St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-02-26
MINNEAPOLIS
BAD PAIR OF PANTS
Those Worn by an Oiler Catch
Fire and Burn Up
$4,000.
CROWN LITHOGRAPH PLANT
Badly Damaged by Fire and
Water in the Centenary
Church Building.
CROWN LITHOGRAPH PLANT
TWO MEN ARE BADLY HURT.
Other Employees We're More or
Less Burned Firemen
Cut by Glass.

A disastrous fire broke out yester-
day afternoon in the old Centenary
church building, corner of First ave-
nue. south and Seventh street, which
contained the plant of the Crown
Lithographing company, and the
Housekeeper' Publishing company.
The contents of the building were
badly damaged, entailing a loss of
over $4,000. The insurance on the
plant was about $4,000, placed with
the Jacob Stone agency.
The fire originated in very pc
culiar manner. Yesterday afternoon
an oiler, whose overalls were heav-
lily saturated with benzine, was
standing near a dynamo, when his
clothing became ignited by spark
from the dynamo. The name of this
oiler could not be learned. In a sec
ond he was a mass of flame. Fore
man Joe Murphy was standing near
at the time, and Immediately caught
up a huge sheet of paper and
wrapped the oiler in it, in hope of
eXtinguishing the flames, but the
paper and Murphy both caught fire.
In an ineXplicable manner, and in al
most less time than it takes to tell
it, flames were shooting up the ele
vator shaft near which Murphy and
the Oiler had been standing, and
burst through the roof, as if so
much finder had been burning. Cries
of fire resounded throughout the
building, and every one hurried to
get out, and many were injured in
this way. Murphy and the oiler
jumped from side widow and
caught on two heavy wires. Although
the distance to the ground was not
over ten feet, Murphy fell and
broke his wrist, besides which he
received a number of cuts and
bruises. The oilers name is sup
posed to be George Matter, and he
it was who jumped with Murphy.
Bystanders assisted the two injured
men to the nearest doctors Office.
Matters hands were literally cooked,
and he was badly burned all over
his body. After his wounds had been
dressed he was removed to his rooms
at the st. Leon hotel, where he was
resting easily last night, and will re-
cover all right.
MHrphy's arm was dressed and the
cuts and bruises fixed up, after
which he, too, was sent to his home
at 2305 Eighteenth avenue south.
The first alarm of fire was sent in
by an employee at about $50, and by
the time the fire department ar
rived on the scene the smoke was
rolling out of the roof of the build
ing and out of the side windows. A
second alarm was quickly turned in,
and it looked for a time as though
the whole building would go. The
department worked with a will, how
ever, and had the fire under con-
troll in short order.
The Crown Litho-Publishing COM
pany, which is also the Housekeeper
Publishing company, is one of the
largest concerns of it's kind this side
of Chicago, and has a plant, the
value of which is variously esti-
mated at from 100000 to $500, 900. In
the basement of the building is the
electrotyping machinery and stor-
age room. On the first floor are the
presses, and one of these, a two
color Autograph, is alone valued at
100000. On the top or third floor,
where the fire was, principally, are
the lithographing stones, artists
tools, etc. The entire rear end of
the building is badly burned in the
vicinity of the elevator shaft The
type, etc, on the second floor, al
though badly mixed up, is still not
damaged to any extent by fire, while
the presses are all said to be intact
and need but to be wiped off and
cleaned to be as good as ever, Be
sides Murphy and Matter previously