East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1913-08-06

Two fires, one starting while the
firemen were still fighting the other,
made last night lurid one in Pendle-
ton. Just as the flames, which had
started in the engine room of the Do
mestic laundry on Thompson street
and which had spread to the laundry
building proper on the one side and
the dwelling occupied by A. C. Pow
er and family on the other, were fair
ly under control, another alarm was
turned in from the north side, and,
leaving one company to complete the
work of extinguishing the first, the
main body of fire fighters hurried
across the river where by the time
they arrived the roof of the main
building of the old Pendleton acam-
emy was mass of flames.
Owing to the location of the acad-
emy, the start which the fire had
and weak pressure, there was never
a chance of saving the inflammable
part of the building and the firemen
confined themselves for the most part
in preventing the flames from spread
ing to Brown Hall and adjacent dwell
1 ings The roof and all of the interior
work of the building was destroyed
and only the brick outer walls left
| standing. 1t is the popular belief
that incendiaries took advantage of
the other fire to apply the torch to
the academy structure which has
been unoccupied for the past year.
| The Domestic laundry fire was a
stubborn one to fight and got good
headway owing to the delay in Sc
| curing water caused by a damaged
fire plug. The principal damage was
| done in the engine room and top story
of the laundry building and in the top
story of the Power residence. The
! loss lis covered by insurance. Mr.
/ Power carried no insurance on his
\ furniture and household effects but
practically all was carried out of the
! building.
Fire Gets Start.
! The launry fire started about ISIS
and was discovered almost at it's in
| eption. 1t broke out on the roof of
! the coal shed just west of the en-
/ gine room and when first observed
was very small Cries of Fire,
Fire" aroused the neighborhood sew
eral minutes before the alarm bell
sounded. The first company arrived
! in a short time and attached its
/ hose to the hydrant at the corner of
| Court and Thompson but was unable
] to secure any water. Had water been
secured at this time, the flames would
undoubtedly have been extinguished
with damage less than 500 done. As
/ it was, the fire had gotten a good
start and was spreading fast by the
/ time the firemen discovered that the
/ plug could not be used ana had at
tached their hose to another hydrant.
| Four streams were played on the
burning building but the fire had
/ spread into the upper story of the
/ laundry building and had leaped across
a small space to the north and at
tackled the Power residence In an
/ ticipation of this. Mr. Power had
started moving his household belong
ings into the street and many willing
hands assisted him so that practical
! ly everything was saved Some OF
| his furniture was damaged slightly
! by water but his loss Will be small.
He had no insurance.
Practically the entire upper story
of the residence was destroyed and
will have to be rebuilt. In addition the
house will have to be repapered
! throughout The house was owned by
Jessie s. Vert and she carried a poll