The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-08-19
Ct1INAMAN SAYS THAT A SCARED
CAT STARTED BIG FIRE YESTERDAY

!, N#A scene OF the CHINATOWN nre o.
49, Monday morning and all da.
yesterday there gathered about
the blackened remnants of one of the
fiercest blazes of recent days, men
ties picking among the embers for what
they could find.
One of the developments of the day
was the turning up of the only wit
ness of the starting of the fire. This
is An Sui, the butcher. whose store al
the corner of Kekaulike and Hotel
street was destroyed, the fourth estab-
lishment which the owner has lost. Ah
Sui had gone to his store preparatory
to opening and first put in place the
mornings supply of pork. He then
went to River street just mauka of
Hotel, where he was to get some cab
bages from the hucksters gathered
there. He took the passage by the
rear and his attention was attracted by
a light burning in the rear room of
the third store from the corner of the
street. While he looked he saw a cat
upon the table beside the lamp scratch
ing at the panes, as if trying to get
out.
The animal after many attempts fin
ally began to spring at the window and
upon one bound fell back in such a
way that the table was overturned.
There was a crashing noise and then
a burst of flame. All Sui kicked in the
door to make an attempt to put out
the fire. but the oil had been spread all
over the place and he could do no more
than call for help and arouse the peo-
pie of the house.
The cries soon brought officer Hart
from Pauahi street and he turned in
the alarm. There was an incorrect
rendering of the number of the box by
the whistle and this caused some peo-
pie interested to stay at home, as they
thought that the fire was in reality on
School street. One of the owners of
the property destroyed, James Arm
strong, the Pearl City rancher, was at
his home in Puunui, and sat watching
the play of the fire ignorant of the
fact that it was his own building that
was furnishing the fuel
One of the first things done yester-
day was the collection of salvage from
the ruins of the buildings by the keep
ers of the various stores. The rewards
of their labors were small, the only
man who seemed able to find much be-
whose small stock seemed to have drop
ped through to the cellar. The opening
of safes began as soon as the ruins
cooled sufficiently to permit the hand
ling of the masses of iron. In no in
stance was there any loss through the
burning of papers, the nearest approach
being in one case, the bHstering of a
contract which had fallen out of it's
box against the door.
There were many amusing scenes,
one being the rolling out of an open
safe of few handfuls of gold, which
scattered about the cellar into which I
1t had fallen. In another safe there ,
nothing of value but the own
er priced some letters very highly and
-an away to put them in the safe of
q friend until he can again get into
shape for his own opening.
In one part of the ruins children and
women busted themselves in digging
'ut crockery, one piece in a dozen hav
ng withstood the fire, in another boys
eagerly sought and in many instances
ound money and tools, sometimes get
ing deeper and entering rooms in the
inburned buildings, until stopped by
he police. Curiosity hunters ravaged
he ruins and Chinese cash, burned and
,ent were at a premium.
The losses will be heavier than ap-
'eared Monday morning. It is now esti-
mated that the total may reach $4,000, t
nd on this there is probably insurance =
o the amount of $4,000. The returns Z
ave not all been made to the Secretary o
f the Underwriters Association but {
he folloYing figures are noted as giv- c
ng a fair idea of the insurance as !.
laced in the various agencies:
:. ]. Hutchins. (may reach (s1O,-
600 later) known ...........s7 $500 t
Y. G.. Irwin & Company $500 t
'ishop & Company .............. 6,1O0 s
honolulu Investment Company. 5,400 p
& Company . 4,30O
. H. Davies & Company. $500
on Hamm- Young Company -. 1900 &
arnes Agency .............-..... 2,700 a
astle & Lansdale ........ 1.5O0 :.
7. r. Castle Observation-Disclosures. 1900
heodore F. Lansing ...... 1500
erman Alliance Company 49,. 500 h
NJ. Dowsett .....-.............. 500 II
s45, 200
It is known that the two policies OF :,
500 each on the River Planning Mill, "
lrried by Won Hamm- Young COM Z
any, were equally in the Queen and L
which disproves the re- 81
0rt that the former company had
rerruu the limit for each compa7v in "