, 1907-05-16
BUSINESS BLOCK IS
BURNED HALF OVER

but Mayor Spalding and Mar
shall Sigman soon had a number
of special policemen on duty and ev.
cry looter was overhauled. A big Aus
trian with a clock under his jacket
was discovered by a reporter for The
Republican and turned over to Rail-
road Policeman Van Sickle and lock-
ed up. Other attempts at robbery
were checked. Someone picked up q
gold watch that had been dropped at
the door of Miller's jewelry store. but
he was forced to turn it over to Mr..
Chamblin.
Stocks Piled in Streets.
Most of the contents of the Kingsford,
Miller, Eggleston, Wall, Carter stores
and the Home restaurant furniture and
stocks were carried into the streets.
On Second street, in front of the Home
restaurant, when the Crawford build.
ing burst into flames, there was some
damage to stuff piled in front of the
buildings both from fire and from at
tempts to remove 1t. Mr.. Patchell OF
ing out the front OF his Office building.
the type, cases and other property be.
ing CARRIED into the streets. The
front Office" was cleaned out, some
valuable papers being saved in this
way, together with files and account
books. Most Of the stores were clean
ed out before the fire drove the slav.
age corps from the buildings.
City Hall Suffers.
The glass in the front windows Of
the city hall and council chamber and
the Interstate Townsite building was
broken by the intense heat from cross
the street, and it became necessary to
block the walk in front of the Van
Horn-Miller building to prevent in
juries from falling glass. The heavy
plates were cracked, but some of them
did not fall out for some minutes aft
erwards, and there was great and
constant danger until the police
blocked the walk III prevented peo-
pie from passing under the windows.
Worst for Many Years.
w. H. Holiday stated that it was
the worst fire in the history of the
city, although the Trabing CONNER
cial company's fire may have been
more costly. In that case there was
considerable insurance. In today's
there was scarcely any insurance. All
the buildings burned were of wood
and the insurance rates were very
high. The First National was we'll
saved, but the Boomerang had little,
DR.. Gardiner had little and Louis
Miller had some on his fixtures. His
large master clock was practically
ruined by taking it from the wall.
Mr.. Chamblin was fortunate enough
to secure the most of his customers
watches and jewelry and place them
in the safe. Some fine diamonds he
put in his pocket. The safe came
through the fire without damage. At
the Carter store all the goods were
removed, the big safe being locked
With the principal valuable pieces in
side.
Fire Under Control at Two-Thirty.
The removal of the goods from the
store of course caused some damage,
but this is much less eve than their
destruction by fire. The fire was un.
der control at about 2:30, and the
work of removing the goods from the
street was commenced. All the va
cant store buildings were taken and
several asked for other accommoda-
lions.
Telephones Taken Out.
Manager Campbell of the telephone
exchange was able to remove every
instrument in the burned district. He
suffered the loss of about $50 feet of
cable and fifteen telephones were
placed out of commission. The amount
of damage could not be estimated at
the hour Of going to press.
Current Shut of.
The burning of a number of electric
light wires shut the current of and
motors generally were idle. In The
Republican Office, where seven or
| eight motors are used, all were
killed" by the burning Of the wires
and it was necessary to reconnect the
gasoline enginS, entailing a delay Of
about an hour. The Boomerang of.
flee was crippled in much the same
way. AS far as reported, no n wal
hurt from live wires, although in n
or two instances there were light
shocks by the hands of helpers COM
ing in contact with telephone wires
that had fallen.
Request for Information.
Reporters for the metropolitan pa
pers were called upon for bulletins
from Denver INT other cities and the
Associated Press flashed bulletins
from its Denver Office, having been
supplied by the correspondent in this
city. At Cheyenne the newspaper Of
dces issued bulletins from time to
time. There was a report that Chey-