The age-herald., 1902-02-01
Once Beautiful Atlantic Hotel Now a Mass of SmOk-
 ing Ruins
F|REMEN POWERLESS
 FOR SEVERAL HOURS
Though the Loss Aggregates Neariysz Million Dollars, at Least Half of It Is Covered By Insurance.
 No Lives Were Lost

Norfolk, Va, January I.-zA heap of smoking ruins is all that remains of. the Atlantic hotel the massive Columbia of- flee building which adjoined the hotel,i the Albemarle flats and block of stores in the center of the city as result ofi this mornings fire.
 The loss will approximate seOo.ooo. pos- s1bty half covered by insurance.
 The buildings burnedt were:
 The Atlantic hotel, for which, with itsl site MT. c. M Randolph recently paidi $S10,O00
 The Columbia. building including all office fixtures; loss over $100o00.
 The Albemarle apartment house. ownedj by MT. George L. Arps valued at about $25, 900.
 The Johnston China Company.
 The building owned by Mrs. Sarah Aol- mond, occupied by Stephenson & Taylor.3 real estate, and other tenants, and thal building occupied by L. B. Carey. mer- chant tailors, sustained losses of $1O,0O0 each.
 H. B. Blick, florist and three buildings on Plum street in the rear of the Wis ginia Club s2O.0OO.
 The building occupied by Hatch Ss Deane. mems furnishings. s15,OOO.
 The building owned by MT. c. W. Sans valued at s1S0oO.
 | Origin Not Known. | The origin of the fire is not known. | The blaze was first discovered in Browns
 cafe, which occupies half of the Colum-
 bia building, by a policeman, who im-
 mediately turned in the alarm. The
 whisky which exploded was In this cafe
 All the Atlantic hotel guests escaped
 though J. o. Rady, of Brooklyn. N. r.,
 had a close call. The Watts Retewan
 Clay building was saved. although the
 stock was damaged by water.
 In the Atlantic hotel building were
 the ticket offices of the Southern, B. &r | O., and Norfolk & Western Railroads;
 the office of Nottingham and Wrenn l Wood and Coal dealer; the Equitable 1 Life Insurance Company; Dodsons dry 1 goods store; Vermillion's liquor store and Solomonskys tailoring establishment. 1 In the Columbia building were the of- fees of C. R. Brown and Nedds; the | offices of D. Lowenberg, the owner. and of numerous real estate firms, lawyers. physicians, architects and contractors.
 
 | marie were Johnson's China store. Cary | and Dean, tailors; Hatch and Meanss 1 furnishers, Motter Dewitt & Co.,, brok- | CTS. Stephenson and Taylor brokers, the | Norfolk and Western foreign freight de- pertinent, and the office of the Virginia Tennessee and Georgia Air Line.
 Private Papers Saved. While in most cases valuable prfvato papers were saved large quantity of personal property of unknown value was lost. The losses to the owners of the Att lantic hotel is about $250oOo covered by insurance and of the Columbia building. $90,O0O on which there was s36.O 900 insur-< ance.
 The fire was discovered at 1:55 o'clock. | and shortly afterwards over 1000 barrelsi stored in the Columbia building exploded with terrific force, tearing out the front wall. The fremen were driven back by 1 the explosion and before they could get | a stream of water on the flames the en- . | tire building was afre. Hardly 15 min- utes later the north wall, which was over 75 feet high. fell in, completely annihilat- :; ing the home of the Virginia Club, which adjoins the building on the north.
 From the outset it was evident that the immense Atlantic hotel was doomed. 1 | J. Fl Hull Davidson It's proprietor, per sonally made the rounds of the rooms, 1 and aided by his assistants. aroused ev- | cry guest in the building.
 No Lives Lost.
 To this is due the fact that so far as | known no life was lost although about 300 people were asleep in the hotel when the alarm was sounded. The little army of half-dressed men and women refugees l from the flames elbowed their way 1 through the crowded streets. In their | hands they carried such small belong | ings as they were able to save in their | flight The flames soon spread to the fve-story f Albemarle apartment house, opposite the Virginia Club. which was quickly de- stroyed, and then to the entire block fac- ing the Atlantic and running from Plum to Main streets. Within an hour this block was innihilated.
 The flames were finally subdued through the hard work of the fire depart ment and the shifting of the wind, which veered to the northeast just the fire 1 had gotten a grasp on the big depart