The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-21
LOSS WILL REACH S65,0O0
OCCASL0NED BY THE FIRE IN THE
 BOWDITCH BUILDING,
Warehouse of the Bowditch Furniture Company Completely Gutted-Ewen Me- 1ntyre & Co.'s Loss From Smoke and Water Estimated at 5,OOO-Chapel Street Buildings in Danger.


 Water Estimated at S15.OO0- Chapel Street Buildings in Danger.
 The fire which occurred on Saturday night in the furniture storerooms of the Bowditch Furniture company caus- ed loss which it is now thought will aggregate about $65,000. Francis E. pany, stated yesterday afternoon that the loss on the stock of the furniture company would probably be fully ESQ.,, 900. Edwin B. Bowditch, who owns the building in which the fire occurred, es- inmates the damage to the building at $20,000, while Thomas J. Fleming, su- perintendent of Ewen Mcintyre x Co.'S store, stated last evening that the dam age to the stock in that company's store would probably be found to be be- tween $12,O00 and $15,000. The entire stock of the Bowditch Furniture com pany was insured for $32, ,O00, so that the damage to the stock will be nearly covered by insurance. MT. Bowditch thought yesterday that the damage to the building would not be quite cover- ed by insurance. Even Mcintyre & Go. carry an adequate insurance on their entire stock and their loss will probably be covered. The adjusters will begin their work to-day.
 The fire was discovered about 10:45 Saturday night by Policemen Lannigan and Watrous. They had just entered the alley from Center street next to the board of education offices to try the rear doors of the business places on Orange street, when they saw mass of flame burst from the top of the ele- .vator shaft of the rear part of the Bowditch building. Lannigan at once ran to box No. 21, at the corner of Chapel and Orange streets, and sent in the alarm, while Watrous attempted to get into the burning building. Fire engines 1, 2 and 7, trucks 1 and and the chemical engine responded prompt ly to the first alarm, and at first it was thought by the firemen that the equip ment at hand would be sufficient to subdue the flames, but after half hours hard fighting, not much head way having been made against the fire, 1t was decided to send in the second alarm. This accounts for the delay in III lllC SCCO1le e1ieeA AAA' ~ AAAS'seSA which many citizens remarked upon yesterday.
 The fire originated near the foot of the elevator shaft in the basement and the flames shot up the shaft, famed by a draught equal to that of hundred furnaces. One peculiarity of the fire was that it was confined to the base ment and the top story, the flames be- .f1y 1oJor Tor vtrnn air current, past the intervening four stories to the top floor, where they again caught fresh material which they quickly Tapped up.
 The location of the building in the rear of other buildings whuch sur- rounded it, and the narrowness of the alley leading in to it, made the fire difficult one for the firemen to get at While some of the f1remen were work ing from the alley in front of the ele- vator shaft others trained streams of water on the flames from the roofs of adjoining buildings. It was feared at one time, just before midnight, that the walls of the Bowditch building would fall and it was also thought that de- spite the efforts of the firemen the Platt & Thompson paint shop adjoin- ing the burning building, would catch fire. Happily, however, neither of these additional disasters occurred. By 1 o'clock the firemen had gained con- trol of the fire, and from that time on until the recall sounded at 5:90 the work was mainly to extinguish smol- dering brands. The front part of the furniture store is separated from the rear part, in which the fire occurred, by a brick wall and by double iron doors. The flames did not reach the front part and the appearance of the front of the store yesterday was not such as to in- dicate that anything out of the ordina% ry had occurred.
 The rear building was stored full of furniture and MT. Hum, president of the company, stated yesterday that there the most valuable part of the stock was kept. He said that a por- tion of the spring stock of goods had been already received and was in the building where the fire occurred. He said also that the firm had a large consignment of several thousand dcl- lars worth of goods on the way which, had it arrived a few days sooner, would have been destroyed with the rest. In the basement was stored a large quan- tity of burlap and excelsior and it was in this that the fire ragged the fiercest, Adjoining the excelsior was huge piles of oak and mahogany table leaves and in these also the fire hung for a long time. It is thought that if the night had been a dry, windy one it would have been impossible to prevent the spread of the flames to the buildings on Chapel street, and hence the fact that a heavy rain had been falling dur ing the day and evening is regarded as most fortunate. Francis B. Hum stat ed yesterday that he and MT. Crane, secretary and treasurer of the com pany, were at the store until 9:15, when they left, he going to the Re- publican league. He was informed by telephone soon after the alarm sounded that the fire was in his firms building and at once hastened to the scene and remained there until o'clock yester- day morning. Mir. Hum, when asked if he thought that the fire originated from an electric wire, stated that he could form no definite idea as 0 the origin, but that 1t might have been due to inadequate insulation of wire. He was quite certain, however, that the fire did not start from the gas engine which was nSpd tn ba a1ova to,.