The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-11-15
Employees Of Lasitter's S
Stable Fight Success
fullyto Save Animals.
UPPER PORTION
OF PLACE BURNED
Spectacular Fire Attracts Thou
sands OF People-Greater Por-
ton OF Stock Saved-Fire-
men Injured at Blaze
in Morning-Three
Alarms Yesterday.

Following a long season OF compara-
tive immunity, Richmond was visited
yesterday by two of the most spectacu-
Ian fires seen here In many months.
The destruction OF portion OF Cliff
Wells cigar store, on busy Broad
Street corner. in the morning was but
an insignificant forerunner of the huge
blaze which at nightfall completely
Eutted the second and third stories OF
the big livery stable of Joseph Lasit-
ter. on Franklin Street. between fcigh-
teenth and Nineteenth Streets. In which
Were quartered ESQ horses and mules.
With courage and presence Of mind
rarely excelled, employees Of the stable
succeeded in saving all the animals.
together with large number of ve-
hicles and much harness, the only loss
of life, so far as Is known, being that
OF two hogs which were in the second
Etory.
Spectacular Fire.
The dreaded three skies" was turned
in at $50 o'clock. calling out the en-
tire department.. Truck No. 2 which
Is lust behind Mr.. Lasitter's stable. on
Grace Street. was the first to arrive.
but In less time than 1t takes 70 tell
the story the citys whole equipment
Will tUe cSCtptlOH OF eIS Ifle ANV' ~ tIlu
truck No. 3 which were held at the
Broad Street station for other emer-
gcncles. had raced down the hill and
were working as they only can work in
such time as that. Down Main and
Franklin Streets the scene was spec
tacular in the extreme.
Above the Chesapeake and Ohit
Station IL was impossible exactly tc
locate the fire. one could see only tn.
flt which lighted the whole sky
anu the choking smoke. which tillet
the district in the vicinity of the fire
A frantic crowd numbering perhap,
10000 persons, hurried breathlessiy L
tho place from every quarter and
/ surged around the fire lines endeayor
ing to get as close to the point q
action as the police. who were a.
prompt as the Fire Department, woult
allow them. In all directions horse.
and mules. which had been Liberated
in droves to escape the fire. roame,
ainlessly around the street or race,
with all speed toward the open coun
try.
No one can say positively how TIN
fire originated. but the consensus o
opinion is that the cause was the In
evitable cigarette of the stable boy.
Work of Rescue.
Lasitter's stable is an immens
structure, extending almost froi
FRANKLIN Street to Grace. and for th
accommodation OF the great numbe
of horses quartered there stalls ha,
been placed on both the first and sec
ond floors. Fortunately the fire oc
curing at the time 1t did, caught al
of the stable force on duty, those VIII
had been out at work having Jus
come In and no one having yet lef
for the night.
men, under the direction Of Mr.. r. s
Connor, the stable manager began in
quiet and businesslike manner to ge
out the horses and mules. The tasl
of clearing stable containing %
animals In the few minutes which wer
allowed to them. was one which woul
have staggered the majority OF men
but with quickness and calmnes
which amounted almost to heroisn o
the part of some OF the negroes. tn
halter reins were cut and the vast her
of horses and mules We're run helter
q skelter into the streets. Mr.. Como
and his trusted man. who Is onl
known, even to him, as "Souf Ca'lina,
we're the heroes Of the occasion. The
undertook the difficult task OF rescuin
The hundred or more animals whic
were in the second story of the build
ing. When they rushed up the In
rlined plane by which the horse
seached their stalls, the fire, whic
Vas gaining great headway In til
Ihird story. was in plain view of tn
p,en and of the animals, this maxim
their difficulty greater.
Horses Rush Into streets.
The huge gates We're thrown ope
Ind the men ran from one stall to tt
>ther, cutting the halter reins an
,ushing the frightened animals
safety. The sight of one hundre
frantic beasts stampeding down I'll
witnessed in the city before. NJ
connor and his men did not leave the
posts In the second story until the
had seen the last animal safely to Il
street. BY this time the flames hs
reached the second story, and the flo
was beginning to burn.
In the meantime the rest OF t!
force was hard at work below savlr
the vehicles. quite q number of Whit
were stored on tho first floor. The
was great deal of harness in Il
stable, too, but only a portion of til
could be taken out. SIS the tlanl
spread with such rapiclity the awor!
srs We're forced to run for their live
About the time the engines CO.!
rnenced work 1t looked al though
great many of the houses near tt
stable, one OF which Is the famous NJ
soliic Lodge, the Oldest in Americ
Would be surely damaged or destroys
but the deluge of water which w
shrown into the burning building so,
began to tell, and the flames thou,
still burning hercely. We're held wit
IN the walls ofthe stable. One thi,
greatly In favor OF the liremen Il
tho people whose property was in da
Ger, was the fact that there We're Il