The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-01
LOEB HOME BURNED
HANDSOME WILSON STREET HOUSE
 IS DESTROYED.
Family Had Narrow Escape from Death in the FIames--Loss May Reach s9,00S and Is
 Ensured.

-s girls, had narrow escape from death
 in fire which almost completely de- Stroyed theirwesidence, IS Wilson Street, between 10 and II o'clock last night. Mrs. Loeb and her children were arous- ed from sleep five minutes before the roof fell A few minutes delay and they would have been buried in the debris of rear room on the second story of fhe residence.
 The handsome and spacious two-story frame residence was practically de- stroyed and the greater part of the furniture and furnishings was either destroyed or badly damaged. A small portion. however, was saved and was
 moved into the street, but some of 1t was damaged by water
 The house Is owned by Leopold Strauss and 1t represents a loss of ap- proximately s4,00o. on which there was $3,D00 insurance.
 The contents of the residence were valued at .5out $5.e0e. MT. Loeb did not know last night precisely how much insurance he carried. but he said 70 felt certain that the insurance would not be sufficient to cover his loss.
 The fire was discovered about I0:40 o'clock almost simultaneously by c. P. Bayne and Morgan Morris Mir. Bayne and his wife, who reside at 25 Wilson Street, were going to their home and had just turned from Court Street Into Wilson Street when they saw flames and dense volumes of smoke pouring from the roof immediately over a rear upper-story bedroom on the west side of the house About the same time Mir. Morris. who was passing. was at tracted by the flames.
 Mrs. Loeb and her children had re- tired and they were asleep in the room over which the fire was raging MT. Bayne and Mr. Morris reached to the front door of the residence. screamed the alarm and pounded repeatedly up- on the door. They found that they were unable to open the door without breaking 1t and realizing the import ance of saving the occupants, they fin- ally forced and broke open the door and hastened up the main front stair way into the room where Mrs. Loeb and her children were asleep. Mrs. Loeb had already been aroused by the noise. She was up nd had one of her children in her arms. The other child was asleep but she was quickly taken in the arms of Mir. Bayne, who, after repeated urging. finally succeeded in persuading Mrs, Loeb to- leave the house. She had been trying to get q few of her belongings together. They had hardly reached the foot of the stairway when the roof resounded with crash that; could be heard for sew eral blocks
 Mrs. Loeb and her two children were taken to the residence of Prof. E. R. Barnes. at IS Wilson Street where they were cared for, and. in the mean time, the alarm was sent In by Mrs. Bayne from her residence Mir. Loeb was not at hoYie but he was immediate ly summoned. He arrived to sec his handsome home doomed to destruc- ton.
 Every branch of the fire department responded in rapid succession and 1t was but a few minutes before the fire- men had three streams on the residence. The fire had gained so much headway that 1t was an impossibility for them to save the house. They, nevertheless. succeeded by prompt action, in retard- ing the progress of the flames so that the house was not burned entirely to the ground.
 Through the efforts of the firemen the adjacent residence of Sam Loeb at 19 Wilson street was kept free from flames and this was of great import ance on account of the sickness of Harold Loeb. a son of Sam Loeb, who has been i'll for some time with ty- phoid fever He was in a room pro- bably fifty feet from the fire and he was in a state Of nervous excitement until the family and friends succeeded III Hun lO d EOOih OA NiAS OEHS~s site side of the house.
 The fire was out by 1I:sO o'clock and the. firemen left for their quarters by- 11:45 o'clock.
 A dense crowd of people gathered for several blocks in the vicinity Hof tho fire and numbers of them did all they could to assist Mir. Loeb and his family in their misfortune.
 While 1t will never be known how the fire originated. still 1t Is believed that 1t was caused either from a de-,l fective electric light wire or defect i've fiue. The house was new and mod ern, and there were few residences in Montgomery that were more hand someIy furnished. A large part of the furniture was massive and costly and much of the goods lost cannot, be re- placed.
 Mrs. Loeb and one of her children spent last night at the home of Sam Gerson on South Count street. Another child was taken care of at the resi- dence of W. F. Vandiver on South Court street, and Mir. Loeb passed the night at the home of his mother, on street.