The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-04-25
City Hotel Fire

/
the City Hotel on Second and Plum
streets were finally gotten under
! control. The alarm was given by
| telephone about 4:45 a. m. today
{ by John Schaus Chicago and
Northwestern brakeman Mr.. Schaus
saw the flames from the yards when
/ his train was at the rear of the
Mankato Bread company. He rushed
into the bakery and telephoned to
the station and then turned in box
| rs afterwards. About ten minutes
before the alarm was turned in Otto
! Schwartzrock, after returning home
! from a dance, saw a light in the
I upper stories of the building. but
! thought that some one was sleeping
there. "Just as | tumbled into bed,
said he, 81 heard the fire bell ring
and saw thatthe flames had burst
! through the roof" William Ores
| ham fireman for the Hotel Helm
] rich was sleeping in the building
but easily escaped before the flames
came near him. The building be.
longs TO the Henry Himmelman es
tate. The fire started in the upper
story on the south side and its
origin is unknown. The place has
been unOccupied all winter except
for Mr.. Gresham. and was a haven
for idlers and men who had no other
place to go. 1t is thought that some.
one of these must have, accidental.
ly or otherwise, set the building on
! fire.
Flames Were Shooting High.
When the firemen arrived the
flames were shooting forty feet
above the roof, but in few minutes
the largest ofthe flames were un.
der control. One line of hose was
carried up on bridge from the
second story of the hotel on the
south side to the building next door,
! and the stream was played for this
point of vantage directly into the
seething mass OF flames Three
more lines of hose were distributed
about the sides of the building. All
the entrances were broken in, and
| the water applied from the inside.
! The hotel has been built for about
thirty years. and has been unten.
anted for about year, SO on ac.
count of the accumulation of dust
and cobwebs, the place fell an
easy prey to the greedy flames. The
| fire spread all through the building,
and the interior is completely gut.
ted. The most of the damage, how.
ever, is in the west end of the
building, for there large portion
of the roof is gone. All the furni-
ture in the place is damaged beyond
redemption. Ed. Zimmerman, one
of the heirs to the Henry Himmel-
man estate says that the building is
a total loss and that in reality, the
insurance of $4,000 on the building
and $4,000 on the furniture will not
cover the loss. However there has
been no market for the hotel, and it
probably was not worth more than
the insurance at the present mar
ket price. The original cost was
III IhC 'ieISHDOIIlOOu VI 9lO.UUU.
During the fire Chief Phil Leas
was slightly overcome by smoke,
but he vomitted twice and relieved
himself of the fumes.
One of the saddest tragedies in
the history of the Mankato Fire
department occurred this morning
with the death of Michael L. Fallen
stein after fighting the fire in the
City hotel on Second and Plum
streets. The fire broke out about
4:40 a. IN. and Mr.. Fallenstein was
among the first to get to the blaze.
He worked vahantly as captain of
Superior Hose company No. 2 and
was most Ofthe time with Chief
Philip Leas. As the flames gained
Roadway in the building, 1t became
necessary to run the hose lines in
side and Mr.. Fallenstein was at the
front of his line of hose, and re-
maiend in the building as long as
there was need of him. Probably the
time when he was injured the most
from the smoke and stea mwas as
he was playing ihs line of hose, in
a room ON the east side of the hotel.
He had gone in at the Second street