The Washington times., 1910-04-29
Lieut.. Thomas Stanton Falls
From Ladder At Dis
aStrouS Blaze.
LOSS IN GROCERIES
MORE THAN $4,000
Store Occupied By John H. Ma
gruder on Connecticut
Avenue Is Quilted.

Lieut.. Thomas Stanton, Of No. en-
CINE company, was seriously hurt this
morning by falling with a ladder during
a FIRE that badly damaged the big stock
Of groceries and liquors IN the store
OF John H Magruder, at Connecticut
avenue and K street The police esti-
mate the damage at $4,000
The FIRE was confined almost entirely
20 the basement and only burned
through a small portion Of the floor In
the rear OF the store. The damage TO
the building IS probably not more than
s, 900, while practically all Of the stock
in the basement was ruined and a large
portion Of that on the main floor dam
aged by smoke and water
Lieutenant Stanton was working on a
heavy extension ladder on the Connecti-
cut avenue side OF the building, and
was about twenty feet from the ground,
when the ladder slipped and carried
HIM TO the pavement he is in the
Emergency Hospital, where the doctors
say he is badly hurt about the back
and head
Two Others Injured
Two other hremen were injured They
were John A. Busher, Of No . Engine
Company, cut about the head and hand
10y glass. and Private Farr, OF No .
Engine. cut on hand and arm by glass
Both refused hospital treatment, al
though Busher had 10 have d physician
sew I'd the cuts on his head
How the fire started is q mystery
There was a persistent rum0r that the
blaze was Of incendiary origin, but the
fact that every door and window was
securely fastened when the dremeu ar
rived did not seem TO subsJautiaJe the
report It is said that when the store
was closed last evening every shade was
I'D and that at some Of the windows
these shades had been drawn when the
fire was discovered
Henry Schley, motOTman on a Con-
uecticut avenue car, saw smoke coming
from the store about 2-35 O'Clock this
morning Stopping his car at K street
he ran TO No I engine house IN h
street. between Ninteenth and Twentieth
streets As soon as No ] engine ar
rived q general alarm was sounded. and
all the apparatus in the downtown sec
ton responded
The FIRE was burning fercely in the
basement, and the hrsL and second
floors We're filled with dense smoke,
which made II almost impossible to
work inside the building The trap
doors Of a freight elevator had been
left open all the way TO the rooI'
making a draft which threatened &c
carry the flames 10 the upper uOOTS-
Wall Battered In.
Using a big battering ram the fire.
men broke in the side of the building
by the elevator shaft, and by playing
several streams in this place checked
the flames Not until the cellar had
been flooded with several feet OF
water was the fire finally put out II
the basement was stored large guam
titles OF liquor in barrels, besides gro
Ceries, and wooden boxes
The flooding of the basement gave
Thomas II. Robinson, superintendent Of
machinery Of the District Fire Depart
neut, an opportunity 10 Try out q new
syphol- pumping system which he had
invented The new machine worked
even better than officials Of the depart
Iueut had anticipated, and made IL pos
STnIe for one engine to DO several times
the ordinary amount of work IN pump
lug water from d cellar.
Incidentally the fire was the first OIL
CiaI opportunity Commissioner Rudolph
has had 10 see the department in action
He praised the work Of the men
The building IS owned by a Chicago
man. and IS insured Nj lIaEruder-s
loss is fully covered