The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-04
TORONTO A PREY TO FLAMES.
THE LAST FIRE TUE THIRD BIG
ONE WITHIN TWO MONTHS.

The Loss by the Blaze just Subdued
SI,2OO,OOO and the Insurance $780,
OOO-Stnrted in "a Big Five story
Grocery and Lcapcd From store to
store With Great Rapidity-The
Firemen Handicapped by Lack OF
Water.
Toronto, Ont, March S.-The third dis
astrous conhagration. which has visited
this fre-strlcken city I'm less than two
months, occurred this morning and the
loss by to-day's disaster is fully as great
as either of the previous two visitations.
This time the fire originated In the heart
Of the retail section Of the city. starting
at 12:lO O'Clock this morning in the splen-
did new departmental store OF Robert
Simpson. on the southeast Of Yonge and
Queen streets. The Simpson building was
an immense five story structure COM
pleted only six months ago at cost OF
Sl50,0oO. The fire started in the rear Of the
southern annex and spread with such
rapidity that within half an hour the
whole building was mass OF flames.
utes after the discovery Of the fire and
the whole brigade We're on the scene be
fore 1 o'clock. but their combined efforts
to eonfine the fire to the Simpson building
proved futile. The only steam fire engine
in the city was brought into action to as
sist the streams from the hydrants and al
though the water pressure was fairly
good, the firemen were unable to throw
a stream to the upper stories of the build
ing. The front wall fell at 1 o'clock with
a terrific crash and twenty minutes later
the whole building collapsed like an egg
SHE'LL sending sparks and clnders flying
in all directions.
Meantime, the fire had crossed Queen
street, and the big clothing store Of Phil
lip Jameson, on the northwest corner Of
Yonge street, was quickly destroyed.
The adjoining dry goods house Of Jo-
seph Sutcliffe & Sons. Immediately north
and west of Jamleson's fronting on Yonge
street, with an annex running through to
Queen street, was completely gutted, and
the structure is a total loss.
Next north was George McPreson's boot
and shoe store. This, too, was badly gut
ted.
South of Simpsons. on Yonge street.
the large jcWelry store Of John Wanless
was damaged considerably IN the rear,
but the front portion escaped serious in
jury.
Crossing Yonge street, the fire next at
tackled the Henderson block on the north
east corner of Queen street, occupied by
James Bonner, a dealer In gentlemen
furnishings and Miss NJ. r. Brisley, a
milliner, both of whose stocks were COM
pletey ruined.
The roof of the c. F. Adams & Co,
house furnishings store, next north was
burned through and the valuable stock
of furniture, carpets, etc, was much dam
aged by water
A change of the wind caused the flames
to leap south across Queen street and the
Imperial bank, at the southeast corner
| Of Yonge street. was soon ablaze The
lower fiat, occupied by the Imperial bank
as a branch, was flooded, but escaped
serious damage by fire. The remainder
of the building, occupied by j. f. Brown
/ & Co, as a furniture and carpet ware
/ house, was less fortunate and their inn
| mense stock is a total loss.
The next two stores to the south, 'front.'
| ing on Yonge street and occupied by
| James Miner & Co, hardware dealers.
and c. NJ. Henderson, auctioneer, lost eve
| rything. South Of these were Dunfeld &
/ Co, gentlemen's furnishings and the Tre-
| mont hotel, both Of which were badly
! gutted
Creeping east to Victoria street. the
| fire found its way to the knights Of
! Pythias hall, where its progress in this
direction was finally arrested. This hall
was considerably damaged and the
| Knights lost most of their furniture and
| regalia.
| Just as the fire was believed to be un-
| der control a cry went up from the crowd
/ that the tall steeple Of the Knox Presby-
terian church, 200 feet high, on Queens
| street, to the west of Simpsons, which
| by this time was only a smouldering heap
| of ruins, was on fire. In vain did the
! hremen turn their most powerful streams
! upon the speck Of fire. They could not
! reach half way up, and before long the
steeple burned through and fell with q
/ great crash. Down into the bell tower
1 the fire ate its way. and at 4 o'clock
] the great bell whose deep, sonorous tones
/ have rung upon the air at every
/ morning in the year for more than a
! half century, fell, tumbling down into the
] basement of the tower, where II lies
/ buried under a mass of debris. The fall
! ing of the tower enabled the hremen to
reach the flames, and they were quickly
! under control.
| The building in which the Jameson store
| was situated was owned by the Ontario
| Agricultural and Art Association, and in
! the upper portion of this building was
| agricultural hall. In the archives were
| some valuable collections Of cattle pedi-
grees and other official stock breeding
records, all Of which were burned and
| cannot be replaced.
| The losses and assurances are estimated
/ as follows
/ Robert Simpson. loss on building and
/ stock, 100000; insurance, $3.50, 900.
/ Phillip Jameson, loss on stock, s125, 900;
/ insurance, $4,000
/ Loss on building owned by Ontario Art
! Association, $4,000; insurance, $4,000.
| Insurance on stock breeding records, etc,
| $4,000.
| Satellite & Sons, loss on building and
/ stock, S15OO00 insurance $4,000
Knox Presbyterian church, damaged to
| the extent Of SIS 900; fully insured.
fremont house, loss $4,000; insurance,
/ $4,000.
John Miner & Co.. loss, $4,000; insur-
ance, $4,000.
J. +. Brown & Co.. loss, $4,000; insurance
! $4,000.
ance. 5000.
| ]. Bonner, loss. $4,000; insurance, 1900.
1 Pythian hall, loss, $1,000; insurance, SO