Arizona republican., 1917-06-19
! |)E::()R|A |SS SSN|E|P |PT BY
 T AN|E $

Fire this morning wiped out the
 bigger part of the business district
 m Peoria, doing damage estimated
 at between $40,oc0 and S50,ooO.
 Starting in Earl E. Safford's pool
 hall, the most easterly of the row
 of four buildings burned, Stafford
 himself, narrowly escaped with his
 life and was slightly burned in es-
 caping from the building in which
 he was sleeping. Another man
 whose name could not be learned,
 was with Stafford and he escaped
 with slight hurt.
 The wind was small, but what
 there was blew from the right di-
 recton to spread the flames. The
 first building to catch from the pool
 hall was the building to the south
 west, wo-story structure occu-
 pied by MT. Robinson as a general
 merchandising store while the sec
 ond floor was a dance hall. From
 aus lfiC itIG SpFGdQ m a
 matter of minutes to the new brick
 ibuildlng to the southwest The
 first store in the new building was
 F. A. Akin's double store, occu-
 pied with general hardware
 stock. The Peoria postoffice was
 m this store and the biggest loss
 in the fire was the Akin stock
 There was but one store left in the TOW and that was not even finished by the builder. That was the store into which J. A. Hammond had not yet moved his stock of general merchan- disc It was completely consumed but there the Phoenix fire department which had rushed Pump No. 1 to Peoria succeeded in checking the flames though it took a hard fight to save the of F. w. Akin in the rear of the row of buildings. The Akin store house in the rear contained the largest stock of any of the stores and it wa. here that the greatest loss was ex- perienced.
 The new building is the<property o1 Emil Erhart and it is not known how much insurance there was upon it. J A. Robinson had insurance amounting 10 S1,700 upon his general stock and the piano in the dance hall but this ---'l1 not begin to cover his loss. MT Akin had insurance also, how much is not known but it will not cover the loss Earl D. Stafford had five pool tables 1T his pool hall and all are a total los: with little, if any, insurance.
 The nf ie The pool hall was literally on fire al over when the flames were first noticed and when MT. Robinson reached his store it was d mass of flames on the ground floor and in the dance hall sc that practically nothing could be saved
 In fact the spread of the fire was SC rapid that, starting immediately after midnight, by 1 o'clock this morning nothing stood but the brick walls of the Erhart building in which smouldered the stock of the Akin establishment
 The fire might have spread ever further had it not been that a vacant lot separated the most southwesterly building burned from the next building Deatsch Brothers store. The stock was removed from the Deatsch store but the building was undamaged.
 Clyde Wilson made a record drive or Pump No. l. Fire Chief A. F. Wright went with the pump and the depart ment did everything possible consider Ing there was no water supply to speak Of. The row of burning buildings front ed the little plaza in which stands the big water tank with it's one-inch SUD. ply pipe. The gas engine which keeps the tank full was put to top speed but II dId not take the Phoenix pump long 10 empty the tank and then there would be no water until the supply pumr caught up. However, the Phoenix ap- paratus put the fire out in the end ano undoubtedly saved several adio1nine buildings. Had there been any wind tC amount to anything t1e embers would have blown all over the neighborhood and probably there would not have been a structure left standing in the town
 It Is impossible to accurately tell the loss. In the harness room in the Aiken establishment alone there was over $l 900 worth of harness. For this reason s90'0O0 may be a conservative estimate The amount of the loss will also depend upon whether the standing brick walls VIII be left in a condition for rebuild ihS' IT they have to be torn down the JOSS will be several thousand dollars larger.
 ..4-@