The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-17
|b|G BOOMING HOUSE. BURNED ID GROUND Young Man With Measles Has
 Marrow Escape OTHER HOUSES ABLAZE Loss of Mrs. Justis' House h About s7O0O-Roomers Have Lively Time
 Getting Out Enects-Twcnty-
 Eight Trunks Rescued
OTHER HOUSES ABLAZE

|
 yesterday afternoon at 2:40 o'clock, caused
 neighboring residences slightly and cre-
 ated much excitement for 1t looked for awhile as though the blaze would spread
 over the entire block. The house occu- pied by Mrs. Justis was owned by J.. E. Davis and was valued at $15,0o0, carry ing an insurance amounting to $7000. Part of the furniture belonged to Mrs.
 Justis and was valued at s1ooo, with in- surance of $500.
 | The fire broke out in the back rooms of the building, which is one of the larg- est private rooming houses in the city, containing 90 rooms. The house extends | from Fifth avenue through to the alley
 and was a two-story frame structure
 Delay caused by a faulty turning in ot the alarm gave the blaze a good start
 when the fire department arrived The
 building seemed dry and parohed and the flames leaped higher and higher into the
 air every minute.
 | A row or husky fremen Grasped a line and started into the house. They were
 met at the doorway with.a faring sign in red letters, Measles" Gee, ] ain't
 never had 'em yet" groaned one of the boys, but the call of duty came to their aid and lowering their heads they disap-
 peared into the smoke. A There were few people in the house
 when the fire was discovered as most of the boarders hold positions down town. af l,o fo a burning building and each one rushing to his or her room they soon reappeared In the street, covered with soot, grime. water and charred wood. perched them selves upon the top of their trunks in the middle of Fifth avenue and waited for further orders The fire started in the roof of the building directly over a room occupied by Joseph Hudson. soda water dispenser, but who was sick in bed at the time with bad case of measles.
 Young Hudson came very near losing his life before it was discovered that he
 was lying helpless in the very midst of the fire, He was carried to the street and it was stated last night that he had been taken to another place and seemed to be none the worse for his har- rowing experience.
 Twenty eight trunks, not to mention
 bedsteads, sofas, guitars, teddy bears hastily bundled wardrobes, and many other things which were the coveted property of some of the sboarders were
 seen piled promiscuously in the mid dle of the street. On the top of g yx .l,o oolr md,
 case under oDe arm and a big browr teddy bear under the other, sat a pretty blue-eyed stenographer attempting tc
 hide her tears beneath the shade of a
 large picture hat as she murmured sad ly: "Oh, I wish I had 2 homer
 Standing in the water-soaked hall dim with soggy smoke and reelsins
 with the odors of burning feathers
 wet carpets and charred wood. the peo-
 Justis, the occupant, and MT. Davis the owner, met each other. Tears came into the woman's eyes as she told of her loss for it undoubtedly meantsmany days work to her. Mir. Davis was
 almost stunned by the spectacle of the ruined building and said but lit-
 tle He stated that he would prob
 ably rebuild it very soon but he could
 not state any plans yet.
 The fremen did very satisfactory
 work after they once got their four
 lines of water playing on the flames
 They were very watchful of the buildings adjoining the burning house
 and kept throwing water on them al frequent intervals. The flames had not
 yet been entirely. extinguished in the boarding house, however. when blsse
 was discovered in the residence of R. F.
 Middleton, which was across the street
 behind the Lanning drug store. A
 chemical wagon and line of hose were
 soon rushed to the house and the fire was put out with a small loss of about l $50. The Middleton residence is at 4Id Twenty second street and the spark
 which started 1t burning had flown d.
 most a half block from the burning Justis residence.
 The delay in turning in the alarm was caused by a negro who was ignor-
 ant of the proper way to use the alarm
 box. The negro had opened tho box and was standing looking at 1t when
 M. T. McCurdy. formerly fireman, happened along and asked the negro Ii
 there was a fire anywhere. Vas. sah,
 look dar!" responded the excited man and pointed to the burning house. Mir
 McCurdy leaped froru his buggy and rang the alarm in the box and N a few minutes the fire depa artment was on the scene. The negro had opened the
 box supposing that that was the onfy operation necessary to turn in the
 alarm. This little delay of q few min
 utes gave the fire. a start which came near proving very disastrous.
 Swarms of newsboys and children of
 all sizes and descriptions trooped in
 and out of the building after the fire
 had been extinguished and many cit
 izens have expressed themselves of the opinion that an epidemic of measles ii
 now scheduled to follow in the wake
 of the smallpox scare. | Insane Man Kills Wife
 Rockingham, N. C., March 1e.-Arisinl | ero,r, a sfckbed to which he had beer