The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-04-14
LOSS WILL BIZ HEAVY.
Fire in Basement Of ]. R. Libby'S
t.4 Store.
THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WORTH
OF GOODS DAMAGED.

Blaze S .arted in Corner of Basement in
Receiving Room and Before 1t was
Discovered Had Gained Considerable
Headway-Alarm was Pulled In at 2.45
This Morning.
The alarm from box So at 2.45 O'Clock
this morning was for fire in the base
ment of the Baxter block under j. K.
Libby &c Co. IS big department store.
The Waterman who is employed by the
J. r. Libby company was at work in the
front basement sweeping the floor when
he noticed bright light shining through
a window in the Partition which separates
the front on Congress street end of the
ba sement from the rear end Of Free street
side. Wilson opened the door which con-
meets these two easements and saw that
the fire was confined to one corner OF the
largo room nearest Oak street. 1t seemed
to be as near as he could tell and near the
waste box. This part of the basement is
called the receiving room and is where
Wilson pulled in an alarm by the
auxiliary attachment and almost at tho
same time the chemical engine reached
the spot having been called by some one
who smelled the smoke on the street and
telephoned in still alarm. The general
alarm from box SO brought out the de.
par tment and the firemen did not wait
long before getting to work.
. The fire was blazing fercely in the Oak
and Free street corner of the basement.
The windows in the basement were
kicked open and a dense cloud of smoke
rolled out on to the street. For q minute
it drove back the hremen, SO thick was
it, but in less than it takes to write it
there were o dozen or more brave fire
laddies down in the basement cliDging
to lines of hose an1Edrowning out the
hot fire which had caught on the floor
timbers and partitions and was threat
ening to get away from them.
The smoke filled the entire building
from cellar to attic. Even the store of
Cressey, Jones & Allen, which adjoins
that of j. R. Libby on Congress street
and separated by a thick wall from the
J. K. Libby store was thick with smoke,
while all of the rooms. above were badly
smoked up.
On the main floor of J. R. Libby g
store the smoke must havs7dona ines
timable damage to the thousands of dol
lars worth of goods on the counters while
the floors above and the departments in
the basement were also smoked and the
loss in all of them will figure up into
the thousands. s4,.s. -.4f
The damage was not great from fire it
self or from water as near as could be
ascertained. Had it not been so promptly
extinguished or had it been allowed to
reach the finder like dry goods stored
above, and in the adjoining basement
room it would have been a fierce blaze to
conquer.
Mr., Haywood, one of the managers of
the company who was on hand soon after
the alarm was turned in, told a reporter
for the PRESS that the Joss from smoke
aud water would be very great, but he
was not prepared to make any estimate of
H. I1c hctl0 ULsu UhiO WIN PesAAy AieeN VAHN3ONV
worth of goods in stock and all Of it must
have been more or less damaged by
smoke. The insurance on the stock
amounts to $l3O, 900 at least and perhaps
more. This insurance is scattered about
in many companies through many agents.
The damage to the stock in trade of
Cressey, Jonessand Allen If any, could not
be estimated this morning. Some of the
other stores in the building may have
suffered some loss from smoke. The
building was not damaged by fire very
much, but the water and smoke together
may figure the total up to quito a sum.
= Fifteen minutes after the department
reached the scene the fire was under con-
tro., but this fifteen minutes was enough
to do all the mischief. OF course there is
no way of knowing how the fire caught
although there were many guesses made.
Wilson the Waterman said it blazed up
very suddenly and seemed to have started
near the waste box In the corner.