The San Francisco call., 1898-02-12
fl Two Hours

crossed electric wires in the top story or the Phelan building, at the corner Of OFarrell and Market streets, were the cause of fire at o'clock yesterday afternoon, which totally destroyed Marceau's photograph gallery, and did serious damage to the west end of the building from top to bottom. For al- most two hours dense smoke rose in clouds from the top of the building, de- spite every effort of the firemen to sup press it. From dozens of noZzles wa ter poured into the upper stories and ran down in torrents to the lower floors, ruining hundreds of dollars worth or furniture in the offices, seemingly with out avail, and 1t was not until great holes had been cut through the rooI and into the burning rooms that the spread of the fire could be checked.
 For a time 1t looked as if the entire building was doomed, but the work or the firemen confined the blaze to the western section of the upper story, and while 1t was a difficult fire to overcome the damage was comparatively Snght' the total reaching but $23,OO0, Whlch was fully covered by insurance. The salvage corps did good work in pro- tecting the goods in the lower rooms, but the extent of material to be cov- cred necessitated sending twice for more rubber covers. The streets were filled with thousands of sight-seers, who completely blocked the sidewalks, while the paraphernalia of the fire de- partment closed the street to all traffic.
 The cars of the Market-street line were blocked for more than an hour, while those on adjacent streets were held back and compelled to run at snail's pace through the immense throng of people. A large squad of po- lice was kept constantly busy guarding the fire lines, and several arrests were made of obstreperOus individuals, who insisted on passing through.
 The firemen were heavily handicapped by the dense smoke which completely filled the upper part of the building, and from it's acrid nature was so stifling that it prevented all work. Captain Comstock and Assistant Chief Dough- erty directed the work in the gallery. while Assistant Chief Shaughnessy was in charge on the roof The two stand pipes were of much service, as it was impossible to direct streams from the ground or from adjacent buildings to any ad- vantage. After the fire Marshal Towe called Mayor Phelan's attention to the fact that more stand pipes might be 
 ture fires, and they will probably be erected at once.
 It was at first supposed that the fire originated from chemicals used in the photograph gallery, but MT. Marceau assured Mayor Phelan that he had no dangerous chemicals Owing to inn proved methods of photography the in- surance companies do not look upon photograph galleries as extra hazard ous risks.
 Notwithstanding the fact that smoke was pouring from the roof in dense volumes, there was little blaze seen, and this was quickly quenched, and the thousands of spectators were treat ed to nothing more thrilling than a view of a smoke-crowned building and several unexpected shower baths. When the cornice crumbled under the fire and from the pressure of the heavy streams of water there was a sudden scattering of the people below, who were thoroughly drenched by the flood.