The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-04-08
Splendid Work Was Done by
The Fire Department in
Confining the Damage En-
tireIy to the One Building.
LOSS ON DRUG STOCK
RUNS TO LARGE FIGURE.
BY Good Fortune, Several
Barrels of Explosive Mater
iaI Were Got Out of Reach
Of the Flames.

fierce blaze about 2:15 O'Clock
Sunday morning in the Afford drug
store, located in the Shiveley building
at the corner of Ninth and Main
streets. nearly resulted in all the bust
ness blocks located on the south side
of Main street from Ninth street to
Tenth street, going up in smoke. AS
it was the blaze was confined to the
prescription room in the drug store,
but nearly the entire stock of goods
was ruined by the smoke and intense
heat w H. Afford states that he can
not estimate at the present time what
the loss will amount to as an inven-
tory would have to be made to see
what goods were not damaged. He
thinks the loss will exceed $4,000.
Mr. Afford states that there is be
tween $4,000 and $4,000 insurance
on the stock. c. E. Shiveley, owner
of the building. estimates his loss to
be about s. .000 which he states is
fully covered by insurance.
Origin is Not Known.
1t is not known how the blaze
started but Chief Miller of the fire
department states that the furnace in
the basement under the store was
burning low pressure of gas all day
and that he thinks when the gas came
up about 3 O'Clock flames ran up one
of the heating pipes and ignited the
dirt in the register located in the
floor of the prescription room. The
fire was. first noticed by a young man
who was passing and he called to Pa
trolman Winters standing at the cor
ner of Eighth and Main streets. Win
ters ran to the store and seeing that
there was a serious blaze. called to
officer Little who turned in the
alarm.
Excellent Work Done.
The success of the fire department
fin confining the blaze to the prescrip-
tion room was an excellent bit of
work When the firemen arrived the
entire room was ablaZe and the smoke
rolled in volumes out of the building.
Armed with chemical fire eXtinguish-
ers the firemen attacked the flames
and the work was so hot at times
that some of the firemen were nearly
overcome. In the room were two
barrels of alcohol and a barrel of tur-
pentine. Before the flames could
reach these combustibles they were
dragged to place of safety. There
were several cans of gasoline in the
room and the firemen feared that
they would explode before they could
be taken out.
Popping of Corks.
The popping of corks from the hun
tlreds of medicine bottles sounded
like the din of gigantic champagne
dinner. SO intense was the heat that
the glass in the front door and show
windows was smashed and the var
nish On the wood work in the front
part OF the store was peeled off. From
3:15 O'Clock until O'Clock the fire
men fought the stubborn blaze and
Manager F. A. Wallin and Mr. Afford
have nothing but words of praise for
the work Chief Miller and his men
accomplished. The thing that made
the blaze so hard to contend with was
the fact that many of the bottles of
medicine that We're broken by the
heat added TO the fire with their con
tents.
Fountain is Ruined
The beautiful onyx soda water !
fountain. which cost s3 500 has been |
ruined by the heat and smoke. There
was an unusually large stock of goods |
in the store at the time of the fire |
The blaze did not penetrate through /
the second floor of the building and /
the business offices above the drug
store were not damaged in the least |
Manager Wallin has hung out 4 sign 4
on one of the show windows Which 4
reads: This store will open within 4
thirty days with a new stock. Don't /
LET the trust deceive You.