The Washington herald., 1911-07-26

Gazed upon by hundreds of spec
tators, a fire, started by the over
turning of lantern, yesterday aft
ernoon swept the wall paper estab-
lishment of D. F. Croft, S19 and
S21 Ninth street northwest, the es-
timated damage being between
$4,000 and $4,000. The loss is
covered by insurance.
OVERTURNED LANTERN.
About o'clock in the afternoon,
Thomas c. Pollock, a member of the
firm. went to the top floor Of the four
story structure to show a woman Gus
toner samples Of wall paper. He car
rled a lantern. and placed 1t on a chair
As he was passing he stumbled and
struck the lantern, overturning It. The
oil was spilled over the floor. and in a
second was ignited. the flames quickly
spreading to the surrounding stacks Of
paper.
Ed Harris. a young coIored man en-
ployed by the firm. was on the floor, and
Joined Mr.. Pollock In an effort to sub
due the rapidly spreading flames. But
the men soon discovered they were un-
able to cope with the situation. so they
ran to the ground floor Harris rushed
out Of the building. and, ignorant Of the
fact that there was a fire alarm box
within several hundred yards, at Ninth
and H streets. he ran to the box at
Tenth street and New York avenue.
Policeman c. w. Lippold, Of the First
precinct, was at Eighth and G streets
about 2:15 o'clock when he saw smoke
rising above the buildings In the neigh
borhood Of Ninth and I streets. As he
hastened along H street he glanced up
the alley between Eighth and Ninth
streets and saw the smoke pouring out
of the back windows Of the Gron estab-
ishment. He ran to the front entrance
where he met Mr.. Pollock emerging from
the door. Policeman Lippold ran across
the street to a store and gave the alarm
over a telephone.
Responded to Alarm.
Acting Deputy Chief Darlington with
engine companies 2. 6. and 16, and truck
company 4 responded to the first alarm.
Upon arriving on the scene the firemen
saw the seriousness of the situation and
second alarm was sounded. This
brought out Fire Marshal Nicholson.
Battalion Chief Keliher. and acting Chief
Engineer Sullivan with engine COM
panies IA, Z. and /; truck 8. and two fuel
wagons BY the time all the companies
arrived the smoke was enveloping the ad-
jacent blocks, and flames were shooting
out Of the fourth story windows. Lines
of hose were reeled out and In a short
time ten streams of water were playing
on the flames.
With the engines pumping hard and
the streams of water well directed under
the supervision of the fire officials, the
flames were soon under control The fire
was confined principally to the top story,
although the flames finally crept down to
the third floor The entire building was
gutted and the stock not destroyed by
fire was damaged by water, which
dripped down from the ceilings above,
and flowed out Of the doorway in a
stream.
Covered By Insurance.
Mr.. Pollock, who has charge of the
business management Of the establish
ment, said the building and stock were
insured, and he thought sufficiently to
cover the damages. Fire Marshal Nichol-
son estimates the damage to the build
ing to be about 5000. The stock. which
is valued between $4,000 and $4,000, was
practically destroyed.
During the progress Of the fire the
Ninth street cars were temporarily tied
UP by the pipe lines stretched across the
tracks. The cars were crowded with
many persons en- route to the baseball
game, and the fans grew fearful they
would miss the contest But the railway
employees set rapidly to work, and In a
short time two hose line bridges had been
erected over the tracks.