The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-15
Total of $2SS,70O Insurance Was Carried on the
 Burned Property BELL BUILDING Is
 ALMOST IN RUINS Motion Building Is Complete Loss, the Concerns Occupying This
 Structure Losing Practi-
 cally Everything

According to figures furnished by H. B. Tarrant. secretary of the Motion Realty company, who is in possession of prac- tically all the figures covering the fire of the Motion building and the Bell tele phone building Sunday morning, the loss is s301, 400. A total of $2SS.7oO insurance was carried on the property.
 Mir Tarrant states that he has report ed to the insurance companies represent ed by his company that the Bell tele- phone building is total loss and the figures quoted are based upon this re, port.
 The Motion building was valued at ss5,- 900 and was covered by s26o0o insurance. Mir Tarrant states that the loss on this building is total.
 The value of the stock carried by the Cable Piano company is placed at S27,50o, upon. which s12,50 insurance was carried, according to B. B. Burton, manager of the company
 William s. Parks, manager of the Co., lumbia Graphaphone company, states that their loss of about s13,5O0 and is GOV cred by blanket policy carried by the company and that the exact amount of insurance is not known, as it is handled by the home office.
 The value of w. D. Colby's stock Is placed at s75Oo. He carried 5000 insur- ance with the Motion Realty company Mir Tarrant stated that he may possibly have insurance with other companies than those he represents.
 Miss Corrie Handley's music studio was valued at s1750 upon which she carried 8 policy for 5000.
 Peddinghaus' studio is valued at s250o with $17OO insurance Upon it.
 The loss of the Birmingham Conserva- tory of Music was s1o.0o0 which was only partially covered by insurance.
 Upon the Florence hotel annex build ing there was a loss of $1500 inflicted and upon the furniture of the annex a loss of $2500 Twenty-one thousand dol lars insurance was carried upon the building and s5OOO on the furniture.
 Loss on Bell Building
 The total amount of insurance upon the Bell telephone building and contents was $2O9, ,5O0 s121000 of which was on the equipment and ,50o on the building. MT. Tarrant states that this building was in- sured for it's full value and was not in- cluded in the three-duarters value clause. He states that although he has not ar- rived at any conclusive decision regard ing the loss on this building, he has re- 1.f $209, ,500.
 The first floor of the Motion building was occupied by the Cable Piano com pany, the Columbia Graphaphone com pany and W. D. Colby; the second floor by the Gable company's concert hall and Colby's wall paper store room; the third floor by the Cable company's sales par lors and the Birmingham Conservatory of Music and the fourth floor by the Cable company's repair shop, Peddinghaus' pho- tograph studio and Miss Corrie Handley's studio of music.
 For a while Sunday morning 1t seemed as if the Florence hotel was doomed to go with the other buildings, but Chief Bennett stationed a chemical crew on the second floor of the building with Captain K. R. Johnson of Station No. in charge and they remained there the better part of the morning and prevented the fire do- ing further damage than breaking the windows in several of the rooms.
 Hotel Guests Rush Out
 When the fire was first discovered, the guests of the hotel began general exo- dus to the streets. and for an hour or two the scene about the streets in the vicinity of the hotel reminded one of a "ten, twent, thirt' [" company waiting for their train at a way station on trunk railway from the way they were sitting around on theft trunks. Several of them were scantily attired, not having time in their evident haste to dress properly. side them. However, it was not long before the cold and sieepiness drove them back to the comfort of their beds.
 The Bell building caught on the upper floors and the fire was confined by the firemen to the roof and upper floors, al- though it was a difficult task. Water and smoke caused the greatest amount of damage in this building, together with the heat from the flames of the adjoining building After the fire had ragged for an hour on the top of the building. it was veritable furnace inside owing to the heat thus communicated.
 On the .west side of the building a truck from station No. 2. equipped with an Eastman ladder nozzle. was oper- ated by crew Of men. One man was stationed at the top of e5 foot ladder