El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-05-16


Elected in the sky and on the big
downtown buildings, attracted a large
crowd TO the scene OF the fire The
Airdome audience quit in a body, but
the show was almost over anyhow.
Fire lines were stretched along Stan
ton street from Overland and the night
police force and fire police were as
sembled to keep the crowd back from
the burning building. The people col
lected at each end of the block on
Stanton and in the vacant lot opposite
the burning warehouse; also on the
streets IN the rear The fire patrol was
in charge Of chief I. y. Davis and night
captain Lon Garner and was the best
patrol that has ever been kept at a
fire in FL PasO.
Being just one block from the red
light reservation, the inmates Of the
reservation were there in their tawdry
finery, adding touch Of night life to
the scene The fire was one OF the
most spectacular since the burning of
the Calisher building. When the roof
fell in, flames and sparks seemed to
leap a mile in the air. A shower Of
sparks fell into the BurtOn-Lingo lum-
Der yard a block in the rear, but pri-
vate Watchmen say that nothing took
fire
Spectacular Features.
The big, red automobile fire engine
pounded away IN front Of the fire sta
tiOn and the old Central station steam
er thrObbed at the corner Of Stanton
and First streets. The firemen in
their red, metal hemlets and the chief
in his white coat and hat lodged in
and out of the fire lines. It all added
10 the spectacular effect A car load Of
poultry was sidetracked on the south
side Of the building and there was
smell of singed feathers and promise
Of roasted chicken until 7. & P.
switch engine pulled the car out OF the
danger zone It than rescued another
car on the other side OF the street next
10 the AtnSa place. Sparks rained on
the adjoining building and 1t was
thought that the Ainsa building might
catch, but II was saved
Owned BY Austin Woman.
The building which burned was
owned by Mrs. Attilia Hancock OF Aus
tin, Tex It was built 10 years ago by
Mrs. E N. Bell and her son. Frank
Bell, and was first occupied by the
Brunswick Balke-COllender company
until two years ago. Frank Bell then
opened a storage warehouse there IN
til il was sold by A p. Coles & Bros I
for Mrs Bell to J. NJ Wyatt The FL
PasO Storage Warehouse company was
Smith until it was sold by Mr.. Wyatt /
to u. l. PeytOn, the present owner OF ]
the building. The value of the building Z
is given as $4,000 and the contents /
are estimated by Mr. PeytOn to have 4
been worth 10000, making a total es- !
timGted loss of $500 Mrs. Hancock I
had $4,000 worth of insurance on the /
building in the Austin & MARI agency !
II -
insurance on the fixtures and stock in 4
the same agency. The other losses, in. /
Guiding stored furniture and food prod
ucts are not known, as they are carried 1
mostly by people OF the city
Has No Complete Invoice.
Mr.. PeytOn was unable to give a 4
completed invoice Of the contents Fri /
day morning. The cold storage in the /
basement had only a car of beans, a
quantity CT condemned milk and many
cases Of sardines. The estimated loss
on this is fixed at $4,000. II. L Howell /
had a real estate office on the first
floor but succeeded in saving most OF
this furniture. Ice boxes on the first
floor contained meat products, two cars
Of coffee, two cars of flour belonging
to PeytOn, an ice box filled with re
trlgerator products belonging to J. B.
w watson, and Mr. PeytOn's office fix
lures. J. 3. Watson lost $500, PeytOu
$1,000 on the flour and the total esti-
mated loss on this floor was $4,000.
The second floor had household
goods stored there, more coffee, Z
meats and four pianos. This
loss is estimated at $4,000 by Mr.. Pey-
ton The third and fourth floors were
used for furniture storage and no ac-
curate estimate can be made on the
as it was owned mostly by
people in Mexico and in the army anu
was not invOiced when it was stored
Mr.. PeytOn's Version
Mr.. PeytOn believes that the fire con
he fire is that it started from match
he shelter, who moved here recently
rom Perth AmbOy, n. j.. and who had
lis furniture stored there, was exam
ng the boxes belonging to him Thurs
lay afternoon on the second floor. A
Mexican was assisting him, Mr.. Peyton
iays- he believes a match was dropped
Jy one OF the two men and that this
yet fire TO the packing. The blaze went
% the ceiling and the Central depart
nent was called and eXtingulshed the
llaze. .
Fire Shoulders Hours.
Mr. PeptOn believes that the fire con-
lnued to shoulder in the dust Of the
hIrd floor, however, and broke out Z
new at 10 o'clock Following the az :
ernoon fire he employed a watch .
nan TO make trips to the second floor
very 10 minutes during the night, he
avs, but had not seen him Friday !
morning and did not know what the
Fatchman's version is.
NJ o. Rose, representative of Nc
Veil q Libby, was passing the court .
.ouse in his auto and saw the fire first ,
lie drove to the building. where his
ompany had goods stored and I'M :
ocked the front door. He attempted to
inter- the building but was prevented /
" the flame. II
Exploding Ammunition.
Exploding ammunition heard during .
he fire IS explained by Z. L PeytOn :
7hO believes that a number of s
runks In storage there contained am
lJOltion.
The only arrest made at the fire was ]
Z Harry Truesdale, who is docketed {