St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-04-11
FINE HOUSE RUINED
EX-GOV. MERRIAM,s HOME ON CE-
OAR STREET HILL IS RAW
AGED
BY AN EARLY MORNING FIRE.
ONLY THE BARE AND BLACKENED
WALLS REMAIN OF ITS
GLORY.
COSTLY PAINTINGS SAVED.
One Element of Good Fortune in
Connection With Its Loss May
BE $4,000.
COSTLY

The handsome residence of eX-Gov. William
r. Merriam, at Cedar street and University
avenue, was almost completely destroyed by
fire between the hours of $3.50 and 6 o'clock
yesterday morning The loss on the building
and contents is estimated at about $4,000.
The house was unoccupied save by the
wstchman Dennis Mccarthy, the Merriam
family having gone to Thomasville, Ga, the
latter part of February. Since the departure
of his family ex-Gov. Merriam has been stay
ing at the Aberdeen
Mccarthy who was sleeping in a room on
the first floor was awakened shortly after
o'clock by the ringing of the electric door
bell, occasioned by the heat to which the bat
teries were subjected. The Waterman, ex-
pecting an early caller, hurried on his clothes
and started for the front door. Upon opening
the door which led from his room to the hall
he was met by dense volume of smoke. The
whole house seemed filled with the sitting
clouds. Mccarthy hurried to the corner of
Jackson and Valley streets to turn in an
alarm. A serious delay of nearly twenty min
utes occurred through the loss of one of the
keys to the alarm box by the person in WHOSE
care it had been left. Another key was finally
in at 1892. By the time the department had
arrived the flames had burned through the
first floor and communicated to the upper part
Of the house. First Assistant Chief Martin
Immediately turned in the 2-11 alarm, calling
for another relay of apparatus and directed
the efforts of his men towards saving the burn
ing building. The fremen met with obstacles
on every hand in effecting an entrance to the
house. The doors and windows were all locked
and barred and the dense smoke even in the
surrounding yard made breathing a difficult
matter A large panel in the heavy oak door
was finally cut and sawed out and an en-
trance gained to the first floor Meantime the
back doors had been battered down and the
iron grating torn from the basement windows
so that he firemen were enabled to attack the
flames from different points. Owing to the
peculiar construction Of the house the fire
spread with wonderful rapidity. The air
spaces between the plastering and the brick
veneering served as so many fues, and in a
short time the fire had spread to every por-
ton OF the house, with the exception of the
library, in the extreme east wing The
flames seemed to defy the streams of water
pouring into the fiery vortex, and quickly ate
their way through the roof
Chief Jackson, who reached the fire in re-
spouse to the I'll alarm sent special call
for the salvage corps and Engine No. 8.
Immediately upon their arrival, the members
of the salvage corps spread number of tar
pauiins, and saved most of the valuable paint
1ngs, hung on the lower floor of the house
For two hours and a half, seven streams of
water were continuously played on the burn
ing structure. By o'clock the fire was under
control, though several streams were played
on the smouldering ruins until o'clock yes
terday morning.
Ex-Gov. Merriam visited the scene of the
fire shortly after 6 o'clock, and was very
much treasured upon learning that his val
liable paintings had been saved. Gov. Merri-
am could place no accurate loss upon the con-
tents of the house until an inventory had been
taken. The building was insured for $35, GOO,
and the household effects for $12 600. The in
surance loss will probably run as high as Is
or so per cent.
The fire originated in the vicinity OF the
heating plant, in the basement, Immediately
under the main hallway. The cause is as yet
unknown, as there had been no fire in the
furnace for over a week
The Merriam residence was built in 1885, at
a cost of $40, 600. Additions have been built
from time to time, which made the burned
structure surrounded by it's beautiful grounds,
one of the handsomest and most perfectly
appointed residences in the city.
The insurance on the house, which was sold
by Gov. Merriam to the Capitol Investment
company some time ago, was placed by the
st. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance company,