fire is mystery, as
there was no fire In any form anywhere
in the building, except in the basement.
Electric wires are all through the
building, and it is supposed these are
the cause of the conflagration. The
Thick Partition Walls
again proved efficient in preventing the
spread of the fiery element. Nine years
ago, when there was large fire in'the
Syndicate block, the walls prevented
the flames from reaching the building
which was burned last evening. How
the water came to penetrate the walls is
not clear, but the pressure being great
from the volume it is supposed that it
worked it's way through defective places.
The insurance is all held through the
Syndicate Insurance company. A men,
Der of the company, who witnessed the
entire conflagration from start to finish,
and who was here, there and every
where, said:
''lt n a very hard matter to make
anything like an accurate estimate as
to the entire amount of damage, but
should place it at $4,000 The building
was loaded down from top to basement
with the most valuable furniture in the
Northwest, and upon the fifth and sixth
floors was all of the new, and
Duplicate stock,
and also the carpets, of which there
was an immense supply and all of the
fine draperies. These were all bis
tered, scorched and watersoaked. while
the delicate textures of the draperies
are utterly ruined through the black
smoke. The tons and tons of water
poured into the upper story have del
uged the beautiful floors and ruined
everything. There is sea of water
above which will have to trlckle down
drop by drop, and there is no help for
ii. ! never saw such an AFFECT picture
of ruin. In my opinion the flames orig |
mated in the rear portion of the sixth |
floor, where the broken or scratched |
furniture was repaired. In this section |
and upon the floor below was just such |
material as was ready food for the |
flames. think 1t was marvelously |
good piece Of fire fighting, and the de- |
partment deserves long credit mark"
The stock of Hudson d Co. suffered |
but little. There Is fine four-foot fire |
wall separating the burned portion from
the adjacent sections of the Syndicate |
block, and, save for little water which |
managed to trickle through somewhere, |
there was nothing in the Hudson store |
TO denote the proximity Of the ire, save |
slight confusion in the appearance of |
the stock. Mr.. Hudson's stock was |
fully covered by insurance.
Manager Conklin Talks.
D. F. Conklin, who is manager for the |
Grand portion of the property, says |
that the manner in which Chief Runge |
and his men handled the fire is worthy |
OF the highest commentator. 1.-The
heighth of the building and the eleva-
ton of the flames rendered it difficult |
and hazardous" said Mr.. Conklin,
"but there was splendid discipline all I
around. 1t was at an unlucky |
hour, when most Of the fire.
men were at supper, yet 1t
seemed but trice before engines were |
putting Oh every corner, and full COM
plement of men were at work. sup
that had the building been of the steel
girder, fire-proof kind, the entire stock
would now be in the center, but am
serious. Had the floors been of steel |
girders the heat would have warped
them out of plumb, and down would |
have come the whole inside Of the
building"
The water tower was god-send, and
the hurculean protector of the fire |
quenching element redeemed itself from |
the filings which have been thrown at it.
By the dollars 1t saved last night, it
Paid for Itself
many times over. Crowds watched its
operations in awe as tons of water we're
hurled with 4 noise like thunder against
the corniceS and front of the burning |
building. Nothing could withstand the
terrific force of the mighty stream,
which was furnished by four powerful
engines.
The fire sadly demoralized for the
evening the theaters. AT the grand the
performance was postponed as matter
of safety, although not penny's worth
of damage was sustained by the theater
building; which was protected by a
double fire wall. Everybody sought the
and the scene from the top OF
an adjacent building was an inspiring
one. A sea of upturned faces filled the
streets and every available window,
while thousands of eyes were leveled
upon the firemen as they hung to their
aerial positions upon ladders which