Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1912-01-26
BLOCK BURNED

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Verne Carpenter Dies from
Burns Received
Loss Is $4,000 !
An explosion which occurred in thu
<. P. Farrow garage shortly after 3
O'Clock last Friday afternoon fatally
burned Verne Car penter and totally
destroyed the A. K. Hall block, q
Two story brick: veneered' building. on
second street northeast, in which the
garage. was located, causing e. loss
which runs In the neighborhood of
The fire spread so rapidly after the
explosion that. the families residing in
the fats IN the second. story wers
barely able to save themselves, not q
particle of furniture or wearing ar
parel other then what they wore at
the time teing saved. Only one car.
that Of L.. u. Browns, out of six in
the garage at the time, was rescued.
Gas formed from gasoline which
was being used to clean a car was the
cause Of the disastrous fire, the. explo-
sion taking place when Verne. Car-
pentef, who alone in the garage at the
time, placed a squirt gun which had
been used In cleaning the. car, near the
hot stove to dry. HIS hands and face
were burned go terribly in the explo-
sion that he was unable to open the
door Of the repair room. which was in
BASEMENT. SO jumped through
the east window on the south side of
the building, receiving some very bad
cuts. With his clothing a mass Of
flames. he walked several feet from
the window before 7. j. Monahan and
Herman Pantzke. who had arrived Of,
the scene, hurried to his aid. making
him lay down in the snow and with
their Over-coats s,nothered the flames.
His face and body were burned black,
his clothes just holding together, and
MS hands, arms and legs burned to
such an extent that the skin and
chunks of flesh fell away from them.
He was rushed to a n%eighboring build
ing across the street and a physician
called, upon whose arrival he was i'm
medlately removed to St. Gabriel's
hospital, where an examination
showed that he had not many hours to
live. All possible was done to relieve
his intense suffering however and he
was conscious the greater part of the
time. Death came to him shortly
after 1 O'Clock tue following morning.
Carpenter was a young man "a years
Of age and was an expert automobile
repair man. He came up from Osakis,
where a brother resides, last Septem.
Der to take a position in the local
garage. His recklessness, which it was
often noted was his great failing,
caused his untimely death. His father |
arrived from Kock Creek and the re-
mains were taken to Alexandria Satur- |
day night, where burial took place. |
Despite the fact that two of the |
nearby MIGRANTS we're frozen, the fire
department.. by excellent work con-
fined the flames to the Hall block, four |
strong streams being played on the ,
fire. The solid brick wall Of the New
man sales stable made an excellent !
barrier against the advance of the |
flames.
Outside of some of the material in
the g. H.. Tidd paint shop IN the north
end of the block but little vas saved |
from the Hail block. MIR. Tidd's loss
was about $50. But 81. 900 insurance ,
was carried on the block, which was
valued ut about $40, 900. The equip
ment OF the Hall garage, furniture and
fixtures of the Office and other personal
property in the building caused a loss
OF another 81, 600 to Mr.. Hall with no
insurance. F. T. Farrow was also a
heavy loser, his garage tools and ma.
terlal valued at about 81, 500, and two
new cars; valued at So, 500, on which
there was no insurance. going up in
smoke. Other cars totally burned were
Julius Jetka's car. which with fur
robe and equipment was valued at
81. 600, on which $7O0 insurance was
carried ; the Northland Motor Works
car of the same make as Mr.. Jetka's
which was covered by insurance; and
w. II. LOOMS car valued at $500, on
which no insurance was carried also
the T.. F. McCreedy's runabout. Mrs.
Medals Derosier lost an astrahkau coat
NO insurance was carried bv tho
! tenants of the second story. The
fam lilies of Louis Gravel, Mike Kuger.;
Roy Walbridge and Ed. Forstead and
Vim. M. Hall, Henry Wagner, Henry
J Jenkins and Mrs. Nj. Baker occupied
the fats.
In front of the Farrow garage under
the sidewalk was a tank containing
considerable gasoline and an explosion
of this was feared for a time. The
pump of the pipe leading to 1t, how
ever was burned so that the. gas gen.
Grated continued to burn some time.
after the flames had been extin.
gulshed.
A. K. Hall returned from Brainord
Saturday morning, at which place he
| was at the time of the fire, having
gone there to attend the funeral of his
brother -ln-law.
: He states that under certain circum-
stances, he may consider the replacing
Of. the. runs with a solid trick build-
ing. He will have the us CT his First
avenue northeast building on May LIST.
About two hundred telephones we're
put out Of commission in the fire that
destroyed the A. K. Hall block last
Friday afternoon, through the destruc.
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