Arizona republican., 1903-12-29
CAPITOL STANDS
ArizOnd's Seat of Govern
 ment Tried by Fire
Furnace Room Reduced to Charcoal. Building Badly Smoked But None of the Offices Invaded by Flames.

There was great excitement in this city last night from 9:30 to II o'clock occasioned by a fire in the territorial capitol building that proved to be a great deal more spectacular than it was serious There was ample reason for alarm however. as delay of ten min utes in it's discovery might have re- suited in the gutting of the offices of the superintendent of public instruc- ton and the surveyor general. The fire originated in the furnace room adjoin- ing the superintendent's office and was confined to that apartment, except that the smoke rolled in stifiing volume all through the building, blackening the walls and making the early corners gasp for breath. The furnace room was burned to charcoal but the act ual loss is confined to it and to clean ing of the walls. estimated at from s1.- 800 to S2,500. The building is said to be insured fer s5o,0OO, so the loss Is fully covered. The structure itself could not be destroyed to the point of rulnation for 1t is considered a fire proof build ing the frame being of steel and the walls of granite and tufa, but the fur nishings and finishing, such as doors and transoms, are of wood and the con- tents of the offices, like any other, are very inflammable.
 The excitement began long before the location of the fire was known for the firm alarm to tho engine house was by telephone and number 51 was sounded, that being the general alarm, and de- scribing no definite location. The de- partment went west but no blaze ap- bearing in due time the public conclud ed it was false alarm. when suddenly the fire bell sounded the same number a second time. This brought hundreds cut of their retreats for they did not know but it was some public calamity other than fire, and in a few minutes the Eord went round that the capitol building was burning.
 The story of the alarm is that Horace Harrison, secretary O. the live stock sanitary board spent the evening in his office across the rltunda from the fur mace room. As he passed out of the building he fancied he smelled smoke and imagined it was a leaking fiue in the furnace room, not suspecting fire The room had been locked tip for the night and the engineer, Captain Stark had gone home. MT. Harrison on the way up town called at the Stark res idence on Thirteenth avenue and sug- gested that Mir. Stark make an inves- tigation. MT. Stark at once ran to the capitol his wife following close behind. As they entered they saw smoke and fire darting from the transom of the furnace room, the glass in the transom having melted by the heat. MT. Stark at once devoted himself to getting the hose from the house hydrants into Gc- ton while Mrs. Stark ran to the sec ond floor and alarmed William Teasley, the assistant secretary of Arizona, who was engaged in his office. Mir. Teasley sent in the telephone alarm.
 As the fire is almost out of the de- partment district and beyond the re- zion of frequent plugs, the firemen were badly handicapped. All the avail able hose was laid from the nearest plug but it fell short of the capitol by tive blocks Ghence the engine was spiked. The chemical however. got in to the house and did some good work, in a short time having the fire extin- guished. Not, however, till the Five Points company had distinguished it. self by attaching a hose to the elevat- ed plug in front of the capitol, used by the street sprinklers.
 Tte cause of the fire could not be definitely determined last night and possibly will not be. It seemed. though, to have started in a pile of cedar fire wood in the furnace room, not far from the furnace.