Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1904-03-18
Gray's Opera House and the Her.
low Residence on Water
Street Destroyed Last
Evening.
WAS PARTLY INSURED
Loss $2,500...Pressure Strong and
Plenty Of Water---Firemen Did
Good Work.

The worst fire that Santa Fe has ex
perienced since August, 1901, when tn,
building on the corner of San Fran
cisco Street and Don Gaspar Avenue
occupied by the Santa Fe Mercantile
Company, burned, occurred last eve
ming. Gray's Opera House and the res
idence of T. A. Herlow were totally
destroyed. Mr.. Herlow discovered
about 5:45 p. M, that the frame struc
ture on Water Street known as Gray's
Opera House was on fire. He immedi
ately gave the alarm but the fire haG
taken such hold that within ten min
utes the building was an entire mass
of seething flames. The fire company
responded as promptly as the lack OF
teams would permit. When the fire
men arrived upon the scene the flames
were licking against the western wall
of the county Jail and several of the
window frames were smouldering.
Sheriff H. c. Kinsell, the jailer and
the six prisoners aided materially in
preventing the fire from gaining head
way in the jail They used a small
hose and checked the flames.
The wind veered shortly afterwards,
thus taking the Jail out of danger but
spreading the fire to the one and half
story brick and adobe dwelling occu-
pied by T. A. Herlow and family. The
hard work of the firemen could not
save the building, but all the furniture
was taken out and carried into the
back yard. The firemen worked like
Trojans to prevent the fire from
spreading to the adjoining three story
brick and adobe residence property of
John Shaw of Roswell.
Again and again the window frames
and the cornice were smouldering, but
there was a good water
pressure and the building was saved.
The frames OF the doors and windows
were torn out by the firemen to pre-
vent the spread, despite the intense
heat and the shower of sparks to
which they were exposed. The stables
and warehouses on the north side of
Water Street were on fire several
times but bucket brigade and line
Of fire hose laid from San Francisco
Street kept the conflagration from
spreading.
While the Herlow residence was
burning number of cartridges ex-
ploded but did no damage. About a
thousand people gathered to see the
fire which, however, had been roped
off,
A dance was to have taken place in
Gray's Hall last evening and it was
fortunate that the fire occurred so
early in the evening. BY o'clock the
flames were under control, although
the blaze had to be watched for sew
eral hours afterwards. Considering
that the firemen were badly handicap
ped by having insufficient fire hose,
they did good work and certainly pre-
vented the further spread of the fire.
Both buildings destroyed were owned
by Mrs. Sophia Herlow. The hall was
uninsured and it's value is placed at
about $1,000. There was about $500
insurance on the house and it's value
was about $4,000.
The electric light fixtures, stoves,
sheet music and a number of band in
struments, the property of the Capital
City Band were destroyed, their loss
to about 5000. The fire is
to have started from the
stove near the stage in which coal oil
had been used to start the fire.
The wind was rather high and car
ried the sparks and burning splinters
for a block or more.
Complaint was made that there
was some pilfering of household
goods taken out of the Herlow and ad-
Joining residences. The alarm last
evening was the second during the
day and the fire emphasized the neces-
sity of keeping the fire apparatus in
first class trim and the fire companies
we'll drilled.