Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-02-07
GREAT CHIC591 FIRE;
LOSS Is g, 100000.
Flames Jump from Wabash to
Michigan Avenue and Do
Enormous Damage.
BIG STORES ARE DESTROYED
Alfred Peats & Co., John A. Colby,
and Edison Keith & Co. Are
the Chief Sufferers.

One of the most disastrous fires that
have afflicted the downtown district OF
Chicago since 1871 occurred Tuesday
bash and Michigan venue n Mad.
lson and Monroe streets.
full fury until 9:30, it practically de-
stroyed the buildings occupied by AL
fred Peats & Co.. John A. Colby & Son,
and Edison Keith & Co, besides doing
large damage to adjacent structures in
both avenues. The loss is estimated at
81, 100000, in great part covered by in
france. The fire was by no mean ex-
tinguislled at 9:30. 1t required all
night fighting to prevent it from spread
ing. At . a. IN. it was under control.
The Keith house and the adjoining
business houses of Gage Bros. & Co.
and Theo Ascher Company, all Of them
millinery establishments, are especially
heavy losers, because the salvage on
such stocks is considered nothing, and
they arc able on insure to less than,
half full value
Pa Sixty Fire Engines There.
In point of number of engines at
work and additional alarms the lire was
the largest in Chicago since the summer
of 1894. Tuesday night there were
,;rk.. r+oo -,,,~ ,,,r,roI ;N r-,n,>i,,r wa.
ter for the scores of streams thrown
into the burning buildings. The fire
OF 1894. which held the record until
Tuesday night. was n lumber yard blaze
which swept the district about Ashland
avenue, Wood and 22d streets. Fire
men declared the fire Tuesday night the
largest within the loop district, in tho
matter of property loss, since the fire
Of 1874.
The fire throughout was spectacular
and attracted tens of thousands Of per-.
sons to view it. The our elevated rail.
road systems of the city were paralyzed
in their loop terminals, and the Cot
tage Grove and Indiana avenue surface
lines were blocked for five hours. The
dlcTS III Xix NlSl1illy VI liz hiS NSIS
almost deserted during the earlier acti
of the plays.
The fire started in the rear of the
Alfred Peats Company's building,
climbed rapidly from floor to7f1oor, and
within a few minutes after it had been
discovered the flames We're on Wabash
avenue, which the building faces, while
trains crowded with people going to
their homes rushed through the roaring
furnace.
One fireman was slightly injured, but
otherwjse the record is free from cas-
| %ualties, in spite of the terrific sweep
| of the flames and the sharp cold of the
| night, made more bitter by a northwest
gale.
Fire Losses and assurance. .
The buildings which were destroyed
by the fire and the firms which occu'
pied them are as follows:
Alfred Peats Company, wall paper,
IA Wabash avenue, five floors; total
loss, $25O,OOO.
John A. Colby & Sons. furniture, 14S
Wabash avenue six floors; loss, $780,.
COO.
Edison Keith & Co., wholesale MILL
ners. 1924 Michigan avenue, seven
floors; loss, 100000.
Other firms which suffered losses,
principally from smoke and water, are;
Yawnian & Erbe Company, i3S Wa
bash avenue, letter files and cabinets}
loss, $1,000.
The Frank Morris Book Shop, 152
Wabash loss, $1,000.
Gage Bros. 129 Michigan venue
Wholesale milliners: loss, secs.
Theodore Ascher Company. 1875 Mich
igan avenue, wholesale milliners loss
$25,oCO.
John A. Bryant Company, pianos
second floor, 40 Wabash avenue; loss,
$1,000.
Carl Netschert, artificial flowers, 14S
Wabash avenue loss, $5,se0.
Powers building, Monroe and Wabash
avenue ; loss, $1,000.
Remington Typewriter Company, first
floor. 154 Wabash avenue loss, $4,000.
Home Club lunchroom, first floor, 153
Wabash avenue loss, $2,ese.
Except in the three structures which
| were destroyed by the fire, the other
| losses were by smoke and water.