The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-03-07
FIRE RUINS
BIG STORES.
Dry Goods. Shops and Ware
houses at Eighth and
3. Arch Streets Again
Swept by Flames.
Philadelphia, March 7.

| Pnlladelpnla, March I.
Within stones throw of the BIZ
fire at Eighth and Arch streets, 0
ten days ago and within half a
block Of the scene of the big confla
grafton of several months ago a
Eighth ard Filbert streets, fire
again broke out shortly after !
O'Clock and DESTROYED real estate
and merchandise valued at about
| $3.50. 600
The list of places burned was as
follows:
Shoneman BIOS. dry goods and
general stores, 116-11S-120, 122 N.
Eighth street, and $40 Arch street,
running through $40 Cherry street,
completely destroyed. Loss estl-
mated at s25O,000.
Marks Brothers, dry goods and
general stores, northwest corner
Eighth ard Arch streets, badly
damaged. loss estimated at $50,
c. Emil Kohler's confectionery
store. ia N. Eighth street, slightly
damaged.
c. Buckley's shoe store, 1876 N.
Eighth street, slightly damaged.
Samuel Buernooef, jcwelry store,
l2S N. Eighth street, slightly dam
aged.
sl9 Arch street, occupied by II.
Phi. kamholz, furrier; Standard
Cloak and Suit Co., M. s. Fortescue
g. Co., and J. M. Walsh. Loss
about $4,000.
S2l Arch street, W. L. Roach,
bicycles and automobiles. Loss
about $4,000.
The fire, which spread with as
founding rapidity, started in the
engine room in the basement of
Shonemen Brothers store, we'll in
the rear of the Eighth street stores.
1t burned so fiercely that three men
who were in the engine-room had
barely time to get out with their
ives.
J. Timothy Shea, an engineer
employed by Shoneman Brothers;
William Anderson, a special Off
Ger, and Waterman named Rooms
were in the place at the time. Shea
was fixing his boiler fires in the
basement preparatory to getting
up steam for the day. AS he OPEN
cd the door of the furnace to look at
the fire back draft blew a sheet
OF flame out and in an instant the
engine-room was 4 mass of flames
and smoke.
Shea made his way out of the
engine-room with difficulty and ran
to the second floor to notify Ander-
son and Rooms. He barely had
time to do SO when the flames reach
ed the stairway, cutting off escape
and the three men were forced to
leap from second-story window
of the warehouse on Cherry street.
They escaped without injury.
FIREMEN's SWIFT WORK.
In the meantime Reserve Police
man Kollock, whose station is at
Sth and Arch streets, sent in an
alarm and several fire companies
quickly responded, but before they
could accomplish anything 1t was
evident that Shoneman' store was
doomed.
The Shoneman stores on Sth ST.,
were connected with 6-story store
house extending from Arch TO Cher
ny above 9Th, bv meansof an under
ground tunnel and small bridge
on the second floor.
The tunnel served as a good ave.
nue. for the flames and the ware
house was quickly on fire. The
puffy westerly wind tanned the
flames into fury and sent clouds of
smoke and cinders flying in all di-
rections. Soon after reaching the
scene the firemen devoted their at
tention to saving the surrounding
properties. The heavy iron fire
shutters on Marks Bros. store
were kept tightly closed and the
walls, woodwork and roof were
deluged with innumcrable streams
OF water.
A few minutes after the first
alarm was sounded, three other
alarms, which brought an army of
fire companies to the scene were
sent out. The tiremen worked like
beavers to keep the flames from
spreading. They dcluged the
greater part of the block with wa
ter 10 accomplish this, and after
three hours hard work they were
successful.
In less than an hour after the fire
broke out, the walls Of Shoneman's
store on 9Th street, began falling
and by 9 clock there was scarcely
a portion of the brick work stand
ing. About half an hour later the
walls OF the 6-story store house on
Cherry and Arch streets, tumbied
down with terrific crash. Luck
lily the tiremen were on their guard
and escaped,
SLEEPING WOMEN SAVED.
The falling of the walls aided the
french considerably in checking
the spread of the blaze. When the
walls of the storehouse nearest 9th
street fell, they smashed about
dozen small dwelling houses in
Schell street. The occupants had
been warned and made their escape
before the crash came. Most OF
them lost all their household goods.
In Kohlnr'S contact iounru otnra