El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-25
FIVE FIRES in A DAY
MAS THE REMARKABLE RECORD
OF YESTERDAY.
A Man Was Seriously Burned In
One, and 1t Is Almost a Miracle
That He Escaped At ALA Hard
nAN Eo. the Fire ROXS.

had Yesterday The first aIarm called
tae department to the st. Charles ho-
49,. at IL O'Clock yesterday morning.
and the next one was at 2Os olive
strete. An account of these was pub
lished in The Herald last night. AT
6: 30 an alarm was sounded that brough
the department and several thousand
people to the undertaking establish
ment of NagIey. Lyons and Mclean on
South FL Paso street The flames
| were leaping high into the air and
many thought that the whole block
was as good as in ruins.
But is was not so to be. for they
had forgotten that FL Paso has the
| best fire department in the state OF
Texas. Within three minutes from
the time the alarm was turned in wa
Ter was being thrown on the flames
and the danger was soon over
The fire started in the rear of the
building in a corner which was filled
with excelsior and had soon spread to
| the pine boxes containing caskets.
Several people including DIR. w ~.
-
burning and it is believed that some
one went down the alley and threw
coal oil on the excelsior in the shed
and then lighted a match and threw II
on the pile and ran. IL was certainly
mean fire to fight and the boys did
some fine work to extinguish the
flames as soon as they did. When
,nis morning Mr.. Ryan. the embalmer
employed by the firm. said that he did
not know the exact amount of dam
age but that it would reach from $1,000
to- $500 fully covered by insurance.
There is an old saying that when
there is one fire there are three. and
after the third alarm it was thought
that the work of the department was
about over for the day. But they had
no more than changed the hose than
the fourth alarm was turned in and
called them to- the corner of Mesa ave
nue. and Franklin street. This was at
80 and the boys made a remarkably
quick run.
They found the fire in the corner
room of the Powers block occupied by
the FL Paso Cigar Manufacturing COM
pany. An oil stove had been left burn
ing in the room and in some way had
become unsoldered and the oil was
flaming up. \ bucket of water was
hastily thrown on the flames which
only scattered the oil. When the de-
partment arrived the chemical COM
pany extinguished the flames and the
was very slight.
Again the boys returned to the head
quarters and began to clean up their
appartus when at $50 the fifth alarm
was turned in from Stanton street and
again they made a good run. The fire !
was found in the cellar of the cottage |
at 5O2 Stanton street occupied by Ed |
Northrop. and the chemical company |
again got in their work and extin-
tinguished the flames. But there is
A story To this last fire and w. II. Ell
lot can consider himself a lucky man
ltat he is alive today The story as
old by his brother-in-law. Ed North
-op is as follows:
Il have been sick in bed for several
lays. Yesterday Elliot told me that
ie wanted to clean his overcoat and
uit of clothes ready for the winter.
lie asked what | thought about soak
ng them in gasoline and / told him
hat If there were any moths in the
lothes that gasoline would surely kill
hem So he took the clothes to- the
ellar and placed them in a large tub
nd poured the gasoline over them. He
lso put "A couple OF nairs of blankets
n the gasoline and left them to- soak.
Last night he went down in the Gel
,r when he stumbled and fell in the /
ark and forgetting about the gaso- !
ne for minute he struck a match y
hen there was an awful explosion :
hich knocked him down and burned
i'm terribly. Ny wife went to the back y
oor and saw the flames and screamed O
re. / jumped out of bed and ran Il
ut and got the garden hose and at e
nee saw what was the matter and
moving that | could not put the fire a
the tub out ! just kept the water
aging on the ceiling of the cellar a
it'll the fire department arrived when n
ey put il out with their chemicals. n
Il did not know that Elliot was hurt u
It'll after the department had left
hen | went in the house and saw him
tting in "a chair with his head all
Indaged up. His hair. mustache. and p
ebrows were all burned off and his
ce and hands are terribly burned"
w. II. Elliot. the young man who h
as so badly burned. is a clerk in the NJ