The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-01-06


stationed 10 he In readiness 10 report
any ornmbIiug Of ths wall or any apresr.
anos Of IRE In this block. Assiatant
Hatch did hts duty faithfully and 10
seemed as II the chance OF saving this
wall wss good one.
On tins front OF the building was To-
Gated the Hayes truck. while the fra boat
drive the FIRE back and prevent it from
getting too much hesdwsy Ibe hope
Of saving the building or any OF the stock
seemed small and the only oh ance wa
to keep the IRE from getting away and
communicating to other buildings In the
ing IL the store OF Lswis, Hall Il Co.
This stors Is In ths building owned by
the ST. John Smith estate. The smoke
which penetrated this wall dam aged the
goods Of Lewis, Hall g. Co., to some ak
tent, Just how much could not be told
this morning, but 1t will be considerable.
Chisf Eidridge ordered the elsotrio
lights turned out as the firemen feared
the high voltage OF the electric light
wires 10 was absolutely nscsssary to
use many ladders and to change them
constantly from one part OF the build
Ing 20 smother. In doing this OF course
the ladders were oomiss into contac
some one handling them might be K illed.
To make up for the loss OF light. Jani-
tor Brown Of the Auditoriun uas early
on hand and soon after the street lights
were turned out went TO the Armory
building and turned on those lights
the time Of the Musical Festival. For
onoe these lights proved 10 b Of great
value and aided the firsmen n OF q little.
Al quarter past three O'Clock the hrc
which had seemiogly been somewhat
subdusd and had up to this time besa
wholly confined TO the interior OF the
building suddenly burst through the roof
and began to assume alarming proper.
tions cnce again. There was now no pos
sibls chance Of saving the building In
which the fire originated. All the ersorts
Of the departments were bsnt upon pre-
venting the wall between the buildl ng
occupied by the I. p. Bsais company
away. Should suoh::a thing as this hap
pen and should the firr get into the fur
niture msnufactory 10 looked as II the en-
tire block bounded by Market, Middle,
Pearl and Newbury streets. would be de-
stroyed. All the available fire apparatus
was on hand and every thing was being
done that could be dons but for all tina.
the fire continued to gain neadway and
assumed proportions which were stattiing.
The stock Of John Trefsthsn. dealer In
grain. adjoining the u D. Bailey store
on the Market street side, Is well wet
down BY water. A big stream was turned
onto the office, this badly damaging ths
effeots. Mr.. drsfethsn is insured but the
amount 10 net known.
At 8 30 O'Clock the fire lad spread ovs
the entire roof Of the Bailey building and
the fremen were making q gallant stand
to prevent it from spreading to the Beals
building on Market street Should the
Beals bujldiBg on Newbury street catch
IRE the buildings back OF 10 would surely
be doomed. All OF the power Of the en-
eines were concentrated on the Market
street side.
A. this hour 10 seemed impossible to
tell how far the flames would extend.
The excitement Is intense great crowd
is out and all Of the business men OF the
vicinity are on hand to wonder whether or
not the fire ~ TO eztend to their own
places of business
The building was insured for the sum
OF <17, bo0 IN the agency OF Anderson,
Adams d Co /, several companies being
rspr esented. The same agency also holds
o. Bailey and Go. The Il. p. Beals Co.
has an insurance of $1,000 In the agency OF
Anderson, Adams and company.
Alta quarter to four O'Clock, Chief
Eldridgs said that he thought the chance
OF combining the fire to the building In
+. o. Bailey b uiiding snd all that IL con.
tained wouid be almost total loss. This
brings the loss from the fire up to at
least SIS, 600 As has been stated, "a great
er poi tion Of this 10 we'll covered by In
surance. 1t seems that there was q double
brick wall with an air space between the
II. o. Bailey building and that ooou pied
land from the most disastrous conls gra-
ton IL has know in years
Postmaster SWEET was one of the first to
be on the scene. The smoke began to be-
come more and more thick from the very
moment that ths fire had started and at
8 so O'Clock was so thick that one could
hardly walk along by the Market street
side Of the post Office. The smoke poured
through the windows 10 perfect volume
but up to this hour had done no damage
to the government stock or bad inter-
tered with the work OF the night crew.
But Postmaster SWEET as precaut,on or
dered all of the mail teams out and bad
them backed up 10 the alley In the rsar Of
the tuilding. He stated that should the
fire extend to the Bsals building, he
would have al once the stock in the post
office removed.
At four O'Clock the building was moss
of fire from CELLAR to roof and sheets of
flames and clouds Of smoke were rolling
skyward. Five engines with two streams
of watar from the fire boat were pouring
oceans Of water into the building which
was now nothing more than q mass of
ruiDs.
The fremen were much handicapped
in the handling Of ladders and streams of
water by tina net work OF wires with
which Market street In incumbered. The
chief at four O'Clock called the men on
the Market street side OF til, building
back to the post offlos to guard against
the falling Of the Market street. walls,
which, Il was fearsd might happsn.
Tn. scene from the corner Of Market
and Federal street at o'clock was
magnificent one. At thu foot OF the
street near the corner Of Middle and
Market there were dozens of stresms con-
centrated upon ths burning structure.
Every window In the building on Market
street was abiAxe. while from the roof
on which many streams Of water were
turned, fiery billows of smoke and
steam rolled out toward the east. Fort
unately ut this time there was very little
wind and this was one thing which aid
ed tha flremen In thsir work. Many sx-
pressions OF relief were heard about the
streets when IL was announced u few
minutes after O'Clock that II the divid-
ing walls held the tire was under control.
It had been night Of intense anxiety
ter the men who owned property en-