The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-10-31
FIRE IN A BUSINESS HOUSE
The Furniture Department Of May
er & Petit Badly Damaged.

Origin of the BInze in IA Pile of
Coucbes-LOss to stock and Build
ing Amounts 10 SI3.OOo-DeIny in
the Arrival OF Chemical Engine.
Mayer d Pottit's immense stock of fur
niture carpets. clothing and house fur
nishiugs at 4l5 and az Seventh Street
northwest was damaged 10y fire this
morning to the extent Of $4,000, while
the loss on the building viii probably
reach 5000 The flames were confined 20
the upper aoor Of the annex. AS Seventh
Street but the deluse Of water that it
was. necessary to pour into the building
and the immense volumes Of smoke that
permeatgd the house damaged everything
in that part of the establishment The
losses are fully covered by insurance,
principally in out-of-towu companies.
The origin Of the fire Is a mystery. the
flames being discovered while issuing
from a pile of touches that had just been
received, and which We're i'm the centre
Of the building. Mr.. Petit stated that he
did not know when he would be able To
reopen. bUt that he hoped To have the
JudamaECd portion of the establishment
ready for business this afternoon cr go
morrow. He added that he was in the
would have to De governed by whatever
course they might dictate
The fire broke out about 10.2o o'clock
ON the top floor of as Seventh Street,
which is used as "a storage room for dunl-
cate stock. The room was piled 10 the
ceiling with touches. beds. chairs. and
other furnishings. Ernest Little. tho
shipping clerk. was in the room at the
time. uupacking some of the new stock,
when he saw smoke issuing from the pile
of touches I'm the middle of the room. He
ran downstairs 10 tbs office and notified
the pr0prictors. who immediately had the
books and other records placed I'm the
safe and the safe closed a telephone
message WAS sent to fire alarm head
quarters. but through the delay I'm s,cur-
ms tn connection AT the central rg.g-
phone office an alarm had already been
received from box 1ZI Seventh Street ana
Louisiana Avenue. when the tclCph1u,
connection was made Someone had also
sounded an alarm from the box al Sew
cnth and = Streets northwest. but only
the one box was sounded on ths city bells.
W hen Assistant Chief Belt arrived. Ny
Petit had already sent men no I'm the
building 10 close the fre-prOOf doors and
thus prevent the flames from spreading
into the main building. in which no dam
age was Gone smoke was pouring I'm
great volumes from the top floor of the
burning building by this time but IN tha
hope Of preventing damage hy water an
effort was made TO reach the seat of the
fire with the stream from the chemical
engine. This was only for "a moment. how
ever. as il was soon seen that there was
serious blaze 60 contend with ON the
way TO the fire the horses drawing No
engine slipped ON the concrete near tho
corner of Ninth Street and Pennsylvania
Avenue. which delayed their arrival fUu~
OF five minutes On hearing this Mr.. EeIt
was considering the calling out OF at her
companies. but found that il would mo.
De necessary TO do So
The fire was attacked both from front
and rear. as 90 extend d through from Tho
street 20 the back alley The employee
of the establishment carried portaEss arr
ticits INTO the alJolulag building until
they were driven back by the smoke and
wafer The smoke retarded thu work OF
tho hrcmeu FOR some time. but when they
once VIZ able TO reach the fire with
streams of water IL was soon under con
troll. Ladders were placed AKA inst the
building front ard rear. and from these
the mrs men worked tn lr way into the
building The top floor was completely
wrecked. and but little value remains 70
the articles that We're stored there on
the two floors beneath the stock was bad
Is damaged by water and smoke. hlt the
FIRE was kept from reaching them. The
ground foor Of The annex was stocked
with men ana Womtu s. r-alE-rHaie
clothing. which was soaked with water
Tut EoL otherwise injured
The main building and the ID Street am
mex escaped the raEag-s Of the flames
and water and with the contents were UNI
Injured. The stock iu the three building
IS insured for about 500" which. accord
Ing 20 H. r HOWaDStain. who placed the
insurance for the firm is mostly iu uIt-Or-
town companies. The building belongs to
the Th0rne estate and the loss pu IL IS
covered by Insurance
While watching the progress or thr fire
from the crowded sidewalk young man
turned black in the face and fen 90 thu
sidewalk en- an unconscious condition he
was hurried to the Emergency Hospital
where ii was stated that NJ was suffer
ing from epilepsy. He recovered and left
the hospital with the request that his
name be not made public. The police re-
serves from the sixth and First precincts.
under command Of LieUtCnanJg Moore and
AmisS. respectively. were on the scene or
the fire and perfect order was maintain
ed throughout