Arizona republican., 1909-06-19

| place. The total financial loss is placed at between $1O,0O0 and S11.000. less the ! insurance.
 l Mrs. AlSire had been preparing for 1 her early departure for California, and ! practically all the summer clothing and personal effects had been packed l in trunks which were on the second I floor of the building Also the winter clothing and more valuable furnishings had been packed away for the sum- mer on the upper floor. the house be- low being practically stripped and the fire burning so fiercely that it was i'm 1 possible to reach the ground floor to save anything. That is the reason no ! more was saved, though the structure was consumed so rapidly that not a
 great deal could have been removed
 even had it all been on the ground
 floor.
 Among the contents of the house were many valuable Indian relics and | a particularly fine collection of Navajo rugs and blankets that were stored for the summer on the upper floor. and of course were entirely consumed. The members of the family saved few clothes except what they had on and il is understood that some of them had not yet arisen when the fire broke out.
 MT Alkire. whose costume is pair of trousers and shirt, thought at
 first he had lost everything except
 what he had on. but later found a few other articles of apparel.
 Mir AIzire had arisen and started a | fire in the kitchen range after which
 he went to an adjoining lot to get the
 family COW and, looking around from
 the field, he saw the roof in flames That is all he knows of the origin of the fire and supposes it was occa-
 stoned by defective flue He hurried
 back to the house and apprised the
 family, which had not yet noted the
 fire, and it was about all they could do to get themselves to place of safe
 ty and spread the alarm. 4 garden
 hose from a nearby water tank was applied, but was a useless waste of eff fort and the family and. the rapidly
 gathering neighbSrs could only stand around and watch the building burn.
 Frank Alkire, the brother, ana, to a large extent. the business partner of George Alkire. hurried out to the farm
 home as soon as heard of the incl dent and found George sitting on the
 bank of a ditch counting on his fin gers. Asking him what sort of an amusement that was, he replied that he was just counting up the fire losses of the Alkire family during the last ten years. There had been eight fires in which one or the other, or both, broth CTS had been interested, and both of them were concerned in most of them And the total loss counts up to a nice figure. If they had not been pretty good money makers and lived in the most prosperous country on earth their losses would have amounted years ago to more than their total holdings
 First. there was the Alkire dry goods store which burned d few years ago with a heavy loss Then three houses, one after another, had burned on the Harrington ranch which they owned at the foot of Center street south of PhOe- nix. and finally, the river had washed away most of the ranch. Then came the burning of an entire hay crop a few years ago and there was one other ranch fire that proved quite a loss. Two years ago George Alkire's wind mill, chicken GOODS, barns, shed. etc. burned, and now comes the house dis aster on North Center street.
 Eleven thousand dollars gone up in smoke this time." says George, and l guess there's only S3,000 insurance"
 It was a blow designed to unnerve anybody, but George is so much big ger than most people, physically, that it naturally hurt him worse, for it hurt him all over However, Frank came back to the office and dug up some insurance policies and that made George feel lot more comfortable
 Last night he camoed in the yard | attired in a linen duster given him by H l. Latham. He refused to come l to town, saving he was going to stay and see that the COW and the lot did l not burn up.