The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1895-07-10
A MIDNIGHT BLAZE !.
A Small But Stubborn Fire in the
First Ward.
WASIN A DANGEROUS PLACE
Two Alarms Startled the People and
Caused the Fire Companies to
Make n Dash-Two stables
Destroyed.
AS IN A DANGEROUS PLACE

Some excitement was caused in town
shortly after eleven o'clock last night by
two alarms of fire sounded in succession
from box No. 10, which is located at the
corner of Coal aud Bowers streets. Since
the destructive fire that swept the prop
critics on East Centre street the dread
which followed the -confagration of several
years ago has been revived and the
tapping of the fire bell arouses the whole
town. The double signal naturally in
creased the ap~prehensions. Within a few
minutes people crowded all the
streets leading to the place from
whence the alarm came and they were
guided by a glare that illuminated the
heavens in the extreme northeast end Of
the town. Tue ffeinen Knew the locality
well and the danger attending a spread of
flames in that section of the town and lost
no time in getting there. 1t is very thickly
populated and in the whole area east of
Main street and north of Coal there is but
one brick building, which is the one
formerly occupied by the HERALD and
now used by the Schuylkill Hat and Cap
Company. All the other building are
two and three story frame structures, dry,
old and highly infammable. When
the firemen made their run they found two
stables in full blaze on = lot between Line
street and Apple alley, in the heart of a
nest of frame dwellings and near the two
hat and cap factories. A bucket brigade
was already at work trying to keep the
flames from spreading, but with little
success. One of the stables was a two
story structure II was filled with hay,
straw, rags, bones and powder kegs, hav-
ing been used as a place of storage by
a scavenger named Harris Gajuski.
A horse was taken uninjured from
the large stable shortly after the fire
started. a COW in the smaller stable had
succumbed to smoke, but was dragged out
of its stall to a place of safety and was
revived after some treatment. While the
iremen were at work there were repeated
explosions in the large stable. They were
caused by the ignition of the Small quaint
ties of powder left in the discarded kegs
and did not have much force. Their re-
ports had the effect of causing the crowd
to scatter, however. The rags in the build.
ing made a provoking fire. They would
blaze up suddenly when all signs of fire
seemed to have been destroyed, but there
was an ample supply of water at hand and
the firemen did not leave the place until
the rubbish was well soaked. Both stables
were destroyed. The smaller one was en-,
tirely consumed and what was left of the
larger one was pulled down, so that two
heaps of ruins marked the sites this morn.
ing. The stables were owned by John NJ.
Robbins, who also owns all the frame
dwellings in the immediate vicinity, mum.
bering about twenty-five. Had this fire
attained the Roadway the one on Centre,
Market and White streets, did it would
have been disastrous, as at least fifty two
story frame dwellings, two factories and
the Shenandoah Feed & Lumber Com.
pany's planning mill and yard would have
been swept away, and the breaker of the
Kelley Run colliery would have been in
great danger. The cause of the fire is un.
known, but it is supposed hat a spark
from a locomotive set fire to the roof OF
one of the stables. The residents of the
locality complain that people who use the
stables go in and out of them at all hours
of the night with naked candles and it is
seldom that lanterns are used.