Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-15
HEAVY LOSS IS
CAUSED BY FIRE
TOTAL DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT
$4,000
sherwin-Willlams Paint Company suf-
fers $4,000, and Building Is
Burned to Mere
Shell

Shell
Fire originating in the cellar of the
Sherwin-Williams paint company, $50
South Main street, about AIS yester-
day afternoon, spread to an area COW
ering the whole of the We'll building
and the Merchants National bank
building and resulted in a total dam
age estimated by the several owners
of property at approximately $4,000.
The firms and rooming houses suffer-
ing loss from fire, smoke and water are
as follows:
The Van Ness rooming house, G. II.
Frost, proprietor, loss to furnishings
and buildings about $4,000. Fully COW
cred by insurance.
Sherwin- Williams Paint company, w.
A. Mcdonald manager; loss estimated
at $4,000. Insurance, $4,000.
Red Front Clothing house, 14S South
Main street, 1. Wolf proprietor; loss
$1,000. Only about half covered by in
surance.
Yorke rooming house, 103 East Sec
ond street, Van Vranken-H Hunter
Realty company, proprietors; loss to
furnishings about $4,000. Covered by in
surance.
Lohman Bros, plumbers, 1O5 East
Second street; loss about $500. Fully
covered by insurance.
California Ink company, 5000.
Crowley labor agency, 111-111h East
Second street; loss to rooms and fur
nishings approximately $500.
David Hirsch Tailoring company, 146
South Main street, slight damage to
stock of cloth by smoke.
Merchants National bank, damage to
valuable papers by water No loss
| from fire.
Barber shop on East Second street;
| loss $1,000.
Work Rapidly on Fire
Only for the rapid effective work of
| the fire department, which was upon
the scene of the blaze within a sur
prisingly short time after the first
alarm was sent in, the entire block be-
tween First and Second streets and
Main and Los Angeles and probably a
| larger area would have been burned to
the ground, as the oils and paints in
the paint house were adding an ever
| increasing furor to the flames. Every
now and then barrel of benzine or
turpentine in the cellar of the paint
company would explode and the flames
/ would leap like a geySer to the top OF
| the burned building.
| The blaze started from some unknown
cause in the front of the cellar, where
there is a small store room for the
| storage OIL CdIlIleu pdlliIS anu NdrIllSneS.
But it spread rapidly to the rear,
sucked by the vent of narrow court
| between the paint shop and a building
| on Los Angeles street. Here there was
a sheet iron shed used for the stor-
age of barrels of oils and turpentine,
and when this point was reached by
the raging fire terrific explosion en-
sued that sent the flames shooting sky
ward like rockets.
But although the firemen had a des-
perate struggle with the flames they
were soon put under control by the
| aid of the water tower, which sent tor
rents of water flooding into the court
from which the flames roared.
| Little of the fire was visible to the
| throngs of spectators in the streets on
Main and Second, as the flames were
confined almost wholly to the rear of
the building. But volumes of inky
smoke poured from the windows and
roofs of the building like storm clouds.
Hoegee Company Saved
Battalions of firemen were stationed
on the south limits of the fire to pre-
vent the flames from reaching the Will
| liam H. Hoegee company, adjacent to
the We'll building, as a large number of
pounds of explosives, such as bulk
powder and dynamite, were stored in
the building. Had the fire reached here
| the firemen exprss the opinion that 1t
would have been an impossibility to
have prevented the fire from spreading
to the entire business district on South
| Main street, with the probable loss of
many lives, as a large stock of am
munition was also in the building.
Chief Lips and his men showed adj
mirable bravery in fighting the fire
when, led by the chief, the firemen
rushed into the sheetiron shed at the
rear of the paint shop to throw streams
of water onto the burning kegs of oil.
This store room was a veritable
scorching oven at white heat and the
tongues of fire licked and bit the bodies
| of the firemen like 50 many vipers.
They were blinded and smothered by
| the inl1y smoke and yet they remained
| at their post, every man determined to
conquer the flames or perish in the eff
fort.
A number of attempts at robbery
were made by thieves during the prog
ress of the fire, and a big force of po-
lice and detectives were employed within
the roped enclosure to detect all
crooks. A negro named Y. Roberts
was caught coming out of the Yorke
rooming house with a gold watch, and
it was taken from him, although the
man was allowed to go.
That the fire was no more serious
than 1t was is due only to the valiant
work of the fire department, yet it was
one of the hardest battles the firemen
ever fought in Los Angeles, for the oils
in the paint shop were an impetus to
the flames that well nigh defeated
every power of hose and water.