The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-19
HEAVY LOSSES BY FIRE
The American Bicycle Company S
Building Badly Damaged.
A Large stock of Wheels md Auto
mobiles Destroyed-Valuab Rec
ords of Attorneys and Claim
Agents on the Upper Floors Burned
The Estimated Loss S13o,ooo.


three-story brick and iron building at Sl7-
sl9 Fourteenth Street, owned and occupied
by the American Bicycle Company. The
structure was badly damaged and its
contents, with the exception OF several
automobiles, destroyed, causing a total
loss estimated ct about $4,000. There
was a large stock of bicycles and auto
mobiles on the lower floor and in the
basement of the building, while the up
per stories were occupied by Milo b.
Stevens Co., patent attorneys and
claim agents. Besides their office fur
niture, they had thousands of pension
claims and other valuable papers stored
in the building, all of which were burned.
Their loss is thought to be about $4,000.
and the remainder falls upon the Ameri-
can Bicycle Company.
The fire broke out in the extreme south
west portion OF the basement; it is
thought in the engine room. William
Briscoe. a negro employed about the place.
was alone in the building at the time,
having been left in charge by Engineer
Charles Leiding, a few minutes before Z
o'clock Leiding went home to supper, and
had scarcely left the building before a
blaze broke out in the boiler and engine
rooms, located in the basement, beneath
the salesrooms of the bicycle firm. The
FIRE spread with great rapidity, and in a
very few minutes was roaring up the ele-
vator shaft and main stairway of the
building. Briscoe saw the flames break
ing from the boiler and engine rooms and
rushed from the rear of the building 10
sound an alarm. He ran from the alley,
in the rear of the building. and met Po-
Hceman Thompson OF the First precinct
station. who turned in an alarm from Box
173 corner of Fourteenth and II Streets
northwest, at e:53 o'clock
Before the first engine reached the
scene the flames had gained considerable
headway. Chief Paris responded to the
first alarm and Immediately sent il Il
second. and shortly afterward third
alarm. The flames. famed by a draft
up the elevator shaft, gathered headway
and soon burst from the windows on the
hrst and second floors. A few minutes
after the fire was discovered, and as the
first engines were arriving. Charles Ty-
ser, brother of Detective Tyser. and an
employe OF the Bicycle Company to-
gether with George Frankel, residing at
sz2 Fourteenth Street northwest. dashed
into the building from the rear, up an
inclined roadway leading from the first
out of the structure two automobiles.
one motor-tricycle, and one electric car
riage which was in storage. Three other
automobiles and a aotor-carriage had to
be abandoned, las were more than 300
bicycles and other stock. Sixty of these
bicycles were placed on the first floor of
the building. while the remainder of the
stock was stored in the basement The
automobiles destroyed were valued at
Si'UO1 each, the motor-carrnge at $500,
and the bicycles at $50 each.
No time was lost by the firemen in get
ting water on the burning structure Lad
ders we're run up at several points, by
means of which lines ofnA were car
ried to the top of adjI oofs. End
streams Of water fhTOwQf bug
building. Chief Paris IN
front of the structure. On EoasSe illl!
Street. sending two companies into the
alley in the rear. one on( each of the
adjoining roofs. and directing the work of
the remainder OF his men in person.
Major Sylvester Lieutenant Amiss, OF the
First precinct station. and Sergeant LYDIA.
IN charge of the reserve of the Third pre-
cinct station, handled the 5000 people
who thronged Fourteenth Street and
watched the fire.
For time it looked as though the fire
could not be confined to the four walls
between which 1t was raging. The build
ing which seemed to be in the greatest
danger was livery stable which fronts
on New York Avenue and extends back
INTO the alley some distance. The men
hghting the fire in the alley gave much of
their attention to this structure
The three alarms sent in by Chief Par
rls called out nine engines. A number of
these, together with chemicals and hose
trucks, were strung along on Fourteenth
I'm N.axK ri
and the hose lines passing back and forth
along the street car tracks stopped the
traffic For some time the METROPOLITAN
cars operated without obstruction but as
other hre apparatus arrived they, too,
were blocked, and for almost an hour
traffic on the Fourteenth Street line and
the Georgetown road was at a standstill
AS rapidly as possible several bridges to
support the hose above the car tracks
were erected
CHIEF Paris directed the efforts of his
men to keeping the fire confined within
the walls. After an hours hard work
they were enabled to get several lines
OF hose into the building and soon had the
nre under control. II was an hour and
nall later before any OF the engines were
ordered back to their quarters Four
companies remained at the scene until
)ng after midnight pouring water on the
moldering ruins
In the Offices Of Milo B. Stevens & Co.,
Tho employ about twenty-five clerks
9th men and women, were files Of more
han 1900 claims, mostly of old soldiers.
gainst the Government. These files were
n the second floor, near the front of the
'uilding and ii is feared are totally de-
.troyed. and thousands of veterans may
Ie deprived Of their discharges and pa
)ers Of still greater Importance some of
9hich can never be replaced. In the case
IL discharges destroyed. a duplicate can
1e secured from the War Department. but
many affidavits, owing to death of the
persons who made them and other rea-
sons can never be restored. On the third
hoor OF the building were the Offices of
the firm.
Many insurance men visited the scene
of the fire, but none found admitted ilav-
ing risk on the burned building. Win
fred J. Foss, manager of the American