The daily sentinel., 1900-02-19
THE FIRE FlEND
First Presbyterian Church Des
troyed by Fire Sunday Morn
ing--Overheated Stove Cause
of Fire-Will be Rebuilt
On Larger Scale.

Auo CJDkTeBdtioo Vi tuo Ec6uy toTldu
church and the people of the city at
large suffered disaster Sunday morn
ing fire regretted by all. A few minutes
after eight o'clock, when the streets were
as yet deserted, except by few early
Sunday morning raisers, an alarm of
fire was given by w. F. White and taken
up by John Allison, that the Presbyter-
ian church was on fire.
1t required but few minutes for the
| fire department to respond to the alarm
but in those few minutes the fire had
gained headway and when wa er was
finally turned on the burning building,
the roof was in blaze, which showed
that it was burning in under the rafters,
a hard play to fight the .devouring ele-
ment
While it is fact that the water pres
sure was very low, due it is said to the
fact OF slush ice in the river, this hardly
seemed to be the main reason for the
fire getting such start Fire Chief,
George Garrison, who had just gotten
up out OF sick bed, did all he could
to direct the work of the fire boys, but
! he was entirely too weak to perform the
service required upon such an occasion
and the efforts OF the men were dissipa
ed in fighting the fire at places where it
least needed it and neglecting to fight
where the work would have been etfec-
tive.
No effort was made to take out the
chairs with which the building was seat
ed or to take up the carpet until after
the root in the rear portion OF the build
ing had fallen, although all OF this could
have been done and the chan, all saved
from any damage whatever. The fire
was confined for quite long period IN
the south eastern portion OF the building.
1t looked to an oul lsider that had the
Holloway extinguishers, which we're
never uncoupled from the fire wagon,
been used that the fire could have been
placed under control, by operating from
the inside.
The fire Quilted the whole upper por
tion of the building and the roof fell in
the rear portion. 1t is almost a total
loss and will have to all be rebuilt, by
being torn down.
The janitor OF the building, Charles
Heald, gives the following explanations:
He started the fire in the large stove, as
is his custom on Sunday morniog, about
half after seven o'clock and then left the
building to get his breakfast. He left
every thing around the building as he
usually did, and can say nothing further
in regard to the matter in which the fire
caught. but it must have come from an
overheated stove, as the fire was first
noticed at point close to the chimney.
The board OF missions of the Presby-
terian church has AL insurance on the
building Of $SOO.OO, as far as can be as
certained. This will go toward the erec-
tion OF new house Of worship, probably
on larger plan than the one burned.
Rev. Ward and the trustees of the
church received the sympathy of almost
erybody yesterday. AS an evidence Of
their sympathy the Christian Science
church yesterday appropriated S25 90
toward fund for rebuilding the church.
The pastors and congregations OF the
Baptist, Methodist and Christian church
es very kindly offered their churches for
services. These kindly offerings were
mush appreciated by Pastor Ward and
the trustees.
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