Evening star., 1899-02-06
FREIGHT STATION BURNED
Destructive Sunday Evening Fire at the
Village of ROsslyn.
property of the Pennsylvania Raal-
road Including Cars and Goods
of Merchants, Consumed.

The recently constructed wooden freight
station of the Pennsylvania railroad al
Rcsslyn Va, caught fire last evening ai,out
%" o'clock and was burned to the ground,
Two loaded freight cars were also con-
sumed, while a third car and its contents
We're badly damaged. The origin Of the
hre is unknown, though IL is supposed 10
De due 10 the explosion of a small coal oil
lamp IN the office OF the depot The loss
is placed at between s2aoDo and s25uoo.
Inc hre was first discovered by the watch
man of the station. He had left the oft,oe
only a short time before. and was on his
rounds Of the place. While away he heard
a sound Ike an explosion and in loolSnxy
for the cause saw flames starr in ths ofi,ce
ne quickly returned to the Office and en-
deavored to extinguish the fire Several
people IN the vicinity helped him, but the
names were too much for them and thev
were obliged 10 turn their attention 10
saving the books and other valuable ma.
terial in the office
Attempt Made 20 Save Cars.
The freight agent, Harry Jingle. arrived
IN the meantime, and under his direction
attempts were made TO save some of the
cars lying at the station. The crowd at
hand was able to move several of the cars
out of the reach Of the flames, hut some
were consumed, as stated. While a bucket
W iSdlt was formed. the station agent
visited the Consumers brewery q short
distance away, and telephoned to the
Georgetown fire department for aid.
After receiving orders from the assistant
chlef OF the department No 3 engine went
across the bridge, and. though arriving too
late to save the freight station. il was sue
cessful in preventing the spread of the
hames. The village is without any water
supply, and the hremen had some difficukv
in getting sufficient water for their use
Connections were finally made with the
large tank Of the brewey company's build
ing, about a quarter of a mile distant
The Washington office of the Pennsylva-
MA railroad was notified of the fire and in
a short time a special train Of fire lighters
arrived, but they could be of no service, the
station being then almost entirely Destroy
ed The fire afforded magnificent illumi-
nation, and was visible in almost every Sec
tion of the western part of the city. At
tracted by the sight several thousand peo-
pie crossed over the bridge and watched the
destruction of the building.
Small Amount of Freight
1t is understood there was comparatively
little freight in the station. The loss from
this source is estimated to be about 50 900
the material being consigned to GEORGETOWN
business men The station ordinarily con-
tains freight OF three or four times this
value, but owing TO Saturday being a busy
DAY, with a heavy demand made for goods,
most OF the freight had been removed The
Irelght station was a one-story structure,
about one hundred -eet long by forty feet
wide.
r. L. Franklin the general freight agent
or the railroad reached the scene OF the
IRE some time after it started and ne
placed the total loss at SO 900 which in
cludes the station and the cars and freight
$4,000 The property Of the road was COW
cred by insurance.