The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-23
BIG FIRE IN KNOXVILLE
HALF MILLION DOLLARS DAM
 AGE BY FLAMES.
Lucky Shifting of the Wind All That Prevented Much Greater Loss. 800 Persons Out |, of Work.

Knoxville, Tenn. Dec. 22.-The scene or this mornings -half-million dollar fire is tonight but a mass of debris. Brick walls of five of the six burned structures are standing, and here and there groups Of firemen are playing streams of water on the smoking ruins. The burned district is triangular in form. the width Of nve stores on Gay Street and three on Com- merce Avenue leaving the corner buiid- ing standing.
 A lucky shifting of the wind was all that saved the six-story McTeer bioeK and the collapse of the Brown Hardware Company building gave the fremen their chance to stop the progress of the flames westward. At one time fully half dozen other big buildings than those destroyed were burning fercely, but attention was given them by the flremen and they were saved.
 First estimates of the loss placing 1t in the neighborhood of one million were made when the stores of McTeer, Hood & Co.,, wholesale clothiers; Haynes & Hen Con, wholesale boots and shoes, and Gii- leSpie, SnelaS & No.' whoiSSo S' seemed doomed. These structures "efet however, saved.
 Three hundred persons are thrown out of employment temporarily. The fire broke out at 30 o'clock this morning in a four-story building on Com- l merce Avenue, directly opposite the Gen. tIai fife station and occupied by the Knoxville Pants Company. In two hours time buildings adjoining 1t on Commerce. Avenue occupied by Broyles. Mcclellan Lackey, agricultural implement deal CTS; the l.. David Commission Company, the immense establishment of the George Brown Hardware Company on Gay Street; the Shanklin Grain Company and the R. H. Cate & Co. building on the same street had been completely gutted. The six-story building of McTeer, Hood & Co.,, wholesale clothie,s, and the three story building of the Davies Furniture Company, which were reported destroyed, withstood the storm of flames and are but little damaged. Brandau & Kenne- dy, retail clothiers; W. T. Nelson, jew eler: the whittle-Spence Trunk Company, and other retail stores on Gay Street op- posite the burning structures, were con- siderably damaged.
 Conservative insurance men say the loss will be between four and five hun- dred thousand. Other estimates place 1t much higher.
 The McTeer and Davies buildings seem- ed doom and although they were in flames time and again they were saved with small damage by heroic work on the part of the firemen. Several other struc- lures were also on fire at times. including the big establishment of Gillespie, Shields | & Co.,, wholesale matters, but they were protected.
 The fire was a very spectacular one and attracted crowd numbering thousands. It is a miracle that no one was hurt | with showers of falling glass and the ter rife explosions in the Brown Hardware | Company, that scattered bricks, burning embers and all conceivable articles of merchandise. Chattanooga was called on for aid when the fire was at its height and an engine | company had run by special train twen- | y.nine miles in twehty-three minutes towards this city when stopped by wire, the fire being under control. The collapse of the Brown Hardware Company saved the business district from loss of two millions at least. the flames being easily handled after that big struc- ture had fallen.
 The heaviest loss Is that of the George Brown Hardware Company. It carried a $1S0 GOO stock. The building, owned by
 
 was valued at $30,0O0.
 Partial estimates on the other losses are as follows:
 R. H. Cate & Co.,, wholesale liquors, stock and building. s15,00O; Knoxville Pants Company. stock and building, $4O,- 900; Broyles, Mcclellan & Lackey, farm ing implements, stock and buildings, $25.- 900; Shanklin Grain Company, stock and building, 15.OOO; L. David & Co.,, stock and building, $40, 900; Haynes & Henson, wholesale Shoes. $1oOOO; McTeer, Hood & Co.,, wholesale clothing. s 900; Davies Furniture Company, stock and building, A$4000; damage to other buildings and 1 stocks, $10,000. All the firms damaged ex- cept the David Commission Company were we'll insured. Had the McTeer, Hood & Go. building been destroyed as reported, loss of nearly oneAduarter of million additional would have been 1 added.