Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-12-31

SkC vinegar suffered a serious fire
loss at an early our Saturday morn
ing, when the building at the rear Of
the New Skowhegan house formerly
used as a hotel stable but later con
Eerted int an up-to-date garage, was
burned to the ground, together with
80 automobiles. The owners IF the
property were futile Bros. proprietors
of the New S~kowhegan house, and the
Skowhesan Garage 90. We're the occn-
pants having a lease of the place until
1920. This firm was made up Of Ralph
Tibbetts. Mrs. Ralph Tibbetts and Lo-
rem NJ. Sanborn. The concern owned
n Of the cars which was burned and
Mr.. Sanborn owned four cars which
were burned and were uninsured. The
loss on the building must have bean
! 0,o0o. 1t was a large structure with
w floors. 1t was covered with metal
ceiling inside and the first floor was Of
concrete. On the second f0or We're the
storage quarters and a public skating
rink. The rink was operated BY the Ga
rage Co. and an expensive organ cost
ing $500 or oVcr had been installed and
was uninsured. The loss to the con-
Germ is q very heavy one and probably
will exceed s15,0 900. One of the owners
was Of the opinion Saturday forenoon
that the loss was about half covered
by insurance, futile Bros. carried an
insurance of $1,000 on the building.
The building of the SkoWhcgan
Farmers Union directly back Of the
Garage W2s at one time on fire, but was
not seriously damaged, some water De-
ing sprinkied into an apartment IN the
second floor. The New SkoWhegan
House which almost adloined the burn
ed building, was saved although # APP
peared to be doomed al ono time. and
on any occasion did the Show
hogan firemen do more valiant service
than in the freezing cola Of the early
morning. With the thermometer reg
istering at least ~ below zero. the
men hattlcd with the flames ana hy
their efforts save the roW of wooden
stores and Offices on Madison avenue.
which We're directly in the path Of the
conf1agration. Tho RrlGG & Narney
building was attached to the garage
properly ana was in great danger. The
expensive rags and goods from the
rear end Of the store were moved to
the front Of the structure ~ mattresses
and bedroom furnishings on the sec
end floor were badly wet down and
smoked They estimate their l0ss t.t
round $1,000 and are insured. The
stoves and tinWare was considerably
wet down but Mr.. Woods stock WAS
not badly injured. The apartment uL,-
stairs occupied by Nathan Thomas H.
50 suffered somewhat from water dam
ages
". ". Fowler occupied d portion Of
the Garage building IN L paint shoe.
"nd MS outfit n material which he
iAd moved only III part, however, from
his Russell street shop, were entire
~ burned. His loss Is estimated at
$3.50. Practically nothing was taken
from ihe Garage building except a
small part of the Office furniture and
q few of the books. The safe Wa ruin
Cd. 0n" Of the automobiles uniy Wa
removed from the flames and that was
badly damaged. 1t was The property Of
Mrs. Minnie Green, Two Overland 'ars
and q Ford which had just been paint
ed and We're the property of Pooler 4
Emery, were among those burned but
We're fully covered BY insurance. War
rem Tuttlc's car, bought last fall, was
al Ati'lN hdliittEtll buk WAS tbktJGu
by insurance. Odclle Berry ana A. f.
sanford. VT local rural free delivery
drivers, lost their cars. Mr.. Berry's be-
ing insured and Mr.. Sandford's unin-
aured. Among Others whose cars were
entirely consumed were: n. II. Fowler,
insured; A%lpbonso Haselton, insured:
Archie Eoberick; Kennebcc Log Driv-
ing Co: Clarence Barley, Jackman:
Henry Crowcll. insured: Il. j. Butler.
insured; Oscar Widder, uninsured;
Fred Mullen; Dr. a. B. Borden, par
tally insured; Sherman Bean, Cara
funk, uninsured: Duplex Truck CO.
two limosines, one left ut the garage
by DR.. Willard Bates, who entered mil
itary service, while here. having driv-
en- up from Texas in his car, ana the
other the property Of Mr.. Lucy Simp-
son of New York, were burned. Mrs.
Simpsons car is thought to be jnsIIr.
ed.
How the flames started is a complete
mystery. The first to discover the con
Migration was Julian Goodrich. Who hal
been attending the High schoor alumni
bail. AS he detected them they appeare
to be in the skating rink portion Of the
building on the upper floor and on the side
toward the Bragg & Narney store. Tho
discovery was made at 20 minutes past
two IN the morning and the fremen wera
kept busy until nearly 5 o'clock at night
as the blaze and smoke lasted long In
the ruins OF the structure. Had the skat-
ing rink been in operation the mystery
would not seem to battling. but the rink
had been closed since Christmas dlv. Tho
garage department had been closed at G
o'clock as usual and there seeIn- to he
absolutely no definite clue as 10 the Or
gin of the conaagration. There are sew
eral wires leading into the organ. which
Is a mechanical che, and 1t il thought tina.
a live wire may possibly have been re-
sponsible for the whole confagration.
Saturday futile Bros. we're undecided as
to rebuilding, while the garage company
was equally uncertain as to its future
plans. The entire loss to all parties con
cerned must exceed, according to estf-
mates, $3.50 NJ
A safety valve on the gasoline tank
which is several feet underground doubt
less prevented an explosion and some 701
or so gallons Of the fluid Is still safe in
its repository.
The trustees Of the Skowhegan public
library have elected officers as follows