Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1909-12-30
TWO FIRES ON
SUNDAY EVENING

Two fires occurred Sunday evening,
one Of which imperiled limerick S
five and ten cent store, Mill street,
and the other destroyed a dwelling
with its contents near the hospital.
/ The fire at the five and ten cent
store occurred about Z o'clock. The
store, of course, was closed. Mr.. and
Mrs. w. J. limerick, who occupy
rooms above the store, returned from
an automobile ride about dark. AT in
tervals the occupants of the fiat above
were passing backwards and forwards
through the store room and there was
nothing to suggest an outbreak of
fire
About the hour above named, how
ever, Mr.. and Mrs. limerick detected
the odor of smoke, which on investi-
CATION was found to come up the
stairs. Hastily descending to the
store room they found the contents of
the desk ON fire, which was contained
in small apartment partitioned off
at the rear end of the store room. The
flames were confined mostly to articles
on the desk and blazing upward were
fast consuming a lot of valuable pap
eIs in the form of bills and copies of
orders which hung suspended along
the wall.
The fire had Ealready laid hold of
the woodwork and was spreading in
every direction. A bucket Of water
thrown on the flames seemed to have
no other effect than to scatter the fire,
when Mr. limerick happened to think
of blanket wet from exposure TO the
snow which he had hung up in the
store on returning from his automo-
bile ride. Selling this blanket he
threw it over the fire and succeeded
in smothering it.
The damage sustained to the build
ing was very slight. Mr.. limerick is
unable to account for the fire 1t orig
mated quite near light bulb, but
there is no evidence TO show that the
latter was responsible for the blaze
On the top of the desk, among other
articles that burned, was "a pile of cell
luloid goods and it was the brisk blaze
ariZing from these that ignited the
papers hanging on the wall. The
amount of goods destroyed represents
very small value. 1t is the loss of
the bills and the copies of the orders
that Mr.. limerick most deplores, as
they represent extensive purchases em-
bracing Easter goods.
The second fire occurred about S 30
O'Clock. The blaze was soon located
along East Market street extension.
An alarm brought out the Friendship
and the Washington Fire companies.
The burning building was on the right
side'of the road near the block of new
dwellings on the hospital ground. The
house, frame structure, was occupi-
ed by Albert Swank as tenant, al
though the family was absent from the
house at the time of the fire.
When discovered the flames had
made considerable headway i'll the
rear part of the dwelling and by the
time the fire companies arrived there
was little hope of saving the building.
The hose was connected with the plug
on the hospital ground but the abund-
ance of water was of no avail and the
dwelling was totally destroyed along
with the tenants furniture.
How the fire originated is mystery.
One theory is that the house was brok
en- into by tramps or others, who in
advertently started the blaze. Owing
to the high wind the block of dwell
ings belonging to the hospital was in
considerable danger of being ignited
by fire brands.
The dwelling burned was originally
a farm house, the barn on the tract
having been destroyed by fire a couple
of years ago. The owner is James
Ward of this city, who carried a small
insurance. Mr.. Swank, the tenant, who
lost all his goods, had no insurance.