El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-01-21
THE CITY HALL BIZ Axe
A Cracked Fiue Caused the Attic to
Catch on Fire.

Last evening at 1880 the fremen
were all sitting around the little
heater on the lower floor of the fire
department.. talking and cracking
jokes with several visitors that were
present. Jim Sullivan was among the
visitors, and as it was time to go aud
meet the Mexican Central train he
walked out of the Santa Fe street
door. He had no sooner reached the
street that he smelled smoke. He
J 10, k, towards the Star stables and
| saw no danger in that direction, he
! then looked up at the city hall and saw
| large volume of smoke issuing from
q second story window on Santa Fe
| street. He rushed back into the build
ing aud told the fremen if they had
anything in the building they had
| better get it out as the building was on
! fire. At first the boys thought he was
joking, but when they became con-
WINGED the gOng was sounded and John
| Collins rushed over to the bell ropes
. to sound the general alarm. When
! he took hold of the fret rope it inn
mediately broke, but with the second
rope he rug the bell once and then
that rope broke. The apparatus was
! quickly got en- out and a line of hose
laid up the front stairway and into the
: at tic. TIE smoke was so dense that no
one could live there to fight the flames
| that had already spred from the front
end to the back of the build
ing, but which was confined
enterely in the attic. The hook
Santa Fe street, and the ladder WAS
raised and the fcemen got,onto the
roof and line of hose was run into the
building from the hatchway. With q
stream playing from this hose the fire
in front Was soon quenched aud then
the hose from the front stairway was
; soon playing on the blaze and it was
promptly eXtinguished.
The fire originated from q defective
hue in about the inter- Of the west
wall. This is the fue into which the
pipe runs from he heater and along
which crack runs from the founda-
tion to The top of the building and
clear through the wall. This crack
has pe gradually widening of lsJe.
The C, ack is now so wide in the attic
that this morning it is at least two
iuche wide and opens right into the
. flue. From the charred condition of
: the raf-ers, studdipg and bracing in the
roof it looks as though the fire may
have been burning from half an hour
! to an hour before it was discovered,
; and as there is no draueht in the attic
! it was probably a smolderiog blaze for
that length of time. Everything in the
y y
pitch pine was used in the structure.
The bls re lad apparently just reached
=, the bell rope when an attempt was
made to ring the bell as in tina part of
the ouildi g the tinb ,rs are not bad
ly charred, while in the center of the
building they are charred an inch
deep.
Outside Of the damage done by water
the building is uninjured, but so much
water was poured into the building
that the plas,ering on the first and
secord floors continues to fall, viii b
makes it dangerous for people entering
the premises
The hook and ladder truck proved
itself very useful apparatus last night
as there was no way to get to the fire
without scaling III walls and fighting
it from thu roof. It Was dangerous
proceeding. but the volunteer fremen
did not hesitate at taking the risk to
save the building, and the risk was
made still greater by the knowledge
that the bpildirg had already been de-
clared unsafe, and they did not know
what ravages the flames had done in
the attic b fore they were discovered.
The city offic had already been re-
moved from the building and the pl" ce
was only occupied by the FIRE depart
ment AM the police station. Every
thing was removed from the bulldog
and last night the apparatus and horses
were quar- tere at the Tran fer stables.
Today the apparatus we're taken back
to their old quart re-, bur left stand ng
in front of the building until the coun-
Gil settles on suitable location for
THIN.
It is not thought that the building is
in any more danger of falling now than
it was before, &c the trouble lies la the
fonda ion. The roof Is built on q
truss and assists in holding the walls