Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-11
A HOTEL ON FIRE,
But There Was No Great Damage Done to
the Building.
An Italian Fruit Store Was Wrecked,
lily ON the Owner.

Elias George Is a son of sunny Italy, and
with Mrs. George and his mother has, for
some time past, kept a little fruit store
under the Hotel Hanover, at the corner Of
Pennsylvania avenue and Sd street. He kept
the store up to o'clock this morning, but
since then he has had only fond memories
and sad regrets, for his store caught fire
this morning and in few minutes his fine
stock Of oranges, bananas. grapes and pea
nuts was reduced to a charred and ruined
mass. Peanuts are improved by roasting,
but the same cannot be said Of fruit. and
even his apples were burnt beyond the
point where they could be served as baked
apples with cream.
An Explosion and Flames.
Bright and early this morning Elias arose
and polished up his apples. rubbed down
his oranges. dressed up his window in a
style to catch passing custom. and then
was ready to begin his days work selling
de peanutta." But he needed a fresh
supply Of them roasted and he forthwith
proceeded to light the gasoline in his pea
nut rooster. But there was a screw loose
somewhere, or he spilled some Of the in
fammable liquid around, Elias doesn't re-
member just how it happened, but In a
moment there was an explosion. and his
little store was all ablaze. The flames
rushed out of the window and the fruit
seller rushed out Of the door. for a worse
scared Italian was never seen. His hair
and whiskers were badly singed. AS soon
as he had reached the sidewalk he tainted
from fright and when he recovered the
neighbors had to keep him by sheer force
what he could Of the precious fruit.
An Alarm Turned in.
Ofhcer Brennan has been on the police
force for five years and never before had a
chance to turn in an alarm, but this morn
ing he happened to be standing a short dis
lance from the hotel corner and saw the
puff of smoke and flame. and he at once ran
to box IA and rang up the fire department.
The engines were on their way back to
their houses from another fire, but lost no
time in getting to the scene of the second
disaster. and, as usual, they did wonderfully
good work in getting the fire under control
with as little loss possible from fire or
water. They confined their attentions to the
one building and kept the flames from
spreading. The store is next to the corner,
the corner being occupied as a bar room by
Henry Dismer. who keeps the hotel. The
building is an old one and of a sort that
would seem to furnish the best of fuel for
flames.
Guests All Escape.
Upstairs there were a number of guests
still in their rooms, but they were routed
out and made their escape before there was
really any danger, and there was no great
excitement outside of the George family.
Several people on the fourth floor of the
hotel were bothered a good deal by the
smoke. but there were no mishaps Of any
sort and the damage done to the upper
parts of the building was comparatively
slight. In the bar room the bottles were all
securely corked, so that the stock was not
watered.
Loss of the Italians.
Outside on the wet sidewalk stood the
members of the bereaved Italian family.
Their grief at the loss Of their beloved fruit
was SO evident that no one smiled at them.
though their antics were of the most curious
sort. Their store was burnt out completely
The peanut rooster was a wreck. There
was not a piece of furniture or a single
sample of fruit that was not burnt beyond
redemption, and the bananas and grapes
that the fremen swept out into the street
were in such sad state that even the street
urchins could not eat them. 1t was a sad
day for the Italian colony. 1t was a fire
that lasted only few minutes and the en-
tire loss probably did not go beyond 81 600
to the building and stock and all. but II
meant a tremendous loss to the hard-work-
ing and patient family Of the Georges.