St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-06-28
MANY WE'RE FRIGHTFULLY MINGLED
But They Escaped With LifeH1MCDond1ds
CrOCkefy Store and Adjoining StruCtr
dfes in Ruins.

the main alley Of the west side
building near the rear. AS they
work, not noticing the effect of the
roaring fire within, the companies
and the great crowd were horror
stricken to perceive the side wall
slowly bulging out. In vain they
shrieked to warn the flremen in. the
alley, but they might as well have
whispered amid the roar of Niagara
as to have expected a human voice
to have been heard above the roar
of the flames. Not until the walls
gave an ominous cracking too we'll
distinguishable from the breaking Of
stringers greeted their ears did the
firemen under the wall take note of
their perilous position. Some of
them were in time, but for the most
of them it was too late. Hemmed in
by buildings and their apparatus, es-
cape was almost impossible. The
falling Of this wall gave the sea of
flame an outlet on the west and
somewhat weakened the force of its
assault on the opposite side, and
accordingly contributed somewhat
to the success of the fight against it
on the Washington avenue side. The
opening in the wall also gave fuller
means of inlet for the flood of water
that was constantly being poured in,
and soon the fire was under control.
but it had done effective work
while it lasted. Aside from the
1nTfx
loss will reach nearly if not
FULLY 100000.
Definite information concerning
the insurance on the burned proper
ty was hard to obtain last night.
None of the insurance offices were
open during the evening, and but
few of the agents were present at
the fire. The usual amount carried
by Mcdonald on the stock of glass
ware and crockery was 100000 Sew
eral insurance agents who held small
lines were of the opinion that this
had been increased to $4,000, al
though they did not know definitely
The insurance is placed in nearly all
of the companies having an office in
this city, with $4,000 in two of the
large agencies. 1t is said that one of
these rs the Gale agency. The loss
on the building and the insurance
could not be learned. Manager
Rothchild, of the North Star Cloth
ing company, was seen an instant
and stated the total amount of stock
carried by his concern was in the
vicinity of S,O00 This is insured
for about two-thirds Of the face
value. Mr.. Rothchild stated that
he believed the total insurance
to be in the neighborhood of S35. 900.
Jacob Bago carried an insurance of
about $4,000 on his stock in the
Carmen. The loss on this stock will
amount to that much.
The building in which the North
Star Clothing company is located is
owned by r. G. Witen, but the in
surance could not be learned last
night. The loss will not be anywhere4
near that on the North Star cloth
ing stock, due largely to the dam
age to the latter by smoke and fire.
So far as could be learned last night
the total loss will not be more than
100000, while the insurance will
come pretty close to that figure.
The entire stock of Mcdonald
Bros, including four floors and a
basement filled with crockery, much
of it of high grade. Up to 1 o'clock
this morning the members of the
firm could not be found to make any
definite figures of the loss. The
chief losers, aside from the McDon-
aids and Thomas A. Harrison, who
owned the block, are Jacob Barge
and the North Star Clothing COM
pany. When the west wall Of the
Mcdonald building fell, the terrible
conclusion so shook the solid struct-
ures adjoining that they rocked on
their foundations. Those who
watched the effect of the shock on
the Barge building say that it
seemed to move in a stately wave.
The North Star front was thrown
out in heap as by the force Of
some interior explosion.