Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-03-06
WIPED OUT BY FIRE
Dillane Property On Sylvan
 Avenue In Ashes.

Two Houses Burned to the Ground
 Shortly After Three O'clock This Morning-The Loss Will Be About
 $7,ooo, Which Is Only Partially Gov. cred By Insurance.
 A very destructive fire occurred on Sylvan avenue this morning when two
 houses, one belonging to John Dillane and another the property of his son,
 John J. DilIane, the well known. mu- sician, were burned to the ground,
 making a total loss of about $7,O00.
 The property was partially insured,
 but the, amount will fall far short of
 making good the damage. About 3
 o'clock this morning John J. Dillane
 who deals in milk and groceries awoke
 and found the house filled with smoke. Hastily procuring a lamp he endeavor-
 ed to locate the cause of the trouble,
 but the volume Of smoke was SC blind- ing he was driven out, himself and
 his wife and child escaping by close shave. The child was carried to the
 barn in its night clothes where a, shawl
 was wrapped about it while MT Dill lane tried to effect an entrance through
 the cellarway, but found this blocked l by dense volumes of smoke. The neighbors were alarmed and one of them started for the nearest box, about
 half mile distant. and sent ill an alarm In the excitement the man
 neglected to remain at the box so that when the department reached the cor
 ner of Rye and Baldwin streets, they could see no signs of fire and thinking
 it false alarm they were about to return to the house when some one told them that house was burning in
 Mohawk park. Then they turned into
 Luke street and went as far as Sylvan
 avenue where they remSined until Chief Snagg appeared. Even from that point the burning building which was
 nearly 5000 feet farther south was not visible, but the chief believing | that he was on the right road kept on l until he gained the summit of the hill
 near the Meehan place when he saw l the confagration. The nearest hydra mt 1 is midway on Luke street, too far by 1 at least 1,50O feet to be reached by the hose and the best the firemen could do was to use their best efforts in saw ing adjoining property. When they l got there both Dillane residences were | in flames and they were powerless to stay the ravages of the fire, but they did prevent 1t from reaching the barns and the Collins house directly south of
 them. The roof of the Collins build-
 ing started to burn, but the firemen
 extinguished it. After the firemen left fire broke out again in the roof of
 this house and the neighbors had to
 perform some lively work to save it. They secured ladder and drenched the roof with water procured from
 wells so that the damages didn't
 amount to much, nothing but a small MT Dillane told Democrat reporter
 that he had no idea as to the origin of
 the fire. When he retired everything
 was all right and it was mystery to
 him how anything in the house could have started to burn at that time. He
 was very much crestfaIlen over his
 losses, but considering the closeness of the call himself and his family had
 for their lives he was very thankful ,he was alive to survey the ruins. He
 saved nothing and the insurance was
 small compared with the damages. F&Y4At LCAlAd1C Gtau dOCut Gl,OOU WOTEu or music and musical instruments and
 the house was handsomely furnished.
 They lived upstairs and used the first
 floor as a store. The building was
 erected but a few years ago and was
 one of the neatest two family houses l in the city. MT Dillane had in his possession the paraphernalia of
 Jere Hurley, the acrobat, and these
 with all the other contents became
 a prey to the fire fiend.
 l The old gentleman, whose house was
 also reduced to ashes, is war veteran
 and has been a resident of Waterbury l for over 30 years. Fortunately the place was not tenanted. MT DilIane has not been in good health for some | time past and has been living with his son and also spends some time with l his sister. Mrs Daniel Grady on Rail- | road Hill street He went there last night and knew nothing of the fire un- | til this morning. The family that oc-
 cupied the house moved out some time 1 ago so that the losses on this building l consisted only of the structure.
 !