The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-07-21
STATE STREET FACTORY
 PARTLY GUTTRD BY FIRE
BU11DING AND STOCK OF RAr-
 TAN COMPANY

Damageo ADOut %@o,OOO-ftre Started in
 Roller ROOm-Three Middle Floors
 Burned out Damage Practically
 Covered by nsuranoe-second Alarm
 Calls Thousands to the scene-His-
 tory of Burned Building.
 Fire last evening damaged the build ing and stock of the Rattan Manufac- turing company, 552 State street, to the extent of about s25.OoO. Shortly before Ii o'clock last evening as Officer Will liam McManus was standing at the corner of Grand avenue and State street he saw smoke and flames coming out of the second and third floors of the building. and he ran to the corner of Orange and Wall streets and sent in an alarm. On the arrival Of the de- partment, as the fire was blazing fierce ly. Chief Fancher sent in second alarm.
 Owing to the fact that the building i located close to the railroad tracks cs the Northampton division. 1t was difi- cult to get at the fire. The fire in some unknown manner started in the engine room. which Is located on the second floor of the Wal street ssde. It quick ly spread. and by the time the depart ment got to work the three middle floors of the i've story building Wera burning in 8 fierce manner.
 A number of lines of hose were turn ed Into the building from all sides, and yard. which is next door, so as to keep this from catching fire. Owing to the fact that there was no wind blowing, and that the burning building had heavy tin root, the property adjoining was not burned up. After two hours of hard fighting on the part of the firemen, the fire was got under control. The rear of all five stories was badly burned, while the three middle floors were gutted. The office. which is on the ground floor in front. did not ap- pear to be damaged much except by water. The top floor in front, facing State street, was given particular at- |tention by the flremen. because there It was that the varnish was stored, but this did not appear to have been burn ed, although the rear part of this hoel was badly burned.
 George H Damn is proprietor Of tfa Rattan company and he stated last evening that a rough estimate of the value of his stock was between $30,oe and $40,00O, and that it was not a total loss He said that the insurance on the stock was carried by several com panies represented by Charles Cannon The building is owned by Edwin B. furniture company, and he had bought lit from Isaac N. Damn about fifteen years ago. MT. Bowditch was out of town last evening. so the purchase price could not be learned although it was stated that it was about sS0,o00. It is believed that the building is danag ed to the extent of from $10,00O to $15.- GOO, and this loss is covered by in surance. The stock loss is believed to
 be slightly less than that on the build ing.
 The building was built by Isaac N. Damn, on leased land, at cost of about $SO,0OO. The building was first
 used as carriage factory. Tn 1861 the firm started to make army wagons, and shortly afterwards MT. Damn started the manufacture of camp chairs. which were rushed to the front during the Civil war in great quantities Some ltinle after the close of the war the fac tory was used for the purpose Of man uacturing hard wood carriage trim mings Some years ago the Rattan
 Manufacturing was started for the pur- pose of manufacturing rattan goods and baby carriages, and the building has been used or this purpose up 10 the present time.
 The fire last night is the third se- rious fire which has occurred in this
 building. In the early '6Vs g cylinder | in the engine blew out and killed young boy, and seriously hurt three others. About thirty-four years ago, the boiler of the engine blew up, killing four people and injuring about twenty others.
 Charles Cannon, when seen at his house early this morning, stated that
 he carried about s12,Ooo insurance on the stock.