The Mankato free press., 1917-01-26
LAUNDRY OF HENRY
MADISON IS CUTTED
AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
OFFICE Is SC0RCHED

'''~S 49, - - ~ SS'~'~
In Fancy Articles, Is Hit Badly BY the
Flames; Smoke Was Dense and Blaze
Was Hard Fought BY Department;
North lMankato Rendered Aid
From Mondays Eany.
! One of the most sensational and
! spectacular fires that have occurred in
Mankato for years took place today
i at the northwest corner oil fTont an.
! Jackson streets. The fire destroyed
practically the whole interior of the
quarters of the Madison Laundry anG
| Cleaning and Dyeing establishment;
also ruined the interior of the build
ing where the American Express
company's office. is located, and the
/ quarters of Porter & Pay, dealers in
! fancy goods. 1t was roughly estimated
that the loss on the buildings, fix
lures and goods would come to as
much as 100000 Nothing like an
accurate estimate could be made,
, however, while the fire was still in
progress.
| There was current story, which
! the great crowd seemed to accept
! that the fire was caused by an ex-
| plosion of gasoline. Others said the
/ gasoline took fire, while a blanket
| was being cleaned. Henry Madison,
| the principal loser, said these con-
! lectures were wrong. After the fire
/ had been in progress for two hours,
/ the fireproof building; where the gaso-
/ line was kept, was still intact. Mr.
Madison. declared that it was not
gasoline fire at all.
| Just how the fire started is uncer-
ltain. Mr.. Madison happened to come
into the office between 1870 and
I twelve o'clock and it was then that
one of the girls noticed the smell of
smoke She spoke to Mr. Madison
/ about the fire and he went to in
veStigate.
! Started in Dry Cleaning Room.
,, Mr.. Madison is of the opinion that
| the fire had been smouldering for ten
to fifteen minutes or perhaps even
longer than that in the floors of the
boiler room and the dry cleaning
room before anything wrong was dis
tcovered. Where and how it originated
is matter of conjecture. However.
Mr. Madison has an idea that the
steam pipes nay hare bcch too, close
to the wood work.
At all events, he did not think at
first that it was going to amount to
much. He seized a fire extinguisher
and at the same time told one of the
girls to call up the fire department.
He began playing the extinguisher
on the spot where the fire was be-
ginning to break, out through the
floor, but soon discovered that the
fire had obtained quite headway be-
meath the floor before it was dis
covered at all.
Fire Spread Rapidly.
The fire spread with such rapidity
that the story of gasoline soon began
to gain circulation through the fast
gathering crowd. Smoke began TO
pour out of the rear part of the build
ing, where it fronts on Jackson street
and before long the flames began to
burst out.
The fire department quickly ar
rived and before long several strands
of hose we're playing on the. building
But the fire gained with great rapid
ity. 1t quickly shot through the build
ing to the front part, and after a
short time, the flames were belching
out in all directions from that one
story structure.
In the meantime, an effort was
made to effect rescue of the belong
ings Athat could be carried away
70 a 10 o,fN Of hi a
goods were saved from the store of
Porter4& PAY, but the main -"-'' of the
stock and the fixtures were doomed.
The firemen soon saw that they
would be hard put to it to save ad-
joining buildings. Volunteers IS well
as regulars were there and hard at
work North Mankato had her fire
department also on the scene, afford
ing great aid. The men from the 9th
er side of the river proved to be of
valuable assistance.
Just north of the quarters occupied
by Porter & Pay, is the building wherr
the Ocean Wave saloon is located
The building is owned by the Bier
bauer> Brewing company. Henry
Tschonl is proprietor of the saloon.
Was in voliey Ball Game.
A peculiar feature of the fire was
that Henry Madison, apparently the
principal loser, had but a short time
before been engaged in game of
volley ball at the Y. M. G. A. Al
game was played between teams
composed of business men and min
listers. On the one side was team
composed or Henry Madison, two of
the Sandon brothers, Peter Fergu-
son and George Woodcock. On the
other side were Rev. T. r, Paden,
Rev. o. J.. Arthur, Rev. G. A. Ca,
hoon, Rev. Sivert, and Rev. HenryIl
Moss. The business men were win
ners by score of four to one. It
was an exciting and interesting
game.
The smoke from the burning
building was very dense and at
times filled Jackson street, making it
impossible for people in that thor
Poughfare to see across-the street.
Upstairs there are quite number
of roomers. These roomers became
very much excited, when they saw
the smoke and flames leaping upward
right past their windows. They be- |
gan to pack up their belongings with
all possible dispatch and to carry