Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-12
MAY BUILD WITHOUT PERMITS.
Baltimore's Building Inspector Grants
Valuable Privilege to Fire Sufferers.

| Special Dispatch to The Evening Star
| BALTIMORE, February 12--That Sec
] ton of the city which Sunday last was
a sea of flames is today bristling with a de-
gree of activity that augurs well for Hs
| early rehabilitation.
Five thousand men working under the
| direction of the building inspector are en-
gagged today in clearing up the debris. And
| these men are not working in the usual
| mechanical way. They appear to be i'm
| bued with desire to get the work done az
quickly as possible. and are lending their
every effort toward that end AS soon as
| the general working plan can be amplified
| 1t Is the intention of Inspector Preston to
double the number of this army of work.
men. 1t is imperative that the burned area
be cleared with all possible expedition, as
a number of merchants and manufacturers
have impressed upon the city officials that
they will be ready to rebuild their places
as soon as the new survey OF that section ID
made.
1t is not unlikely that the city engineers
department. will next week begin the work
of resurveying that section, which will in
clude the widening of streets and straight
ing of alleys, the general plan of which
was published exclusively in these dis
patches to The Star yesterday.
May Erect Temporary Buildings.
In order to facilitate the resumption Of
business Building Inspector Preston has
announced that those desiring to erect tenn
porary structures may go ahead without
the formality of first obtaining a permit.
This announcement followed the fling of
an application by the Mccormick Drug
Company to erect a temporary one-story
corrugated iron building for use until their
building on Lombard street be recon-
structed. go ahead and erect it, said the
building inspector, "and come around later
after the permit. We want to assist all we
-, IA x,,t,,. t., 1I.t.
First Fire Loss Paid
The first fire loss was paid today. 1t
amounted to a quarter of a million dollars,
and was paid by the Niagara Fire Insur-
ance Company to Messrs. Peter E. Tome
and William III. Dawson, attorneys for the
estate of George H. Williams. This estate
owned property located in various sections
of the destroyed area. The customary sixty
days notice was waived by the insurance
company.
This rule will be followed by all of the
large companies, and claims paid imme-
diately after the work of the adjusters in
each case is complsted. 'Rooks or no books,
policies or no policies, every man VIII be
paid his insurance" said George e. Taylor,
representing the Insurance Company OF
America, at insurance headquarters in the
Royal Arcanum building this morning.
Some of the smaller insurance companies
will possibly be delayed somewhat in set
ting claims, but the larger ones have plenty
of money and will settle at once. | received
a letter from my company last night, In
which / was informed that there would be
no delay; that the cash would be forthcom-
ing and payments made on demand"
Johns Hopkins Hospital May Close.
One serious ssult of the conhagration is
the fact that the Johns Hopkins Hospital
may be forced to close its doors. The
principal income of the hospital came from
rentals of about eighty buildings and ware
houses which were destroyed, and on which
not cent insurance was carried. These
structures. II is estima ted. were worth not
including the ground. about 81 $4,000. They
netted an income of about $50 900. which
was the main support Of the Institution. u