The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-12-17
TWO perish IN A
Minneapolis FIRE
FLAMES ALSO CAUSE DAMAGE
ESTIMATED AT OVER
100000.
VICTIMS PLUNGE DOWN
AN ELEVATOR SHAFT
Three Others Injured-Fire One Of
Worst in History of City, and En-
tire Retail District Threatened for
Time-Its Origin.

Minneapolis, Mimi, Dec 15.-In one
Of the fiercest fires in the history of
Minneapolis Tuesday night three fire.
men lost their lives and property val
ued at over 100000 was destroyed.
The entire retail business district was
fate, and it's escape was due as much
to the absence Of much wind as TO in
defatigable efforts OF the fire depart
ment.
The dead are: Jacob f. Miller, in
surance patrolman; John Fellows,
pipeman.
Injured: Fred Kircher, substitute
pipeman, burned about face; Tony Will
son, pipeman, burned about legs;
Lieut.. j. 2. Barrett back injured.
Origin Of Fire.
The flames started shortly after ten
o'clock in the basement OF the Peck
Photograph Supply company, which
fronls on Fifth street, between First
and Second avenues, South. 1t was a
iive-story structure and the three up
per floors were used by the BOutell
Brothers for storage purposes. AL
though the Peck establishment was
filled With chemicals some of them
very intlammablc, the fire fighters had
little doubt OF their ability to contine
the flames to that building They at
tackled the fire on all sides. Fellows
and his mates had climbed to the fifth
story Of the Bou;ell store and were
pouring water into the Peck building
from the open windows.
Entire Building in Flames.
Then all at once the wires that con-
trolled the automatic sprinkler system
turned dull rcd, and in another in-
slant the whole building from top TO
bottom burst into flames. The sprin-
lller wires had in some way touched
| a live, heavy current wire. The great
volume OF auperhealcd air mingled
with gases from varnish ard baking
| wood was touched off by the wires.
The mischief WAS done aud huge fire
was under way. The three men who
were With Fellows succeeded in maxi
| ing miraculous exits down the fire es-
capes, but Fellows made the fatal error
| of running to the elevator shaft and
sliding down the cable in the belief
| that the lower part of the building had
not yet begun to burn. He slid into o
| cauldron of flame and was seen NO
more. Miller stumbled into the ele-
and was drowned.
Conflagration Prevented.
Next the Buutell building burst into
| flames. The tircmen soon discovered
that they could not save it and turned
their attention to stopping the fire
where it was. The Bintlif Manufac.
turing company's establishment, next
to the Boutell building ON First avenue
could not be saved, as it was practic,
ally part Of that building and Of uni.
form height with it. 1t IL
| now mass of ruins Next to the
Bintliff building is the Northwest.
crn national banks new white marble
building, that looks like a Greek TEN.
pie. 1t resisted the flames admirably
and the fire spread north in that direc.
! ton. Across First avenue from the
! Boutell corner stands the tWo-story de-
| partmcnt store of the Powers Mercan.
tile company, covering a quarter of the
block. 1t is of very inllammable con
struction and soon flames began to ap
pear along the caves. The fire depart,
ment, however, drenched it with watel
and succeeded in preventing the fire
from gaining a secure hold. The
"stop" was made at the expense Of
heavy damage to the Powers stock. II
prevented, however, a confagratior
that would have gone far and licked w
much property.
Many structures q block or more
/ from the center of the fire were SCI
! ablaze by flying masses of burning ma
| terial and dozens of incipent fires
were extinguished before they gained
Roadway. The Phoenix building, nine
stories high, at First avenue and
Fourth street, had several narrow es
capes, as did the Oneida block, eigh
/ stories high, on the opposite corner.
10