The San Francisco call., 1899-04-01

and fifty thousand dollars. The heavy
insurance on the stock was placed by
Loaiza & Co. and j. Greenebaum. Near
ly every big insurance concern in this
city carried a portion of the insurance
on their books, including the Western,
Fireman's Fund, Phoenix of London,
Connecticut and British American.
Miller, Sloss e Scott occupied the five
stories of the large brick building at IS
% Fremont street. The firm succeeded
Huntington, Hopkins & Co. and was in
corporated with the following officers:
Charles e. Miller, president; A. w. Mil
ligan, first vice president; A. l.. Scott,
second vice president; Joseph Sloss, sec
retary and treasurer. The directors are:
G. e. Miller, A. L. Scott Ca nephew of
Irving M. Scett), A. w. Milligan, Leon
Sloss, Joseph Sloss and William Arm
strong. The firm employed 12S people.
1t did a general wholesale business In
hardware, iron, steel and pipe. The
building it occupied is owned by w. 3.
Foy, formerly of Huntington, Hopkins
& Co 1t has occupied its present quar-
ters nearly five years.
1t is said the structure was made
quate to hold the firms increasing busi
ness and about two weeks ago the cor
porAtion paid 100000 for valuable
piece of property now occupied by the
Mechanics Mill at the southwest cor
ner of Mission and Fremont streets, and
the firm intended erecting large build
ing there in the near future.
A. D. Coddington, the shipping clerk,
was in the immediate vicinity when
the fire was discovered. He rushed to
the store and arrived there the moment
the Underwriters Patrol men entered
the burning building. He told the hre-
men where to lay their covers, and did
other things with a view to saving ms
employers property. Later he reported
what he had done to Joseph Sloss. The
latter anxiously asked him whether he
had locked the safe door, and he re-
piled that in his excitement he did not
notice whether the door was secured.
Mr.. Sloss visibly showed that he was
worried, as he knew if the contents OF
the safe was destroyed the loss of his
firm would be greater than ever, as the
books, insurance policies and other
valua bles reposed in it. Coddington
pluckily volunteered to enter the fam
ing building to see If the safe was
locked, and attempted to do so, but was
drenched for his pains. A few minutes
later he again essayed to reach the
Office where the safe was, but accord
ing to his statement Fire Marshal
ToWe, who accompanied him, was
afflicted with cold feet" and demurred
to going any further Greatly to Mr.
SlOSS relleI he ldIeT lSdIIlcu llloI lue
safe door was secured.
At the time of the fire Mr.. Miller was
in Belvedere and although notified Of
his loss was unable to reach the scene.
Mr.. Scott was more fortunate. He
caught the first boat and reached the
spot in time to hear the crackle of cart
ridges that were exploding on the sec
ond floor.
But for the fact that the building oc-
q
structed of brick and steel, the build
ings adjoining it would have been de-
stroyed It's heavy fire walls prevented
a spread of the flames and the only
damage done the manufactures close
by was through smoke and water. The
Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Com
pany's basement was partly flooded by
water, damaging the large amount Of
goods stored there. The Crane Com
Fay building, was filed with smoke
and drenched with water, but as it car
ries plumbing materials and other inde-
structible stock, their damage will not
be serious.
Chief Sullivan and his men reached
the fire soon after the first alarm was
sounded. The magnitude of the con-
fagration and the dangerous neighbor-.
hood decided the Chief TO tap two more
alarms. The fire was fought from all
sides. On Fremont street the water
tower and. its powerful battery did
splendid service. Tons of water were
thrown into the building from adjoining
roofs and from the back. but the blaze
was not subdued until three hours
later. The building and its contents
were nearly totally destroyed during
that short period, the loss being ap-
proximated at 100000, including the
loss Of $780, 900 on the building, covered
by insurance. Thousands upon thou
sands of wooden handles and boxes of
portions of farming implements were
on the floor where the fire started. This
was made highly inflammable by rea-
son Of the fact that they had been put
a course of vanishing
The other floors were stocked with
the finest cutlery, revolvers, shotguns,
hardware of every description, wire
netting, parts of machinery, etc Their
contents were either destroyed by the
flames or irreparably damaged by
water
1t will be some days before the ex-
act extent of the loss can be ascer-
tanned, but a general idea can be had
when 1t is remembered that the great
est hardware establishment on the.
coast has been destroyed, and this is
a city Of big establishments.