Arizona republican., 1914-11-17
'BUSY BUSINESS CORNER WIPED
 OUT BY EARLY MORNING BLAZE
Defective Flue Believed to Have Caused Fire Which Completely Put Out of Business Several Leading Establishments of City

Fire of unknown origin, but believed to have been caused from a defective flue, visited the exact business center of Phoenix yesterday forenoon and be- fore it had been placed under control, eight establishments, at least three of them the leading concerns of their class in the southwest, had been com plctely wiped out, entailing an aggre- gate loss of not far under $2O0,00O. The northeast corner of Washington street and Central avenue, as a result of the fire, today presents a scene of ruin.
 These concerns were the victims of the fire:
 Harry j. Jones, owner of the group of buildings, $25,000, insurance S15,000.
 Phoenix Drug company, (Busy Drug Store) $S5,OOO, insurance $24.OOO
 The Class Chop House, $1500O, insur- ance SS,500.
 Frank Connolly CThe Mission), $23,- GOO. insurance $s,OOO.
 F. B. Baptist company, $15,O0O, insur- ance $9.100.
 Barnett Clothing company, stock, front and fixtures. $27,000, insurance S2O,5OO.
 Paul's Barber shop, 5000, insurance $3,OOO.
 E. Munson, optician, front and fix lures, S5.O0O, no insurance.
 J. Georges, shoe shining stand, $1500. No insurance.
 It was about 6:45 o'clock when flames were seen emerging from the intricate passages in the rear of the buildings, probably from the portion of the building occupied by the Barnett Clothing company. Seemingly these flames were more in evidence about a chimney that served several tenants An alarm was sounded from Box 412, just across the street and before the second round was in. the first auto fire truck was laying hose. Inside of two minutes from the time the bell first tapped there were several streams of water playing upon the doomed buildings.
 With the arrival of the firemen and the laying of hose, it was found that the interior of the Barnett store room was a mass of flames and that the fire was already eating it's way along the inter- communicating attics difficult of ac- cess to the firemcn, but furnishing an easy means for the spreading of the de- stroying flames.
 In less than half an hour after the fire was discovered, it could be seen that the entire structure, partitioned off into the several lesser establish ments and with no fire wall to restrain the spread of the fire, was doomed. Some of the tenants were enabled to remove some of their most valuable papers, but for the most part it was utterly impossible to enter any portion of the building with the idea of saving anything.
 Because of the fragile nature of the construction of the building, it was ab- solutely impossible for the firemen to mount to the roof and carry lines of hose to points where fighting would have been at an advantage. The men at the hose were obliged to work from the street and not until the flames be- gan bursting into the open was it pos sble to play the streams directly upon them. The outer walls began falling and this gave the firemen the oppor- tunity to work at closer range.
 Four hours after the alarm was sent in, the fire had eaten it's way through practically every portion of the build ing and had been drowned out by the eight streams of water poured upon the Continued on Page Two)