Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-09-02
$4,000 PENBROOK
FIRE F|REBUG' WORK
[Continued From First Pagel

spite their efforts the fire kept spread
ing and by the time of the arrival of
the Shamrock, Friendship and Hope
companies. sent by the Harrisburg de-
partment in response to a call for aid,
the whole building was in flames.
Apartment House Gutted
The apartment building was occu-
pied by George Powley with a pool
room and barber shop on the base
ment floor; by Miles Fox's restaurant,
mans store rooms on the first floor; by
w. Fl. VOLTS apartment and Offices;
Jacob Fischer, George Rhinehart and
Harry Hicks. apartments, and the
Rev. Mr.. Neible's offices on the second
floor, and by n great hall, used jointly
Patriotic Order Sons of America, the
the Junior and Senior Mechanics and
the Maccabees, on the third floor.
The bakery had been recently fitted
up with modern machinery and en-
gines. Everything in this building was
a total loss, the insurance being only
a small percentage. In the apartment
and store building the whole interior
was gutted out and thousands of dol
/ lars worth of merchandise, furniture
and supplies were destroyed.
The fire spread to the home of
Abraham Fritz, about 100 feet from
the Wolf Building, the sparks ignit-
ing the roof. A bucket brigade was
hurriedly organized here and the
flames were extinguished
Spend Night on Housetops
Other resia ents within two blocks
of the scene of the fire spent the night
on their house tops pouring water on
the roofs most of which were of shin
gle, to prevent the flames from
spreading. Stre@s in the central por-
ton of the town were Uttered with the
al 81 49,, &c
and from nearby houses when the fire
was at it's height.
The water pressure prevented the
local company from making much
headway with the flames, but the ar
rival of the Friendship engine helped
eliminate this trouble. Bucket bri-
gades in the Wolf and Hartman build
ings kept down the flames until the
occupants had removed a great part
of their furniture.
Bank and Church I'm Danger
Just opposite the fire is the Pen
brook National Bank Building and
the Evangelical Church, both of
which were threatened by the flames
The homes in Main street within a
radius of one block were all burning
at times and only hard work on the
part of their occupants kept the fire
to one portion of the town.
w. H. Wolf, in estimating his losses,
said that the total would exceed S30,-
900. He recently remodeled the apart
ment building at a cost of more than
$4,000. The Wolf building was the
largest in the town and the best
known in this section of the county.
The Hartman store was the largest
in the town and was stocked with
several thousands of dollars worth of
groceries and merchandise, all of
which is a total losss. The property
of the different lodges, on the third
floor, is lost, as are the effects of the
different tenants throughout the
building.
May Have Been Work of Firebugs
During the past two weeks several
men have been seen loafing about the
stables in the rear of the building, and
it is thought that the fire was started
by these men. The electric lights
throughout the town were turned off
of light made conditions worse for the
residents.
Shortly before o'clock this morn
ing the firemen succeeded in getting
the fire under control after the Wolf
building had been destroyed. One
small building near these buildings
was burned, but this was the only
other loss. Several times spectators
were removed from the scene of the
building when it was discovered that
the walls were in danger of falling.
Several of the members of the Pen
brook fire department were overcome
by the dense smoke and were rem
dered unconscious. They2 were re-
vived later and no serious accident has
been learned of.
E'iremen Make Gallant Fight
The fire was the most disastrous in
the history of the town. Four years
ago a fire in Twenty eighth street
caused several thousand dollars dam
age, but was not nearly so much as
this. The local firemen made gall
liant fight to save the building, but
were handicapped by insufficient
water pressure.
Mr.. Hartman's loss will amount to
several thousand dollars, while FoX's
and Powley's will amount to several
hundred dollars In the bakery,
where more than $4,000 damage was
done, Mr.. Wolf had recently fitted up
the building. Two engines, heating
apparatus and the baking machinery
were destroyed.
More than thirty men employed
throughout the building will be forced
into idleness by the fire. Burgess M.
C. Koohes occupied one of the Wolf
apartments until just few weeks
ago.