The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-02-04
Then Another Fire Burst Out
in the City,
WAS lTAy THE TOUCH or iNcENDlARY?
The Area Burned Over is About Four
Acres and the Losses Are Estimated
at Between Four and Five Millions.
People Only Half Clad Fly For Life
From the Flames
(By the Associated Press.)


Waterbury, Conn, Feb. S.-The sun
rose this morning on blackened and
smoldering map of ruins that marked the
main busines section of the city. There
which completely destroyed the Scoville
House today, burning thousands of dol
lars worth of furniture. appointments
and personal effects and imperilling
many lives. was the ork Of an incendiary.
The fire originated in the pool and bill
lard room in the basement of the house
on the further side of the burned dis
trict The room was locked and no one
was supposed to be there. No fire was
kept in the room. all heat being supplied
from a boiler in another part of the
building
Manager Truman said at the police
station, while the fire was still raging,
that he had not the slightest doubt it
was of incendiary origin, and the au-
thorities have been quietly Investigating.
The fire came so close on the heels of
the big conflagration that the thousands
of spectators who witnessed it were
thrown into a more complete panic than
the original fire caused.
The fire had only begun to die out
along Bank, Grand and South Main streets
at o'clock when flames leaped upward
as by magic. and people feared the city
was doomed after all.
The call was rung in promptly and the
engines that hurried TO the scene turned
their attention mainly to preventing. the
spread of the flames. It was evident
that the hotel was doomed. and if the fire
bad reached the adjacent buildings there
would have been very little hope OF
saving the center OF the city The fire
burned far into he day and was not ex-
tinguished until evening. The loss on
the hotel vii reach $150000.
For ten hours last night and this
morning flames. famed by a high wind.
held sway over the business portion of
this city. causing a loss that will exceed
SO 900. The bet business portion OF
the city. forming a triangle, bounded on
the north by Exchange Place. on the west
by Bank street, on the south by Grand
street and on the east by South Main
street. was almost wiped out.
The first fire, which started in the big
store of the Reid & Hughes Dry Goods
Company, on Bank street. was not con-
sidcred under control until about $3, 000-
worth of property had been destroyed.
About the time the iremen supposed they
had the flames under control second
fire broke out in the small house, the
citys leading hotel. remodeled by the
late Judge Z. c. Lewis. a. few years ago,
at an expense Of about $4,000. and the
establishment was completely wrecked.
The occupants of the hotel were forced to
seek the street in their night clothes
With the ringing of second alarm the
entire city was thron into panic There
was fierce gale blowing and sparks
from the burning hotel We're driven in
lurid showers over a great area The
occupants of buildings located in the path
OF the wind prepared to leave. Although
the Waterbury fire department was rein
forced from nearby cities it was for
time impossible to stay the progress of
the flames.
The fire in its entirety burned over
four acres of the citys best business
section. Among the prominent buildings
totally destroyed are the block occupied
by the Reid & Hughes Dry Goods Com
pany. the plant OF the Waterbury Ameri-
can the Masonic Temple, the Scoville &
Franklin houses. the w. L. Douglass
Shoe Company. the Johnson block. the
Salvation Army Workingmen's Home and
scores of other buildings. In all about
one hundred of the most prominent
business houses are burned out.
Rarely have firemcn been obliged to
contend against worse conditions than
those which prevailed from first to last
in this disastrous confagration. The
wind was blowing gale and tho cold was
intense 1t seemed at one time as
though every structure in the heart Of
the city would be destroyed.
In some instances the wor of the fire.
men proved of no avail The Water
bury bank building at the corner of
Bank and Grand streets was saved, al
though the New England Engineering
Company $4,000 building, but few
feet away, and the Masonic Temple on