The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-05-21
FIRE ON WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH
VIEW HOTEL AND BATH
HOUSES BURNED LAST NIGHT
Amrfnge Cottage, and Mr.. s.. w.
Sanders Store Also Destroyed-The
Hotel Insured for SIS ZOO, and VIII
Be u on a Much Larger Scale

Last night shortly before s o'clock the
clouds towards wrightsville Beach
were lurid from fire and when the
hundreds of people on the streets saw
it they were confident that a disastrous
fire had broken out on the beach,. In
a few minute telephone messages
were received from the beach that the
Ocean View hotel vas on fire.
As soon as it was learned hat h fire
had broken out at the beach, The Mes
senger secured a carriage from the S.
P. Cowan Livery Company and hurried
two representatives to Wrightsville to
get information about the fire.
A special train was ordered by Cap
tain r. o. Grant, superintendent of
the Wilmington S~eacoast Railroad
Company, to be run from the city to
the beach, and it carried down quite
a party, including Fire Chief Charles
Schnibben, Mr.. s. A. Schloss, one Of the
owenrs of the hotel, and others. May
or Waddell had given orders for a fire
engine to be taken down on the train
but it was found impracticable to do 81,
as nothing but salt water could be a
on the beach.
When the train reached Ocean
View the fire had done it's work. The
hotel was falling in and the fire was
simply consuming what was left of it.
h fire broke out in the Kitchen of the
hotel, n in a few minutes the entire
building was a mass of flames. The
hotel building, all the bath houses n
Mr.. s. A. Schloss' cottage, formerly
the VanAmringe cottage, were totally
destroyed, as was also the two story
store building of Mr.. S. w. Sanders
alongside the railroad track. MI. r.
r. Stones cottage, formerly owned by
Governor D. l.. Russell, caught fire
several times but the fire was put out
by Messrs. R.. McRee Hatch, James G..
Cotchett n other gentlemen who are
in a NARROWING party occupying MI. j.
A. Arringdale'S cottage. They got on
top of Mr.. Stones cottage n kept the
sparks and flying embers swept from
the roo
When the fire first broke out the
wind was blowing directly from the
south, endangering every building eX-
tending for a mile and a half up the
beach, but in a few minutes the wind
shifted and blew from the west, very
fortunately carrying the flames and
emberS over the ocean A number of
people on the beach and others who
went over from Wrightsville did all
they could but with nothing to fight
the fire they were helpless, except in
saving other property. James Ellerbee,
a colored man employed on the beach
worked heroically and almost callaps-
ed from his exertions.
Mrs. w. E. Mayo had rented the no
tel for the season and had been down
during the day getting things to rights
for opening for the season. She had
a lot of furniture, bedding and other
effects in the hotel, but We could not
learn what her loss a She had some
Insurance..
The hotel, bath houses and the Schloss
cottage belonged to the Ocean View
Company, composed principally of
Messrs. S. A. Schloss and A. A. Ma
than. They had S., 900 insurance, and
last night Mr.. SchloSS stated that they
would rebuild the hotel at once and on
a larger and more p%retentiouS scale.
The hotel that was burned was built
about three years ago and it was a
neat, c~ommodious affair. The compa-
ny had within the past two months
had an addition of fifteen rooms added
to it. Mr. Sanders had some insurance
on his store building.
The property destroyed by the fire is
valued at about $1,000. The board
walks along the railroad tracks at the
hotel were burned and this caused a
couple of hundred yards of the crossties
of the railroad to be burned, doing con-
siderable damage to the track. A spe-
cial train with hands and material will
go down to the beach this morning to
repair the track.
MIR. T. J. Gurganus had rented the
r~efreshment stalls and bath houses
connected with the hotel and he had
just put them in order for the season.
He lost about $50 in material used in
repairing the booths and bath houses.
Mr.. Schloss proposes to put a large
number of carpenters at work imme-
diately to put up his new hotel. 1t
will be a larger and handsomer build
ing and will be done before the season
is over.
The burning of the hotel will not in
terfere with the accommodations on
the beach, as the new annex to the
Seashore hotel, just completed, gives
that hotel double its former capacity.