The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-27
YESTERDAYS FIERCE FIRE
DISASTROUS BLAZE ON GROWN
 STREET WE'LL HANDLED.
Gained Great Head~vay--store of Hugh J. Reynolds Gutted and the Loss Is Thought to be Heavy Caused by Gas Explosion In tho Cellar.
Explosion In tho Cellar.

Explosion In tho Cellar.
 A destructive fire broke out in the cellar of the building at 152-154 Crown street yesterday afternoon shortly be- fore o'clock, and in a very short space of time volumes of smoke were pouring out of all the doors and windows and it looked as though the whole building would be destroyed. but the efficient work of the fire department was the cause of speedily getting the fire com pletely under control, and in half an hour after it was discovered the fire was almost out The building is four story brick affair and is owned by Henry F. Englisa whose father, the late Governor James English, purchased 1t about twenty-five years ago. The cellar and ground floor are occupied by Hugh J. Reynolds, the we'll known liquor and wine merchant; the second storytis occupied by Charles Scholl and family, the third floor by Mrs. Sidonia Speh and her sons, John G. Speh, the well known caterer, and Charles H. Speh, and the fourth floor was occupied by Miss Sarah Kenney, Charles c. Ken ney of the Bridgeport Farmer, and their father, John Kenney. Mrs. Scholl and Miss Kinney were carried out by the firemen shortly after the fire broke out not because they were over- come by the smoke or flames, but be- cause they told the firemen that the fire would not amount to much and that they wanted time to put few things out of any possible danger, By the way the flames were eating up things on the ground floor it didn't look as though there was time for anything and so Captain Redmond of No. 7's and Fire men Flood and Hefferman carried the women out bodily. "
 The fire started by an explosion of gas in the cellar of the building. An employe of the New Haven Gas com- pany was down there making a change in the meters and in doing so a great quantity of gas escaped, so much so that the lighted candle that he carried caused an explosion and immediately the place was in flames The gas man escaped with a blackened face but was otherwise uninjured. MT Reyonlds said yesterday that he advised the man to take lantern instead of the candle, but the latter said that a candle would be all right for the purpose. Not five minutes afterward the explosion oc- cured MT. Reynolds was at his desk upstairs writing an advertisement when he heard the man yell up to him to send in the fire alarm The proprietor of the place ran to his automatic fire alarm at the front of the store and pulled the lever. This ought to send the alarm into headquarters, but didn't work, and after waiting a minute or so for the alarm to ring, he ran down to the corner of Church and Crown streets and turned the lever of the keyless box, No. 25, and ran back to his store. Still no fire bells rang out and he told Pa trolman Streit, who went to the box and opening it sent in the alarm prop erly. Mr. Reynolds, it seems, failed to pull the inside lever in his excitement and consequently no alarm was sound cd, When the alarm finally rang the department responded quickly and vol ,lmes of water were turned into the building. MT. Reynolds shut the front door of his store and held it so until the flames were actually breaking the glass in it, and in doing this he checked the draft that would have famed the flames and given them much more headWay before the f1remen arrived.
 Fire Marshal Gladwin was among the first on the scene and he smashed in the door leading up to the first floor and with two firemen carried line of hose up to that story. It was soon seen that the flames were going to be fierce so a second alarm was sent in. This brought most of the companies in the city and in half an hour the flames were subducd. Owing to the nature of the burned stuff the fire was very smoky one and for several minutes inc whole building was enveloped in clouds of black smoke. The three up- per stories were penetrated by the smoke and the walls and furniture were left in a dirty condition. The flames did no damage to speak of 1n the liVlng apartments of the building, the only l real damage being to the floor Of MT Scholl's fiat. It was burned through | in one or two places. but there was no l damage to property.
 The main floor of the store where MT. Reynolds had on exhibition large amount of old and imported wines, was completely gutted. The walls were lined with bottles, but the force of the water from the hose was of such power that shelf after shelf was wiped out. Down in the cellar many casks of whiskies and wines were charred but the con- tents of the great majority of these were uninjured The cellar was stock ed almost to it's capacity with kegs, barrels and hogsheads, but compara- lively little stuff was lost. The flames did more damage in the rear of the store, in which the bar is located, than in the front, and all the fixings and many papers were destroyed. In the front of the store MT. Reynolds had his desk and the safe was near by. The desk was destroyed and the safe, which was left open during the fire, managed to shelter many valuable papers of the owner. The flames had no mercy for cigars said to have been of a costly kinds, and hundreds of these were con- sumed Many boxes of cigars worth twenty-five cents each were destroyed and before the fire was extinguished a rivulet of mixed wines came trickling out of the door,
 Mir Reynolds was unable to estimate