Waterbury Democrat., 1902-02-04
The Work of Dernolishing the Blackened '
 Rapidly Forward
of o to rnyMi Lo n FietW
 al Rooms sy1npat From

The sensation of seeing a huge wall going to pieces is a novelty in this community The wall first rises un- der the charge of. dynamite, quivers, then sways and totters over in pieces. All day long the detonation of collap- sing walls and explosions of dynamite have been heard. This work is prac- tically under the supervision of the city, having been ordered by the mayor for public safety.
 As you pass through Bank street to- day and gaze at the spot where the fire started, you wonder how even fire could work such total destruction. Reid x Hughes's building, where the first blaze began, is nothing but a mass of ruins. and the buildings that stood on either side of it for many yards are this morning keeping it com pany. Everything looks so desolate that you are surprised to find the old Waterbury National bank building, standing like an oasis in a desert. and with not stone misplaced or a win dow broken. Miraculous was the ex- pression heard on all sides, that this building and its adjoining mate should
 
 The American Brass Co.'S building. whic- adjoins the bank building. is also intact. Here on the first floor is quarters. All day long this office has been the scene of many hearings be- tween the clerical force and the burned out business men. The insurance com panies have shown willingness to hasten the settlement of claims in or der that the merchants can get back into the harness again.
 Next north of this building the scene of destruction begins. Nothing but the walls are left standing in this build ing. which was rented by West, the optician. Rasmussen, the florist, and Dr F. l.. Ryder. the dentist. Not a thing was saved here and the roof is now lying with the debris of the stores and offices in the cellar This building caught fire again this morn- ing, but the blaze was soon extin- guished. Each of the tenants was partially covered by insurance, but it will not near cover the losses. There was some talk this morning of uniting this building when being rebuilt with the others north.
 Just north of this building was the place formerly occupied by Minor. the plumber. Fortunately for MT Minor he vacated the building some weeks ago and moved into quarters next to the Democrat office. For some weeks contractor had been at work prnnar- ing for the erection of q new building at this point. The temporary floors are down with rest of the buildings near by. The loss here is not so heavy as there were no tenants and the build ing had not progressed very far. There was insurance sufficient to cover all losses.
 The Masonic temple, owned by the Camp estate, is q mass of ruins. A peculiar thing about this building is that the three safes used, one on each noor, are standing like a monument to the confiagration. All were built when the building was erected and each looks as solid to-day as ever. Tn the top safe. which stood in one cor ner of the Masonic quarters, on the top noor of the building. are locked all the records of the society. If if is Dossi- Die 10 get up there without throwing down the walls the safe may be opened and the records saved On the nqxt noor below stands the safe of Atwood. the real estate agent. In this are stored some valuable papers. The bot tom floor vault was used by the Driggs x smith Co and by Maier Kaiser for private business. These three vaults. one on top of the other towering over the ruins. present picture that is well worth taking. The Driggs & Smith Co will be heavy losers by the collapse 0f this building. The safe of the con- cern is in the cellar with three feet of water flowing around it. There were some fifty pianos in the store and q large number of organs, besides musi- cal instruments and music. At least S2O,OUO worth of stock went up in the nre That is not nearly covered by in- surance. On the floors above were the offices of Root < Boyd, insurance agents; Dr Mahoney, the dentist; the Masonic lodge rooms Atwood. the real estate agent, and Jimmy Nelson. in- strHctor of physical culture. Not a thing was saved from either place and not all of them were insured. Valu- able papers and records went up in this blaze. The two side walls of this building are standing still
 The first scene of the ire was in the next building. and there is nothing Jeff of the hnilding occupied hy the Reid & Hughes Co but mass Of