The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-04-08
FLAMES DAMAGE PLANT
FIRE AND SMOKE RAGE AMONG
THE UNION MATTRESS COM
PANY,S STOCK
LOSS COVERED BY INSURANCE
Several of the Employees Have Mar
row Escapes Ina Fleeing From
the Rooms of the Build
Ing.

The plant of the Union Mattress com
pany. occupying four-story building at
6O5 Minnesota street, was damaged by
fire to the extent of $4,000 The loss is
covered by insurance. For a time it
looked as though the building would be
completely destroyed, but concentrated
work by the fire department. kept the
flames from reaching above the second
floor, The nature of the stock, however.
make the loss from smoke and water
heavy. The damage to the building Is
estimated at $4,000. The mattress COM
pany consists OF j. w. McHose and
George A. Pardoe. The building former
~ belonged to E. NJ. Hallowell, the car
riage manufacturer. but is at present in
the hands of the st. Paul Title and Trust
company. The loss on the building is
covered by insurance.
When the fire broke out much excite
ment prevailed about the building, and.
some of the employees had narrow es-
cape from the rapidly spreading flames.
number of young women ran from the
building without stopping to don their
wraps. Miss Mary Nathan a stenogra-
pher, was overcome by smoke and was
carried unconscious from the office by
the nremen. She soon recovered sufii-
GENTLY to go home. Some delay was ex-
perienced by the department in getting
water on the flames, and the fire COM
muhlcating readily to the infammable
stock. spread with great rapidly. Be
fore the first stream was directed against
the names smoke poured from every win
dow of the four stories and volumes of
piaze teaped from the lower openings.
Anticipating a fierce fire. Chief Cook
| summoned six engine companies, and eff
fectiVe service was done, once the fire.
men got TO work
The fire started in the basement. di-
recuy under the office, where picker"
machine used for separating the ma
terial TO NIL mattresses, was in operatl ton
A spark caused by friction of the ma
chime. falling among the loose infiamma-
Die material being prepared quickly, de-
veloped lively blaze. Before steps to
extfnguish the fire could be taken 1t had
spread beyond control and the plant
appeared doomed. AS the flames caught
the materials in the stock, such as
hair, feathers and paints, clouds of
black smoke poured from the buildings
/, and almost obScured the structure In
! short time the basement was like
furnace of fame, and despite the efforts
of the department. the fire spread to
the second floor. Following an eIeva-
but was here headed off, That there
was not much fire in all of the upper
stories, however. was not known by the
hremen and water was thrown into the
building from every available opening.
sc that much OF the stock was damaged
in this way. The building Is imme-
diately adjacent to the Mount Zion syna-
gogue and 1t was feared the fire might
communicate to the edifice. The fact that
the seat Of the In atha and Of tho
plant most removed from fine Synagogue
! however, coupled with the work of the
/ department, obviated danger, though
the church interior was slightly damaged
! by smoke. >sgs.= ss--1< s.SzsS =
When the fire was finally gotten under
control an Investigation showed that the
/ flames had not spread beyond the third
floor. The heat throughout the build
ing had been intense. though. and with
the water used everywhere the entire
stock was more or less damaged. The
company estimates the value of It's
stock at the present time at $4,000
The machinery in the basement and all
of the material there was totally de-
stroyed. On the first floor the firm kept
wire mattresses and beds This part Of
the stock was also badly damaged. On
the second floor was a quantity of hair
valued at $1,000 that is a total loss and
many complete mattresses stored here
were also badly damaged The third
floor was used as a show room, where
much completed stock was kept. The
damage here was mostly from the in
tense heat, that blistered the painted
goods, and from smoke and water. A
large stock Of feathers on the fourth
floor and much surplus stock stored
here, were seriously damaged by smoke
and water.
The firm carries $14,5OO insurance, placed
by Strickland & Doolittle and B. f.
Knauft The loss is distributed among
fifteen companies represented by these
agencies. Mr. Doolittle declined to give
out a list Of the policies.