Rocky Ford enterprise., 1902-03-28
AN EARLY MORNING FIRE.
cibson's Racket Store Again
Suffers,

whistle startled the town with its
weird shrieks, aud the people hur.
rying out OF bed to their windows
could see q bright glare Of light
raising from a fire in the very GEN.
tor Of town. The first indications
were that the town was in for a
! serious fire, but happily the out
come was not nearly so bad as was
feared.
The fire started somewhere in a
clump OF iron-covered sheds and
closets that fill an aicove formed by
the brick walls of the rear end Of
Gibson's Racket store. the Shelton
Hardy grocery rear extension.
and the west wall Of Deweese's su-
loon. A wooden fence forms a
part OF the enclosure and two or
three closets OF wooden framework
and wooden stairway leading to
the second story of thu Gibson
store. And it was these that fur
nished fuel for the flames that for
IL while lit up the heavens. But
the air was still aud the materials
damp from the recent rain, and
the sheltered enclosure kept the
fire within narrow limits until the
tire company got Mt 1t. The boys
did good work III the matter of
getting on the ground and III the
getting rendy Ut their apparatus.
but when this was done there was
an aggravaling wait for water.
None could be had until u trip was
made to the pressure cut.oI valve
located nt ihc corner OF Main aud
Locust streets, 10 turn 1t on. In
the meantime. while the iiremcn
stood with hose in hand gazing
hclplcssly on the lire. other pco-
Pile forming the assembled crowd
gained nn entrance Ia the Dawlcy
Hardware store, and helping them
selves 10 buckets prosecuted To
form u bucket brigade between
iha nearest water taps aud the
lire. jus, IN this haa been ar
rnugcd however. ,iin iydrnnt
water supply c.sinc and tho hose
boys soon had what renamed Of
the lire put out. Water Comnls.
s,oncr Dcwccsa hail found ont
what the iirc brigade was waiting
Tor aud made su,id time through
the msd 10 inn tnp. giving tue
boys ,lic best water pressure Nc
have ever had at u iirc.
Bat ia doing iliis they poured u
heavy .,rcan ut water into the UP
per story al lhu Kobb block. above
tie Racket Store. iuto Whieh
much snui . aud rome lire had III
ready penetrated. and the water.
smoke aud lire together did serious
damage ,n the stock which. by the
way, lad just been cleaned up and
rcirrnugcJ after the previous lirc
that visited it. The office ROOMS
OF the upper story OF the R6bb
block were jus; ia course of gen.
craI renovation aud aTu somewha
tisorlcrcd again. But the really
scrions damage OF the lire Is done
Mr.. Gibson, who had gone TO Dem
vcr ON the Monday noon train and
hal no, returned at the iimc of
tho fire. The di,fcrcn, premises
involved in the damage were all
injured. Col. Robb's building car
ricd nu insurance ut 5000 in the
German Insurance Co. Of Free
port. His damage will b. easily
repaired. Mr.. Dcwccac estimates
his loss at sI5. which will be easily
met by insurance. But in Mr..
Gihson's case there was stock
thn, had jus. been invoiced and
showed si.iO1. with store fixtures
worth 500. On this there was
an insurance in the Continental
tns. Co. Of $3.50 ON stock and
$50 on fixtures. The smoke per-
meatcd the stock from end to end
of the store and the whole stock,
except crockcry and glassware, is
more or lcss damaged. although i,
was not actually reached by the
fire. There is difference oi
opinion as to where the point oi
origin Of the fire was. some oi
those earlies, on the ground dc.
claring that it started in the closet
attached to the Parlor saloon and
others that it started under the
stairway Of the Robb building
The closet was not consumed mol
the fence near to- II, while the
stairway was entirely destroyed.
ii I. = =
Fire Notes.
Had the rear windows of Gibson's
windows no damage would have been IN.
iIicted on his stock Col. Robb can
take valuable hint from this. as well as
others whose good brick blocks have sim
liar frame surroundings.