The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-11-09
WRONG AL AR NJ s
HAD TOWN BY EARS
Police Make Wild Dash Toward
Penitentiary, Thinking They
Had Military Call.
NUMBERS SOUNDED
Negroes Try to Shoot Horses
but They Broke Out and
Escaped Blaze.

Raging untouched by water FOR M
teen or twenty minutes because OF
confusion of alarms, fire early last
night destroyed the stables of Edwin A
Phaup, funeral director, did consider
able damage to the Virginia Drug com
pany and the general merchandise store
OF James King, at the corner oil Secoho
and Canal Streets, and inflicted othef
damage, though of a minor nature. 10
adjoining property. The blaze orisina.'
ed in the stables, but spread 50 rap1dl|
that 1t had gained tremendous mead
way before the first engine company
arrived on the scene. Thereafter NOW
ever, the flremen under the leadership
of Chief Joynes and Assistant ohleis
RATIO and Wise, worked manfuliy' anu
prevented the contiagration from
spreading over the block and destroy
ing a dozen residences.
Got Numbers Mixed.
r. w. Moore. manager OF the VII
GINA Drug Company, telephoheo lHlo
fire headquarters Immediately on see
ing the blaze, and them when ne SD"
that there was to be, apparently, no
reply to his urgent summons lele
phoned a second time. In the meahti'iie
three alarms had been runs' one poN
III, which is located near the stats
Penitentiary; from box To- flrs, an.
Cary Streets, and from box l6l, at
Fifteenth and Cary streets. Engine
and truck companies answered. al
alarms. and great confusion resulted.
Many pcople mistook the alarm from
Box Is as the military call, and sew
eral policemen who had been do'ne
duty earlier in the day were sum.
moned from their beds to assemble at
the penitentiary. An engine company
was sent thither. and nothing to cause
alarm was discovered. Then the fire.
men saw the blaze at Second and Cahai
Streets. and hurried there.
Another company had answered the
call to Fifteenth and Cary Streets,
where there was a small blaze on the
trcstle of the Southern Railway. TINS
was quickly extingutshed, ana the
company finally went to Box 10, where
third company had also by this time
arrived. The military call. 1t should
be stated in this connection, is fifteen
strokes of the fire bells Box 10 rings
once and then, after an interval, five
times.
Had Hard Fight.
When the three engine companies
! finally assembled TO Quench the fire
| 1t had gained considerable headway.
and the whole neighborhood was
aroused. There was some difficulty in
| getting sufficient streams OF water
Mr. King, who was i'm his store at
lit East Canal Street at the time, saw
| binding blaze burst through rear
window. Dr. 7. b. Leonard was in at
| tendance on his seven-year- old son.
| Emmanuel, who had been, III several
| days. The physician, as soon as the
back door was opened and the extent
| of the fire was noticed carried the
child out to safety, leaving him with
a ueigtbor, and then ran back to help
Mr.. King get out his furniture and
stock. Practically everything was
saved. and carried over to an empty
store on the opposite side of the
street. and there was apparently little
damage to his own store. But Mr..
King stated that his loss was extern
sive. and that 1t would reach to more
| than 5000.
Shot mt Horses.
The stables We're completely de-
stroyed, and were left a mass of
charred ruins. 1t was said that one
of the four horses left In the stables
had been burned. but It's body could
not be located by the hremen, and
they believe that the four animals es-
capped Three negroes stood outside
and shot holes in the big doors i'm an
effort to kill the horses and prevent
their suffering. But while the kindly
negroes banged away at one door anc
riddled 1t full Of holes. the horses es-
capped out of another.
From the stables the fire spread tc
; the back of the drug store, imme-
diately adjoining, and 1t was burned
considerably in the rear. A two-story
tenement house fronting on Second
Street was also badly damaged. blu,
all Its contents were taken out ant
saved. Porches of other houses ad
joining were also burned.
The stables formed a square inclose,
by residences and stores. except fol
the entrances, and the place was {
!, Veritable fire trap. The flremen worked
r against great odds but soon had the
blaze under controls after they go
plenty Of water. Most Of the damage
TO the drug store was done by water
! and cannot be estimated. The tota
9 loss to all the property will amour
!, to several thousand dollars. an exac
! estimate being impossible to Obtain
last night. Most of the property !
owned by G, w. Saunders. and Is In
c sured. Mr.. King carried no insuranc
o on his stock, having let his polio.
e lapse short time ago because he hat
y decided to move to another location.
| i