The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1900-02-15
-FOUR BLOCKS BURNT
Property Worth $1,5oo,ooo
Destroyed in st. Louis.
ONE KILLED, SEVERAL INJURED
the City-Losses We're Distrib.
uted Among Many.

the c6Clm8CeO v8luo OF 81 0UU,UUU wal
burned today, the greater part of four
blocks of buildings and their contents
between Third and Sixth streets and
Franklin avenue and Morgan street, in
the heart of the retail section, being
destroyed. One fireman was killed,
nine other members of the fire depart.
ment were injured more or less seri.
ously, and five or six citizens were
hurt slightly. None OF the injured
will die, as far as known tonight.
The loss ON both buildings and
stocks of goods is approximately
81 500, 900. Definite figures are ex.
ceedingly hard to obtain. There were
six retail concerns which were heavy
losers. The remainder of the loss il
divided in varying proportions among q
score or more of small shopkeepers OF
firms. Only two concerns suffered loss
of over $lO0, ,0O0-Penny & Gentles and
Schaper Bros. The buildings in which
the two concerns were housed were
owned by the Mary K. Knox estate,
and " ere erected at q cost of $l65, 900.
Penny & Gentles' loss, which is Gov
cred entirely by insurance, is estimated
at $135, 900. Schaper Bros. loss is es.
timated at 100000. These two con.
Germs occupied about half the block on
the west side of Broadway, south from
the corner of Franklin avenue, and the
buildings were entirely destroyed.
The rest of the block on the west side
of the street is taken up by the build
ings occupied by the Famous dry goods
store, whose loss was comparatively
slight.
: On Franklin, just back of Penny &
Gentles, the building occupied by the
Fuch Millinery & Cloak Company
suffered loss on the stock of $40, 600
The store occupied by D. Crawford &
Co., at Broadway and Franklin avenue
was entirely burned, with loss on
buildings and stock of $40, 900. The
Peoples Housefurnishing Company, al
814 North Broadway, was completely
wrecked; loss $4,000. At Sl2 North
Broadway, Deere Bros.' store, filled
with q stock of and l0-cent goods,
sustained u $33, 900 loss on buildings
and stock.
The fire swept through the block
/ from Broadway to Fourth street and
burned all the buildings from S27 tc
500 North Fourth street. These build
ings were old three and four story
structures, some occupied as tenement.
above and stores below, while other
were vacant. Here the St. Louis
Dressed Beef & Provisions Company,
Herboth Mercantile Company, the
Schisler- Cornelia Seed Company, and
three small stores, suffered an aggre
gate loss of $65, 900, while the losse'
on buildings amounted to fully $45,'
900.
Among the firms and individuals
that suffered heavily from the fire are
the following, whose places of business
were on the east side of Fourth and
west side of Third streets:
A. Nasse, wholesale grocer; Plant
Seed Company; Krenning Glass Com
pany; Bassett's plumbing establish
ment; McLain & Alcorn Commission
Company; Bueller Block Commission
Company; Nelson Distilling Company
Hake & Sons Commission Company
George A. Benton, produce; Bauer
Flower Company; Shaw & Richmond
produce. Their losses aggregate thous
ands of dollars and are partly covered
by insurance.
Late tonight John Cummings, pri
vate watchman of Penny & Gentles
was arrested and is being held, pending
I an investigation into the origin of the
fire. He was taken into custody as th'
result of statement by woman room
ing opposite, to the effect that she hat
seen q man answering the watchman'l
description, lighting matches in thu
store previous to the fire. Cumming
denied having had anything to do with
| it, and states that he was at home
when the fire broke out.