Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-26
ROCHESTER VISITED
Fire Fiend Destroys One of
Its Business Blocks.
CALLS FOR OUTSIDE AID
BUILDINGS DYNAMITED no
CHECK SPREAD OF FLAMES.
Loss Will Reach Into Millions Alb
sence of Wind Prevented Repetition
of Baltimore Experience.

| ester broke out a few minutes before h
O'Clock this morning in the basement of the
Rochester Dry Goods Company's store At
Ioo-i06 Main street east. The fire. which.
! according to the night watchman in the
s.ore' ihomas Connors. was discovered
soon after 1t started. spread with
such rapidity that-b by the time an alarm
was turned in the entire front of the storA
was mass of flames. The fire DEPART
ment responded promptly Assistant Ch,et
Jaynes realized at once the danserous na.
lure OF the fire and turned in a general
alarm. BY this time the flames had spread
" 'he building occupied by the dry goods
lihi oI beadie and Sherburne Company
| Beyond Local Control.
| Chief Little arrived on the scene shortly
after the general alarm was sounded He
realized that the flames were bevond N.
| cohtroi OF the local department and ANNALS
ior more fire apparatus were sent to the
chieIs OF the Buffalo and Syracuse depart.
| ihents. Nearly five hours later four steam
ers arrived from Syracuse.
! eu wienln @ an hour after being discovered the
| me hao spread to the big granite building
occupied by the firm of Siblev LINDSAY e
| Sufr and by hundreds of business and nro-
| iessIonal men. Flames also spread to the
,,uii.ss Tha a IA the rear of the granite block.
Inc extreme cold made fire fighting dffi.
| cunt ana hazardous, as the ladders were
coated with ice
Assistant Fire Chief Hurt,
Assistant Chief Frank A Javnes wa,
| hurt about o'clock and was removed tn
| Hahneman Hospital He was struck In
| the mead by flying nozzle. This was the
| oniy accident reported up to 80 o'clock.
Inc loss Is estimated between $IvO0O00
| ana So,OO0,o00. most of which fell on tha
oipiey' LINDSAY q Curr Company, the Bea-
| Ole Sherburne Company, the Rochester
| 81 Soods T company and the Walkover
onoe Company. The loss to the business
omces IN the granite building cannot he
| estimated at this writing The plans and
esumates Tor the mammoth new block that
| the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr COMPANY con-
| tempiated building in the sprinr and ti,a
[ original plans and specifications for the
tse new ,high school were destroyed. Almost
ehe ehtfe tenth floor of the granite bujId-
ing was occupied by the Vacuum oil Co..,
pany branch of the Standard Oil Com
| pany The Bradstreet Mercantile Agency
also had offices in this building
Assistance From Buffalo.
Several engines from the Buffalo fire de-
| partment arrived at II O'Clock. AT that
| hour the fire was still burning fierceIv but
Chlef Little believed that the flames could
De Kept under control, as there was no
vino ploWins The firemen used dynamite
| early in the morning. but the use of ax
piosiVes was soon abandoned. .portfon
OF the Kirley building, occupied nv The
Rochester Dry Goods COMPANY fell 7rh
Az anoht Vi the building occupied by the Bea-
ole q Sherburne Company also fell int
the street with a dull roar carrving ,,,ttb
| 1t mass of burning timbers. brick snd
plaster. trolley wires broke and eight Are
men nad narrow escapes from injury Tba
nre zone was guarded by large details ns
policemen. iis VI
Fortunately No Wind.
The great fire that stor.a1 4.
of the business district of this cttv .arIn
today is still raging fiercely. The weather
Is IDEAL Tor nghting fire rs there is scarcely
any wind blowing. Had there been even
moderately high wind the firemen saw.
nothing could have prevented a renati-
ton of the Baltimore fire. As it is. the
firemen are battling under extreme dir-
fculties, as water mains are not working
as they should. The extreme cold this
winter has frozen up many of the mains
and for the past two weeks the firemen
have been engaged in thawing out the
pipes. On account of the lack of proper
apparatus this work has been slow
At o'clock Chief Little and Commits
sioner of Public Safety Gilman telegraph
ed to Buffalo and Syracuse for assist
ance.
ly, although the fire department was SAN
guine the fire would be prevented from
spreading.
Started When Streets Were Quiet.
The fire started SO early in the morning
that very few people were on the street,
but by o'clock there were thousands
crowding the scene of the disaster. The
explosions of dynamite used to check the
spread of the flames was supplemented
by the thunder of falling walls. Mayor
Cutler and Commissioner OF Public Safety
Gilman were the scene shortly aftef
the fire was discovered. Commissioner
Gilman estimated the loss at o'clock at
u nd
The huge Granite building. belonging to
the Sibey. Lindsay & Curr Company, the
upper stories of which were occupied by
hundreds of professional men, lawyers, doc-
tors dentists and business men, was gutted
from the basement to the tenth story
The entire tenth floor of the Granite
building was taken up with the offices or
the Vacuum Oil Company, branch of the
STANDARD Oil Company. At s45 there was
a tremendous explosion in the basement OF
the Granite building. where the Sibley COM
pany conducted large drug department
There have been several mysterious explo-
siops in the burned buildings.
Electric Current Cut Of.
Since o'clock the trolley current has
been entirely cut off. and the maze of wires
in the fire section has been crushed to the
ground.
The Granite building will be a total loss.
Across ST Paul street to the west is an
other large dry goods store, Burke Fitz-
simmons Hone & Co. The efforts of the
fire department are centered on the west
wall of the Granite building to prevent II
falling and spreading the fire on the west
side of st. Paul street.
Should the fire once spread to the west
side the entire business section would be at
the mercy of the flames On the corner
Numerically opposite the Granite building
is the chamber of commerce building.
eleven stories in height.
The building occupied by the Rochester
Dry Goods Company, just east of the Gran
ite building, is totally destroyed and the
walls have fallen.
Started In a Basement.
The fire is reported to have started in the
basement Of the Rochester Dry Goods Com
pany at 4:30 A fuse connected with the
electric motor that runs the elevator blew