The Portland daily press., 1900-02-13

the blaze. They also hunted through all
Of the rooms 10 zee II any one was In the
building. Their efforts 10 locate the blaze
were not successful. There seemed 10 be
a hot fire somewhere under ths roof, but
It was impossible 10 tell just where 10
was. The smoke grew thicker and black
or and the street was nllsd with 10, but
Chief Eldridgs was anxious to prevent as
much loss from water ~ possible, and 90
hesitated little before he ordered the
water turned on. In fact 10 would have
been the heighth Of folly at the outset to
pour water into . building where 1t
would have done no good. Suddenly the
IRE burst out under the roof on the east
erly side towards an alleyway which runs
in from Congress street. IL gathered
headway In Q few seconds and then the
whole roof took FIRE and the glass In the
Photographic gallery fell into the build
ing with a crash. This seemed to give
the fire the draft IL required and the
whole upper floor was ablaze apparently.
Long ladders were quickly In position
and many streams OF water were being
poured into the top floor from all sides.
To the inexperienced tho blaze looked
to be wicked and dangerous one, bat
the firemen regarded it as not very DIM
cult as soon as 10 had shown itself.
The street was filled with big crowd
OF people who quickly gathered from no
one knows where In remarkably short
space Of time. Among them were many
women who stood in the drsnching rain
for long time. When the flames burst
through tho roof and cast q red glare on
the big black column of smoke which
was rolling skywArd, the sight was q
magnificent one excepting to those who
had property In the Immediate vicinity
Of the burning building. There Is a
wooden building just west Of the one
which Was on fire. 1t IL owned by FL
bridge Gerry, and is ono of the few wood
en- structures on this side Of the street for
many blocks. At one time IL seemed
that this wooden structure would surely
catch fire and had such a thing happened
another wooden building just west from
this would also have gone But after
the first few minutes there was no danger
of either of them catching fire.
| 4ho LluLC III thS blith coshtSe
to be almost wholly confined to the top
floor. OF course the photograph gallery
OF Morrow & Roberts was completely
cleaned cut, while the water which
poured into the building must have done
inestimsble damage to the big clothing
stock OF Foster, Avery s. Co.. below.
| 1t was said that Tenney's jewelry store
and office was on the second floor Of the
building and this too must have suff cred
| greatly from water and smoke.
| The building Is owned by Col. Fred N.
Dow and Is fully protected by insurance.
Just how much the loss will be IL 10 i'm
possible to tell as the fire was still In
progress, though under control when we
60 to press. II IS safe to sR/ that the loss
on the building alone win he very large.
One OF the employees of Foster, Avery
& Co.. said that the company carried
over GOO worth Of stock. This was
nearly all covered by insurance. but he
could not tell just how much. He
though 1t would be sufficient TO cover the
loss.
Morrow g. Roberts win be heavy loos-
| ers. Their stock and apparatus, together
with fittings and furaiture, is valued
at $500. On this there 10 considerable
Insurance. but 1t could not be learned
this morning just how much. Nothing
| could be learned Of the damage to the
Tenney jswelry store.
The fire was said to be under control
at $40 O'Clock. 1t Was well handled,
but q great deal Of water had to be used
and tie upper part Of the brick building
was badly wrecked.
While the fire was In progress Officers
Thompson and Haggett arrested two men
on Fore street who had their arms flied
with clothing which they nad stolen at
Foster. Avery g. Co.'s. They said they
were going to pawn the clothing and
were arrested. Their names could not
tie learned this morning. How they got
into the store to get the clothing could
not be learned.