The San Francisco call., 1898-04-01

the confiagradon is given by Night Watchman Tim Phelan He is of the opinion that the severe earthquake the previous night cracked the baking ovens in. the upper portions and that the intense heat set fire to the wood work above. This is the accepted the ory, but it was also stated that many baskets of pretZels which had been placed on the ovens for drying pur- poses took fire and started the general blaze.
 A few minutes past 6: o'clock the watchman discovered the blaze, and when he ran to the back of the store he discovered that considerable headway y had been gained. He immediately ran to the auXihal box near the oven and turned in an alarm. Before he could make his escape he was overcome by the smoke and sank. to the floor" in a Semi-conscious; condition. Then the hero of the evening made his appear ance. Fred Terrin, who had heard the cracking of the burning walls. ran to the point where the fire started, and, seeing the watchman on the floor, rushed to the shipping clerks office and, soon returning with lantern, dragged the prostrate man to the fresh air, where he quickly recovered. The two men then rescued the books of the company. assisted by w. H. Callahan, the assistant foreman, who arrived on the scene shortly after the second alarm. =
 The building is divided by a fire wall and for this reason the flames were held in the rear portion for some time, but in a while the whole structure was on fire, as the windows and doors in the dividing portion were open. This created a draught and the flames soon spread. The members of the com pany were at a loss to:see how d fire could have started from the furnaces, but when the earthquake theory was advanced the cause was readily under stood.
 For many months the factory has been employing a large number of men and women to supply the Government orders. The factory has been running night and day, but as last night was what has been termed stock night" ." no one but the watchrnen and tardy workers were present. The company IS a corporation. Leon Sloss of the Alska Commercial Company is president, and James Dunn.- vice president and man. ager. Among the twenty directors are Sam s. SUssman, Thomas Jennings. Colonel Isaac ~Trumbo. A. Weexe and J. K. C. Hobbs.
 The total loss to the building, ma chinery and stock is estimated at Sl25,- 900, fully covered by insurance MT Dunn states that the building will be soon replaced with a more modern structure. over 200 people will be thrown temporarily out of employment because of the blaze. The Fire De- partrnent received praise on all sides for having confined the blaze to he one building, as it was surrounded on all sides by frame structures, and in case they had become ignited 1t would be hard to estimate the loss which may have resulted.
 Charles German, an employe of the company, gives the following as the cause of the fire. He said: II go on duty at o'clock, and I had hardly taken my coat off when I smet some thing burning. I went downstairs to get a drink of'water, and as I reached the bottom I saw the baskets contain ing the pretzels that were laid out to be dried blazing. I rushed upstairs yell ing fire and found Tim Phelan and told him to send in an alarm. He broke