The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-01-11
FLORENCE HOTEL BURNED TO
BLACkENED SHELL BY
MIDDAY FIRE.
NO ONE INJURED AT ALL
Only Two or Three Guests Are in Ho-
tel When Fire Breaks Out and All
Escape in Safety-Total Loss Is
About $10o,o0o-Owen Kelley, A. D.
Price and Hermann kohn Suffer. :.

The Florence hotel, Missoulas oldest
and most famous hostelry, is u black
ened shell and the shops that occu-
pied the ground floor of the building
are flooded ruins as the result of n
fire that broke ont III the rear OF the
block yesterday morning and ate out
the whole interior before the fire de-
partment could stop it. Heroic work
on the part of the fire fighters con
fined the flames to the older or south
half of the hotel, and saved the ad-
joining Eddy block and the frame
buildings just across the alley.
The total loss will amount to just
about 100000, most Of which is COW
cred by insurance. The Missoula Real
Estate company Is the heaviest loser.
This concern owned the hotel building
and the Eddy block. where the remod-
eled annex to the hotel proper Is AZ
Gated. The entire property was valued
at $l50,000 but the damage to the
Eddy building amounts to almost moth
ing, and $4,000 viii probably cover
the loss. The old hotel is total loss,
according to Fire Chief Loffness. The
walls are all that remain, and they are
SO shaky that they can never be used
again. The owners of the building car
ried S65,000 in insurance. Warren
Shopp, owner Of the hotel bar suf-
fered from the water which dripped
| through the falls. A thousand dollars
will easily cover the damage as most
OF the stock was removed owen kel-
ley, whose cigar stand and pool room
| occupied the corner of the ruineu
building, suffered only such loss as was
| occasloncd IN the removal Of stock
| He is fully protected by insurance.
| Archie Price and Herman kohn. the
former owner Of news stand, the lat
ter of a jcWelry store In the building,
suffered from losses from water and in
! removal Of stock. Neither have esti-
mated the damage, but both carried in
surance The total damage done to
the three stores should not exceed
! 81 900
The hotel fixtures. though. are a
! total loss. Harry CLANCY. the owner
! of the furniture, was not heavily in
sured and his losses will total nearly
$4,000.
No Wind.
1t was lucky that there was no wind
/ during the fire, and that the blaze
occurred during the daytime, when
only two or three people were in their
rooms Had the wind been blowing
the fire undoubtedly would have
spread. Had the rooms been full of
people death would probably have re-
suited As it was the damage was
comparatively small ana no one was
placed in serious danger.
AS to the origin of the fire no one
seems certain. The popular theory Is
that hot ashes dumped into a wooden
box. started the fire. The bell boys
are expected daily to carry the ashes
| from the range in the kitchen on the
second floor to the bottom of an old
wooden elevator shaft on the outside
of the building. 1t Is thought that
these ashes set fire to the elevator
SHAFT, spread into the sample room ad-
Joining the bar and then crept up to
the third floor through ventilator
shaft.
owen Kelley was the real discoverer
Of the blaze. lie was eating his
breakfast in the Coffee Parlors at
about 1o:45, when one of the wait
resses ran in and said that the Flor