The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-02-04
Blaze in Basement Discovered Mt -
O'Clock in the Morning by N
CoIored Jsnitor.
FIRE WAS HARD TO GET AT
so MUCH SMOKE THAT IT PENE-
TRATED SIDE WALLS.
Captain O'Brien, Cropping About, Fell
Into a Hole and Almost
Into the Flames.

Fire in the When building. on North
Pennsylvania street. yesterday morning,
caused a loss of about 10000. The loss
TO the When clothing store is estimated
by insurance men at s32. 900. The rest of
the damage was divided among the other
tenants of the building. All of the losses
are well covered by insurance. The fire
started In the children's dressing room in
the basement a few minutes before 8
o'clock. 1t was discovered by Robert VIII
liams. a colored %janitor, who, with the
help Of Robert Finn. colored. a porter in
the store. attempted TO put II out. They
Immediately gave the alarm. Manager
Peter Bonn was on the ground floor in the
center of the store. When he heard the
cry of fire he rushed for the telephone.
One of the women clerks got there first and
had called fire headquarters.
The clerks had arrived and were getting
ready for work when the alarm was given.
A number of them rushed out through the
front door TO turn in an alarm, and when
they got into the street they met the fire
apparatus The fire burned fiercely, and
the clerks and ~janitors who were trying
to put it out were driven back by the smoke
and fire. The storeroom and basement.
by the time the department arrived, were
so filled with dense smoke that it was i'm
possible to get inside the building. Some of
the firemen went TO the rear and there ex-
perienced some difficulty in getting at the
fire because of an iron door. The firemen
working on Pennsylvania street had some
trouble in loosening the iron g%ratings. Sew
eral streams of water were, however, soon
running into the basement. The water
did not reach the seat of the flames. and 1t
was thought for a time the building was
doomed. A second alarm had been turned
in by Chief Coots Immediately upon his
arrival at the building.
BY 9 o'clock the basement had been thor
oughly flooded. and il was thought the fire
was under control. 1t was not until that
time that the smoke had cleared from the
building sufficiently to allow the fremen
to work inside, and then several holes were
cut through the floor to allow streams of
water to be thrown directly into the por-
ton of the basement where the fire was
%hercest. A stream of water was also
room in order to cool Ii and prevent the
flames eating through from underneath.
Before 10 o'clock the fire was under control,
but the firemen were obliged to work until
noon.
SMOKE PENETRATED WALLS.
Smoke had filled every portion of the
block. the upper floors of which are used
as offices. The smoke had also penetrated
the side walls of the building and filled
the storerooms of A. ]. Treat & Son. mer-
chant %tailors; L. S. Tiff, a stationer, and
George r. Popp, a grocer. The work of
the salvage corps was favorbaly comment
ed on. About eighty covers were spread.
and a great deal of the clothing in the
When store was protected from water. The
men of the corps also did good work in
clearing the building of smoke, thus re-
ducing the damage from that cause.
The building is owned by G. f. Sayles and
Thomas II. Spann. Their loss is only about
5000. The When Clothing Companys stock
is valued at $125 600. The firm carried in
surance of $4,000 on furniture and fixtures,
and the loss on them is figured at about 10
per cent. of the insurance. The members
of the hrm estimated the loss on stock at
$32, 900, being about one-half of the insur-
ance carried. The insurance on stock was
placed through the Rehm & Van DENSE
agency and is divided as follows: Teu-
tonia. Dayton. $3.50; Ohio Farmers. $1,000;
Milwaukee Mechanics. 81 500; National OF
Hartford. 5000; Western Assurance, Can
County of Philadelphia, $500; Assurance
Company of New York. $500; New Hamp-
shire. 5000; Hamburg-Bremen, $500; Pal
atine. 1880; Northern Assurance, $3.50;
Svea, $500; Allemannia, 81. 500: United
States Fire. 81 1900; Western Underwrit-
ers'. 5000; Farmers, York, $500; Penn
~sylvania. $500; st. Paul, $500; Commercial
New York Fire, $3.50; Baloise, $3.50; North
western National. $500; American. New
Jersey, $3.50; Westchester. $500; Rochester
German. $500; National Standard. $500;
Firemen's and Mechanics. Madison, $500;
German, Peoria, $500; Concordia, s., 500:
Security. 1900; Anchor, Cincinnati. 5000;
total. $4,000.
FIREMAN FELL IN HOLE.
The tenants Of the upper floors of the
building. all of whom suffered small losses
by smoke, are: Edward Seguin, real estate;
II. j. Craig, wholesale cigars; II. w. Over
mar & Co. insurance.; NJ. II. Taylor. archi-
tect; w. d. X. Smith. supplies; j. S. Lam
bert. insurance, Watkins q Ruschaupt,
baseball managers; Rehm & Van DENSE,
insurance.; w. II. Meidner, H. A. SOmer-
field, DIR. l.. A. Duthie, DR.. j. II. Brendel.
Dr.. w. G. Sader, DR.. A. f.. Buchanan, DIR.
j. A. ComingOr; Lawrence & Runyan, art
lists; II. V. Place, architect: DIR. III. J.
Jones: C. L. Rose, lumber; ]. l.. Wright &
Co, real estate: j. NJ. Tindall, insurance;
DIR. C. A. Stafford. DIR. George Tull; c.. j.
Harris q Co. insurance, and the offices OF
the Indianapolis Business University, the
Red Star Accident and Health Insurance
company, the Ruby oil Company, the Brie-
mer Gold Mining and Milling Company and
the Loyal Legion.
a. ]. Treat & Son. %tailors. estimate their
loss at 5000. fully protected by insurance.
l.. s. Ilif and George r. Popp. whose
stocks were damaged by smoke. each esti-
mate their losses at $500. During the prog
TtSS Oh the HIt Ndpl. JuhA bIlSIs OF the
No. l truck, while walking through the
dense smoke slipped and fell into one Of
the holes cut in the floor. He managed
to catch himself by the arms and kept
from falling into the basement filled with
flames. He escaped with slight bruises.
Members of the clothing firm said last
night business would be resumed as soon
as settlement could be made with the in
surance companies, and this, il was thought
from the progress made during the after
noon, would be accomplished without de-
lay