The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-06-10
A HOT TIME.
Disastrous Fire for AbbeviIle.

AbbevIlIe has had another fire. The old
Alston house was found TO be on Ire last Fri.
day morning about half past I've O'CLOCK, ano
when discovered the means OF escape Irom
the building had been cut OF by the olaze.
1t is not necessary 10 tell how the mighty
demi god, Vulcan, hurled lurid flames SKY
high, and put out The ttirs with pitcn oiack
smoke. Suffice 1t to say II wsa great, Dig
blaze that meant business from the oeglh-
ming.
through the shingles OF the root aud inoluded
in It's grasp an end of the "Bridge OF Sighs'
that connected that building with the prlcR
Hotel or Taggart House.
The confusion and babel of SOUNDS attenG-
ant on such scenes were everywhere IN owl
dence. Several men with 6O-horse power,
brass lined, triple expansion lungs were yell
Ing fire" fire. with force enough To make
the eazs sae ,bs see sdewss aSd Sloun
long ringing alarm OF fire" which was fol-
lowed by gutteral sound that led one TO
believe he was trying to yell "nre" ana az
the same time think where his pocket pooK
was.
About this time gen tlemen who occupied
q room In the Alstop House came out anu
said something like this 10 Mr.. Taggarc Mr.
Taggsrt lal In ordinary tonel tne mouse 10 on u,
fire and /, at present Isee no way TO get out OF
here. Won't you please be kind enough 10
have some one bring me LADDER Mr.
Tagg2rt assured him that he Wonld orlnR one
or have one brought. The gentleman turned
an taking his trunk quietly dumped II over.
board together With some other bed room
paraphernalia.
gentleman who was sleeping In another
part of the Aston House was finally and
suddenly awakened He was OF slightly
different temperament from the one mem
toned above. He ran TO the window aDo
leaned far out like measuring worm yellhg
Ut the top notch OF his vocal strings: 'Why
In the hell don't somebody bring me ladder
here Quick! I'm frying Ike d-n Lizard
The whole rooms afire" A darkey seeing
BY the frantic motions o. the gentleman That
he evidently wanted somethlng-oi course
the darkey did not understand Wnnt IL Wasm
went under the window and asked. "Boss
can I do anything for you? Maybe you
would like for me TO bring you ladder.
Part OF the language that followed Inc oar
& key's suggestion Is absolutely unprlntsole.
The ladder was brought aud 30 the Doarders
While beds, bedstends, pillows, chairs,
tables and things boiled out OF the windows
like molasses candy boiling over, IL IS SAID
that one gentleman gave vent 10 loud ia
mentations pbnut The loss OF dog. He
won d rather have oSt verything else thai
he had than to Lave his iavorite ta.'ine casu
In and cook.
soon alter the discovery OF the fire kind Ind
friends helped remove the furniture from the
hotel and the goods from the stores. Both
were piled mp In the street.
Master Willie Hughes came down from the
hotel in bis birthday suit. He had his gown
under one arm aud cat under the otner, en-
ouiring how "it" started.
When things began 10 get pretty warm
large gray headed old rat with oulglng eyes
and nuustacios sipged. ran out OF the hre and
faced the crowd for an instant with DIS 'oid
head bobbing up aud down like a Lizards
w at he saw seemed To dishearten him Tor
be turned and scampered his last scamper
back into the flames.
Miss Winlon Taggart was rescued by q lad
a. frorp the fODmOBt Story,
In ali the excitement Postmaster Thomas
Tolbert, who boarded at the holel, Kept hls
equilibrium perfectly. While others were
rushing here and there, he walked out and
o o der hia arm, slowly mea. a.uredly, quietly,
as IL he had Just received
mon this vacation. had nothing to do, and
was going on IA quiet Walk IN tne COOL OF ,,Ia tne
At the Time OF the fire Mrs. Taggart had
boarders, and abe bad the neces.
,ary furniture for boarding house OF that
,Ize, She had no insurance.
THE hotel building was owned by Mrs ]. L.
A pcrun, OF Charleston. II was worth about
s25. 900 and was insured for $500.
Mr.. A. B. CheaLham occupied the corner
store for general merchandise business.
w hIlr he saved good many things they are
in such condition az 10 he almost unsalablr.
goods were worth 81. .0cO and were insured
Tor S. 500.
rne midd store was occupied by Mr.. o. q;
many SHOES but they are without boxes a.
20 mixed as ITO make them an undesirable
asset. He rad stock OF about ss OoO and was
Ipsured at S},60O.
Mr.. Cobb's. He had goods To the amount OF
n OOO a nd insurance Of So GOO to cover.
The store on Main street and In the rear OF
The hotel was occupied by Mr.. o. ID. Cooo
and the goods were valued In above state
III. Madinm prlntipg office, In building
about six feet from the Hotel, Is on Church
street. Seeing the approach OF tne names
ihe type. stands, and all other material ex.
cept were carried @ GIs' Muoh ot OF S .ne
pie either.) The type in the forms on tne
stones was raked of In TO vessels and carried
out The building was not burned. Inc
press could not be moved and 30 1t was saved
Without sustaining any injury.
ON Main street the new Ice house. built less
than q month ago, was destroyed. 1t was
rebuilt the same day.
While the fire was In progress great null
titude OF curious or interested people were
standing around. 1t developed that quite
nnmber of persons would have pointed the
nozzle OF the hose differently from the way
the no en- in charge Of the job we're doing the
work, but on the whole. the fremen receiSea
Are that we have had. It is certain that more
could not have been done. The water supply
was up TO the capacity Of the standpipe and
the reservoir. The pumping arrangement
was perfect and at the end the stream OF
water was even stronger than at the begin =
ming. The water was played on the building
from five until eleven O'Clock.
The fire caught from the wooden building
To the third story Of the brick building. This
circumstance caused the Hotel TO burn slow
" and gave ample opportunity for all TO
move out at the front while the IRE ate Its
way from the rear.
Irlo
had been placed too near the fire, to place
OF safety. The colored men and women
worked ike Turks and saved many hundreds
OF dollars VOL III Of goods.
even "Hoa1 Myth" and "Little Joe" were
forgotten for the time being. 1t was nine or
ten O'Clock when the news began to spr ad
that "Llttle Joe" was elected Governor OF
Georgia.
WAGONS we're employed and at II o'clock
everything saved from the fire had been
hauled of the street and placed IN temporary
quarters.
next to the new postoffice.
Mr.. Cobb, for the present, at least, will oc.
cupy the store formerly coupled by the
Abbeville Shoe Company, next to l.. T. NIL.
MIR. Dnrgan has placed.what few goods tha,
were saved from his large stock over the
store OF 3. ]. Link.
The Hotel was the property OF the estate O.
DR.. Ancrum and was insured for IS, 500. 1t II
reported thst an offer of s2l ,00U has been
made for the property as 1t stands now. The
Hotel WAS built about twenty five years age
BY Mr.. T. G. Seal and now, after the hre, the
walls are still standing as q mon ument 10 the
good and honest work OF Mr.. Smith who
built them.
The AIaton House. where the IRE original
ed, was built by Governor Alstan some sixty
years ago.
General Hemphill waa cool throughout The
fire, though at one time II looked like the
Medium office would 60 too The first thinl
that the General saved was a picture OF Mr.
BENJAMIN Ryan Tillman whloa adorned thu
walls OF his sarlctum sanctarH1R,
An Optimist and a Pessfmfss,