Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-28
Blaze Causes $500 Damage
in the Kellogg Building.
ORIGIN NOT Determined
Chest of Unmailed Letters Furnishes
Fuel for the Flames.
CHIEF WAGNER DIRECTS FIGHT
Four Engine Companies, Two Trucks
and a Water Tower Called
Into Service.

A big chest Of unmailed but stamped
and addressed letters. bearing the names
of every representative and senator in
Office in the year 1889. is partially respon-
sible for a stubborn little attic fire in the
kellogg building, 1416 F street, which
called out four engine companies. two
trucks and a water tower at O'Clock this
morning. A tremendous mass of old files.
waste paper. stored-away records and
miscellany Of all sorts burning, with
binding smoke. gave the firemen a ST.
fling quarter hour. The fire was in loft
only four feet high, which prevented the
men from standing upright. and until
Chief Wagner personally stood on the
roof and directed the chopping open of a
smoke hole there was simply no air In
the attic that a human being could
breathe. The chief hastened to the fire
in his red automobile, having left his
eggs and coffee to get cold at one of the
fire engine houses. He said, while stand
ing on the roof directing the play OF a
chemical hose on a red flame under the
caves. that ten minutes more and the
business district would have seen one oil
the most stubborn attic fires ever ex-
perienced
Fire and water and broken glass COM
age total about s., 800.
Origin of Fire Unknown.
Exactly what started the fire is not
known. but the flremen believe that a
mouse was gnawing some matches some
where in the vicinity of the box Of old
unmailed letters 1t was either that or
a piece of worn-out electrical insulation
hot l,,x~ hot -
forgotten mail, for the firemen flshed out
the old chest from the blackened heart
of the blaze. just where the fire marshal
always looks to see what started the
trouble.
The letters were from the committee
on congressional action Of the Society of
the United States Military Corps. and
were designed to influence favorable ac-
tion on a bill for the relief Of tele-
graph operators during the war" Every
one was stamped with an old-fashioned
blue one-cent stamp. and the printed
pamphlet inclosed with each letter bore
the single date 1852"
The letters, which were brought to
light after they had set fire to the build
ing, showed the names. of senator's and
representatives, who have been forgot
ten in many instances for nearly twenty
years
The loft or attic of the Kellogg build
ing was charred beyond further useful
II
shaft, which for a few minutes gave the
firemen a lively fight, is burned badly
for nearly third OF its length. The in
side Of the building in the vicinity of the
elevator shaft was drenched with water.
Chief Wagner Directs Operations.
The alarm was the first one pulled from
box 151, one of the new boxes made
necessary by the recent adoption of new
running card for the business section.
Battalion Chief Henry and Chief Wagner
got there with the apparatus and swarm
ed up the ladder in advance of the en-
tire crew, and directed the laying Of two
long lines of hose in the smoke-filled.
sitting loft. Through the black smoke
that was very tough on the eyes, they
saw stubborn rim Of dark red flame.
To fight 1t so much pressure was thrown
into the hose that one of the lines broke
in the narrow room where the flame was
eating into the woodwork. Chief Wagner
was on the roof of the building at the
time tearing down the upper part Of the
elevator shaft He ordered new hose.
Half hundred half-clad guests in the
Willard Hotel stopped dressing to see the
show.