The times., 1898-12-04

| fascinating one The building. being con-
structed entirely of infiammable material
furnished excellent food for the flames.
I and burned like tinder. Great tongues of
| flame leaped frantically into the air IL
| Illuminating the sky for a radius of half a
mile, and the reflection could be seen
from almost every part of the city. There
| was a stiff northeast breeze blowing
which famed the blaze into fury and
! hastened the cremation of the structure.
Dense volumes of smoke poured from the
roof and side of the building and swept
| along before the wind, making it almost
| impossible in the immediate vicinity to
distinguish anything but the flames
through the dense. suffocating clouds.
The news that the ear shed was burn
ing spread rapidly through the city So
the city seemed to grow brighter and the
flames fiercer. and large crowd was at
tracted to the scene. Fully ten thou
sand persons witnessed the -confiagr
tion from points of vantage in the i'm
mediate vicinity. Despite the efforts of
the firemen to save the HuddlesOn home,
it soon ignited. The heat from the burn
ing shed was intense. and, as the dwell
ing was also of wood. little time elapsed
before its rear end began to scorch and
blister. Added to this was the fact that
the northeast wind carried the flames di-
rent that the rear portion of the HuddIe-
son house would surely so. and possibly
the whole of it.
The firemen then endeavored to save
the furniture. Willing citizens lent them
hand and in a few moments the most
valuable portion of the contents. includ-
ing many rare books. valuable paintings
and bric-a-brac together with a grand
piano, were removed into the street
The furniture in the rear portion of the
building could not be reached and what
was not destroyed by fire was badly
damaged by water. The entire house was
flooded
Miss Margaret Huddleson. when seen
by Times reporter. estimated the loss
of personal property at $780, without in
surance. The house, she said, was the
property of Col. George W. Truesdel and
valued at $1,000. The damage to II will
amount to 5000. fully insured
Miss Huddleson also stated that her
first intimation of the impending danger
was when she saw flames issuing from the
southeast corner of the ear shed She
was sitting with her mother in rear
room of the house, which faced the she'd
Suddenly and without warning. she saw
bright flash as the flames belched forth
An instant afterward. she said, the en-
tire building seemed enveloped in fire
She ran upstairs to her fathers room to
awaken him. Mr.. Huddleson is a drug
gist, in business at the corner of Four
teenth Street and Rhode Island Avenue
While at his store yesterday afternoon
he was suddenly taken i'll and returned
to his home. His condition was such
that he was advised to go to bed. 1t
was to arouse him that Miss Huddleson
rushed to his apartment. He quickly
dressed himself, and, with his wife and
daughter. repaired to the street After
seeing that the furniture on the sidewalk
would be cared for the family walked
to the home of William Irwin, at the
corner of Third and Streets northeast.
He had kindly offered accommodations to
the temporarily homeless family.
The destruction of the car shed was
complete. The damage sustained amounts
to about sl2 900. The shed contained tn rty
cars. including about twenty motor cars
and trailers, six double deckers and four
horse cars. All of these were lost in TIE
fire. They were valued at SIS 900. The
damage to the repair shop and m nor
equipments throughout the building will
aggregate 5000. Eight cars the proper
ty of the company, were on the street at
the time of the fire. These were the only
rolling stock saved. On the east side Of
the car shed. and lying almost against it,
was a cylindrical tank, about ten feet
lorg and four feet in diameter, fl led with
, Pintsch gas. which had been used for
illuminating the cars during the tine that
the company was experimenting with
compressed air for the purpose of using
it as motive power. The tank soon be-
came heated to such an extent that the