The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-15
Department Responds
to an Encore at
Walker Building.
Big BLAZE IN THE BASEMENT.
Loss to Goods in the E. L.
Smith Store Estimated
at About $4,000.


started in the Walker building, at the
corner of Main and Mechanic streets,
yesterday, between the hours of 2
o'clock in the afternoon and Z o'clock
in the evening, and both will be investi-
gated. The first one started in the
cellar, directly underneath the store oc-
cupied by the Edward L. Smith Com
pany, and all the stock stored by the
firm in the cellar was totally destroyed.
A man coming up Mechanic street no.
ticed the smoke slowly curling up
through the grating, and he called Off
Ger j. F. KAight who was on the oppo-
site side of Main street. The officer,
after looking through the grating and
seeing that the fire was in the cellar,
ran to box 4, at the corner of Main
and Front streets, and turned in an
alarm at 214 o'clock.
The department responded quickly,
and 1t was but few seconds after the
first stroke of the bell was rung, that
a line of hose was laid into the cellar,
and the firemen were battling with the
flames. At the time 1t was impossible
to exactly locate the blaze, owing to the
volumes of smoke that poured through
the cellar windows, but by good exec
utive work on the part of Chief Vaughn,
the flames were corraled. Lines were
laid in through the store and down the
main staircase into the cellar.
Later it was discovered that the
flames were confined wholly to the wall
on the south side of the cellar, and
several pieces of grating were ripped
up in front of the store, so as to give
the firemen good opportunity to fight
the flames to good advantage.
The protective department was on the
scene early and Capt. Hiram r. Will
hanson had his men hard at work
spreading $50 covers, which did much
toward reducing the loss which would
be occasioned by water
The smoke which issued from the
windows in immense volumes spread
through the Walker building, where
many lawyers have offices. Rastus
Williams, porter in the office of Joseph
Morrissey and Collector Hartigan,
stayed in the building, looking out of
the window, and was suddenly attract
ed by cries for help. He ran upstairs
and found a woman with a little boy
sitting on a hall settee, trying to find
her way cut of the building through
the smoke. Rastus took her by the
hand, and after considerable trouble
For more than half hour the build
ing was vacated by the occupants, ow-
ing to the smoke.
Robert e. Mott, aid to the state fire
marshal, rode to the fire in the insur-
ance patrol and as soon as the base
ment was cleared of the dense smoke,
he made an examination, but could not
determine exactly how or where the
fire started.
A counter placed near the south wall
had hole burned through 1t, and from
the pile of debris which remained af-
ter the flremen had finished their work,
it looked as though the blaze started
somewhere around the counter The
wall was badly charred in the rear of
the counter, while the ceiling directly
above was also burned.
The work of the department kept the
fire from reaching the ground floor, so
that the loss to the building will not be
very large.
Shortly before o'clock last evening.
another alarm from the same box called
the department to the building again,
and this time another fire was discov-
cred underneath the main entrance to
the upper floors in closet used by the
janitor as a storeroom. Smoke was
noticed issuing from the cracks in the
door, and when the department ar
rived, fierce blaze was In progress
in the closet. AS soon as the door was
opened, the blaze was famed and for
few minutes 1t looked as if the
building was doomed. Extinguishers
were turned on the flames, but the fire
was not put out entirely until it had
almost burned through the floor.
A flight of stairs leads down into the
cellar, and there are several openings
in the partition between the cellar oc-
cupied by the e. L. Smith Company and
the janitors apartment. There was
not much evidence Of the fire having
burned through, as 1t seemed to have
been pretty well confined to the floor
several feet from the openings. In the
opinion of the f1remen, it did not result
from the first blaze.
After the second fire, Chief Vaughn
drove to the police station, and Officer
Robert Mathews was sent in citizens
dress to the building to watch over the
property.
The store was closed yesterday at
noon, in accordance with an agreement
made by the proprietors of dry goods
stores in the city, and at the time
the fire broke out, there was
no one in the store. The jan
itor had finished his sweep
ing and cleaning up about the store at
/ o'clock, and when he left everything
president Of the Edward L. Smith
Company, was at the ball game be-
tween the doctors and lawyers, at the
oval, and was notified of the fire first
by hackman. He went to the store
Immediately and last night told Spy
reporter that he could not account for
it, as there was nothing in the cellar of
combustible nature. He was unable
to estimate the loss owing to the fact
that part of the stock of each depart
ment was kept in the cellar, and 1t was
impossible for him to even guess at his
loss. His father, Thomas Hamilton,
treasurer Of the company. was also at
the store, and he could not understand
how a fire could have started in the
cellar as there was nothing there to
his knowledge that would ignite.
Chief Vaughan and aid to the state
fire marshal, Mott, looked the place
over very carefully, and neither could
give any theory of the cause. The sec
ond fire is as mysterious as the first.
The janitor, in conversation with a Spy
man, last night, said that he left the
closet yesterday morning about seven
o'clock, and did not open 1t again until
1t was opened by the firemen last night,
and 1t was not locked during the day.
The loss Is estimated by some Of the