Bisbee daily review., 1915-11-20
FIRE DESTROYS SOUTH SIDE OF LOWEL'S MAIN STREET
 IN RECORD TIME; S6O,00(
Less Than Two Hours Required to DeyaState Practically En- tire Side of Street; p. D. Store Saved From Flames.
FIRE STARTS IN THE
 LOWELL THEATRE BUILDING
Terrific Heat Causes Consider able Damage to North Side of Street, and Threatens, for Time. Destruction of Town.


 Fire originating in the Lowell thea tre. on the south side of the Main street of the town of Lowell. yester- day morning, swept away in the neigh borhood of SsO.OOO worth of property in about two hours
 About g o'clock yesterday morning the proprietor of the candy store To- cated in the same building as the Low ell Theatre, heard a report from the rear He described 1t as resembling a munled explosion When the front doors of the theatre were broken down and entered the entire first floor of the house was on fire
 Hose was secured at the earliest possible moment but the fire had gain ed too much headway and in a very short time had spread to an of the adjoining buildings But for the ju- dicious use Of dynamite it is probable 3 that the east end of the street would | have been swept Only the favorable direction of the wind saved the north 1 side of the street from destruction as it was blowing in a southwesterly di Irection
 Yesterdays fire is tine most disas- | uous since the fire of April, 1914, when large part of Johnson Addition 1 was swept away. The loss, in the present blaze, though not quite SO 1 large in the amount ol money places Ia number of businesses at a distinct disadvantage On the other hand but . few families were rendered homeless ! yesterday whereas in the last fire | hundreds Of people lived in tents for 1 several months or until new dwellings could be erected.
 The origin of the fire is a mystery. 1 According To the confectionery store proprietor the fire originated. judging ] from the sound of the explosion, in 1 the toilet W. D Evans, of the Pro gressiye amusement Co.,. which owned . the Lowell Theatre, stated last even ing that the fire must have come from defective wiriug The heating plant for the theatre was located in the oth-
 CT side Of the building and is the on- ly other possible source.
 The damage was not restricted to those buildings swept away The oth-
 CT side of the street resembles a chair
 which has been exposed to the close
 heat of an open fireplace for some
 time Within the range of the heat,
 which extends from the Bonanza build
 ing to the Brophy stables, there is not
 a window intact Besides the proper :. ty owners on the north side of the
 street the Mountain States Tele-
 phone and Telegraph Company and the Bisbee Improvement Company are
 heavy losers.
 Last night the electric light and
 phone connections had not been made |. but both companies were working at
 terrific speed to give the people of
 Lowell the best service possible at the
 earliest moment
 The loss Co those on the other side of the street is hard to estimate. Plate glass windows, stocks in win dows scared paint and curtains. in
 the aggregate amount 10 a considera- ble sum-
 When it was found that the fire was likely 10 gut the whole side of the street and might even pass over the . pavement 10 the north side of the thor ,oughfare, it was deemed eXpedient Co . dynamite some of the buildings in the p path of the blaze. Accordingly. the { structure occupied by Judge George | R. Smith was subjected 10 the eXplo b sive and when the debris was torn - away the fire was successfully stopp ' ed
 - Fire walls and a substantial division 3 wall of the Lowell branch of the
 Phelps Dodge Mercantile Company - saved that institution from large e loss. As it was the only loss was ? from several windows in the rear oi S tbe building which is small.
 The fire yesterday brought to the
 minds of Lowell residents the need o
 fire department After the fire o E. April 1914 the owell Fire Department s vas organized The fire district voted n on bonds to purchase equipment bu Il in some manner the action was de '- clared illegal and the equipment hai never been paid for and has ueaaine.
 Continued on page S)