The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1911-11-08

Beginning in the second story of the
store of j. III. & Nj. l.. Nash, the fire
which ragged early Friday morning,
spread to M. II. Fowler's store and
from there to the building occupied
by Hunter & Co, Owings e Owings
and l.. b. Blackwell. Although the
outside walls of all these stores are
still standing, the roofs and partitions
are burned out, the woodwork is com
pletely destroyed and the stocks are
all but ruined. Although only COM
plete inventory would show the total
loss, 1T is conservatiVely estimated at
between forty and fifty thousand dol
lars. Some of the property had con
siderable insurance on it, while some
OF 1T was not insured as much as the
owners would now wish None of it,
however, was insured in as large
amount as it could have been
The fire was first discovered over
j. III. & NJ. l.. Nash's paint and hard
ware store about 1890 o'clock Fri
day morning, where it had already
gained considerable headway. The
alarm was Immediately given and the
nose wagon rushed to the scene. The
door on the ground floor was burst
open and the fight to stop the flames
begun. In spite of every effort of the
volunteer flremen, assisted by Others
the flames spread rapidly The fire.
nrin c1u
. lack of hose. When 1t was seen that
the flames were likely to spread fur
ther the hose wagon was sent to the
glass factory where about five hun
dred feet Of hose and two nozzles
were gotten. One Of these was kent
playing on Fowlers store while the
other was sent to the rear of the block
and did good work. This made to-
,tal of about eight streams being play
le0 on the fire and by steady and con-
ssistent work the fire was under control
by 2:15 o'clock and by o'clock the
damage was over with
Fortunately for the buildings sur
rounding the burning district, very
little wind was blowing and the little
breeze that was stirring was in the
direction of the streets. The Bank
of Laurens was only saved from the
fate of the others by a strong fire wall
between it and Nash's store. AT one
time the window i'm the rear of the
building caught afire, but the water
was at once turned on it and it was
saved. A steady stream was kept on
the pool parlor building. occupied by
+. II. Darlington, colorcd, and it suf-
fered very little damage.
The origin of the fire is unknown
The part of the building whore it
started is used as warehouse for
paints and oils by Mr.. Nash and the
only plausible theory put forward yet
is that it was caused by rats striking
match. The only other theory is
that of incendiarism and this is given
no credence at all as no motive has
been developed The origin will doubt
less never he solved.
The value of the stocks and of the
buildings as they stand now is mat
ter of speculation. EIow much they
were damaged is hard to say, but it
can safely be said that it will cost as
much to rebuild now as the buildings
originally cost and that the stocks OF
goods are of little value form mer-
chants point of view. What the in
surance adiustors will allow on the
goods will determine their value and
in no other way can it be determined
Therefore The Advertiser will not at
:. tempt to make an estimate of the loss,
kOut will give the value of the build
ings, the amount of stock and the in
surance covering both. The following
is list Of these things as supplied
by the owners themselves, with the
exception of the property of Mr.. r. f..
Babb, who could not be found. His is
estimated.
Hunter & Co: stock $4,000, insur-
ance $4,000 with j. Il. Tolbcrts in
surance agency building owned by
, T. r. Babb estimated value $4,000, in
surance $1,1OO.
Owings & Owngs: stock $13 ,000, III