Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1910-09-19
A DANGEROUS FIRE
Raging Furnace In KindIing
Saving Shed OF ParIett And
Parlett NecesSitates
School Fire Drill
THE ORIGIN is UNKNOWN
Whole Row OF Houses On Priests Prop.
ertv Were.In Grave Danger Good
Work By The Firemen

Fire, which for a time theatened to
develop into serious conhagration.
was disco vered in the fire wood and
kindling sheds of the Parlett & Par
lett Lumber Company on Compromise
street shortly after 10 o'clock this
morning, and only by superhuman
efforts of the Annapolis fire depart
ment were the flames prevented from
spreading to adjoining property.
The blaze, which was quite near the
Annapolis public school buildings and
being blown in that direction by the
stiff breeze, necessitated the clearing
of the school buildings. The practical
worth of the fire drills, which are a
part of the regular routine of the
schools, was demonstrated when the
two big buildings were Gle red Of
ever singl. pupil in record-hreaking
time. This relieved the an ETY. of
the hundreds of parents of children
who. while the whole lower end of
town was enveloped in dense smoke
from the fire, heard that the school
building itself was on fire.
The fire had gained great head way
and the interior of the sheds were
raging furnaces when a passerby
noticed it and reported to Mr.. M. O.
Parlett, in the Company's Office on
Market Space. The alarm was at
once turned in and the three compa-
nies of the department responded
promptly with their hose trucks and
hook and ladder apparatus.
The absence of the pair of horses
used for this service from the engine
house delayed the arrival of the en-
CINE, and this seriously handicapped
the firemen because the water pres
sure in the lower section of town is
very low. Several streams were
promptly run out, however, and one of
these was attached to the stationary
engine in the Parlett & Parlett Ice
Plant. 1t was evident from the first
that the kindling shed was doomed
and Fire Marshal P E. Porter direct
ed the efforts of his men to saving
the row of -and-a-half story frame
dwellings on the opposite side of Com
promise street and the large double
frame dwelling at the end of the
street on the same side with the fire.
By almost superhuman efforts this
was accomplished and the fire was
confined to its original starting point,
but at times it threatened to develop
into a serious confagation. A great
deal of sawed stove wood in the shed
was destroyed, however, and some of
the cord wood in the rear of the shed
was also devoured by the flames The
stationary engine and the saving and
chopping machinery in the shed were,
destroyed however.
The shed destroyed, along with the
other property on both sides of the
street, which was in such grave dam
ger, is owned by the Redemptorist
Priests of st. Mary's Roman Catholic
Church, but the shed was under lease
to the Parlett Company.
The damage, which is partly cover
ed by insurance, will be heavy, but
Mr.. David o. Parlett. senior member
of the firm of Parlett & Parlett, said
after the fire that he did not yet know
what the loss would amount to. They
was also in total ignorance of the
cause of the flames.
Additional excitement was given
the fire for time by the illness of a
colored woman living in the neighbor-
hood who had fit in the street, but
was finally revived