Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-06-04
BIG STOCK HEAVILY DAMAGED BY WATER
Automatic sprinklinr Apparatus Does Its
Part Too Well.
FIRE LOSS PROVES INSIGNIFICANT
Messrs. Hayden Estimate Damage ~
Fully Half the stock, valued at
e65O,OOO, All Due 20 the
water.


water.
Before an insignificant fre in a furnitu-s
storeroom on the NTH floor of the Hayden
Brothers department store was discovered
yesterday afternoon the building was prac.
tically flooded with water from the auto
matte sprinkling system. which became
released at two heads near the nre. The
large stock of merchandise, estimated yes
terday by William and Joseph Hayden at
$3.50 900. was nearly half damaged by water.
The actual loss by fire was not more than
800.
Incidental to the fre fifteen hremen and
one police surgeon were overcome with
carbonc acid gas, which had heavily &C.
cumulated in the alright room where the
fire was discovered. Three OF the fremen
and the police surgeon were removed to
Clarkson hospital, while Chief Salter was
driven to his home. The victims were
resuscitated by a corps of surgeons, who
worked hard on the nth floor OF the Hay.
den building and In the Sherman & Mo-
| Connell drug store.
Captain Jerry Sullivan OF engine COM
| pany No. i was the worst stricken of those
| carried out 1t required over half an hour
| OF hard work to bring him to a condition
which would warrant removal to a hos
| pital.
Firemen who Were Overcome.
Those who had to be carried out weret
Chief Salter, Captain Sullivan, Lieutenant
| Ericsson, Lieutenant Bowman, Captains
Coyle and Oleson, Lieutenant Peterson,
Driver Oliver Morrell. Truckmen McEl-
! liott Lake. Gross, Blake and Pipemen
Bowen and Howley. Police Surgeon Ell
more succumbed at the police station after
several hours OF valiant work over the
irenen He recovered lated in the day
and was able to leave Clarkson hospital
While telephoning for Second Assistant
Chief Dineen and his men TO 40 the ciean-
ing up work at the building Assistant
Chief Simpson had a fainting spell, but
later was able to take Chief Salters place.
origin of Fire n Mystery.
The origin of the FIRE is mystery to
those interested. Spontaneous combustion
appears to be the only plausible theory
advanced. The room in which the nre
occurred is used for the storage of stock
! furniture, and has only one outlet. which
is door leading into the NTH floor OF the
| Dodge street annex. The room is lighted
by skylight The hre started In a stock
of table leaves piled closely together.
| Nothing in the way OF wires or anything
else which might have accounted for the
FIRE could be found anywhere near. When
the fremen cleared out the debris they
found a heap of charred embers several
feet deep as the remnants OF the nre. The
embers were like charcoal indicating. ae-
cording TO the theory Of Assistant Chief
Simpson. that the FIRE smoldered several
hours before the alarm was turned IN.
When the firemen reached the building
and Assistant Chief Simpson broke open
the front door OF the building he found
that the water already had made its way
from the NTH to the first floors. which
required some time, only two Of the spriuk-
ling heads being released Later someone
tried to shut on the sprinklers from an
other floor and only made matters worse
by turning on the water which mistake
was not discovered for several minutes.
Gas OvercOmes Firemen.
The gas which partially asphyxiated the
iremen was formed from the fumes Of tho
smoldering wood and had no outlet until
the hremen opened the door TO reach the
hre they were required TO press through
narrow aisle with hose line The -
was so dense that the men were overcs@
and fell to the floor like tenpins a few
seconds after they had extinguished the
fire. Some of the fremen were overeomS
while carrying out their comrades.
AS the hremen were carried out they
were taken down the stairways to the
drug store beneath and treated as fast as
physicians could be summoned. A few OF
the men who appeared TO be in a bad way
were laid on the floor of the north room
on the fifth floor and resuscitated there.
As fast thsy could the hremen broke
the skylights TO let in fresh air.
AS the nre itself was not a serious one
only the regular hrst-alarm companies re-
sponded, those being engines No. and g.
hose /, 2. and and hook and ladder
and 2.
Hayden Brothers AT the scene.
william and Joseph Hayden were quickly
on the scene and personally directed the
work Of sweeping out the water They
tried TO locate the origin. but acknowI-
edged they were at sea as 20 what caused
the blaze. 81
The alarm was turned in by three young
men who were passing the store and no.
tioed the water dripping They hurried to
the Sherman & Mcconnell drug store and
sent in an alarm.
No part Of the store wholly escaped =
drenching, as thousands OF gallons OF water
drpped from the upper hoors to the base
ment. The loss was more general on the
fourth moor. which is heavily loaded with
shoes. leather goods. fabrics Of al kinds
wall paper furnishings aud other mer-
chandiSe. The heavy stock OF silks on
the hrut floor was saturated. Pianos. mil
linery groceries. art goods, draperies. car
pets. notions and other lines were more
OF less damaged. A general survey Of the
stock was made by tho proprietOrs and an
estimated loss OF about $1,000 was made.
although IL Was said the loss may not run
quite that high.
stock FalIy insured.
The stock IL we'll covered by Insurance
which was written by A. J. Love Of this
civ Tha rananl Arrival n .llrnrn.. .....l.