Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-02-15
FURTHER DETAILS OF
WEDNESDAY NIGHT FIRE

An alarm of fire from box "a rung in
at 12.4O Thursday noon again called the
fire department to the scene of
Wednesday nights fire where part of
the roof of one of the buildings had
telescoped and again broke. into a
blaze. The all out signal had not been
rung from the first fire as a detail of
firemen had been on the spot all the
time in case of need
While in the outside shell of the
Proctor and the Josephs blocks
there is semblance of a build
ing, the inside of the buildings show
mass Of charred timbers and the desc
late, water soaked ruins of several
homes. The fire was hottest at the
point where the two blocks We're sepa-
rated by two-foot space which acted
as fue to incite the flames to greater
fury. An investigation Of tie place
Thursday showed that not all of the
tenants escaped with their Household
goods. Ones Syrian woman, who was
back in her ruined home gathering up
her pitiful belongings which were left
unscathed by the hungry flames. was
bemoaMng the fate of her baby's
clotHes.sMhich had been in a room that
was sYHnfly consumed On the wet
plascer bestrewn floor of dining room
INTO Witch through great gaps in the
ceiling, 1.-The MONDAY sun was brightly
spllAng.A aere scattered forks and
Spoons which were on the table when
the iEsbroke out, the night before.
ifne: place has been feared for years
asa fire trap and has been the scene
or numerous fires. The Josephs block
is filled with narrow. crooked stairways
and passages, the latter leading out on
10 balconies one above the other from
each floor. The construction of the
building is very complex in character.
and would not be allowed under the
present building code Of the city. The
sanitation of the building has always
peen very unsatisfactory and the To-
cality has been the scene of many dis
orderly conflicts.
The outside of the buildings. where
the fire was the worst. was covered
with coating of ice THURSDAY morn
ing and icicles hung from every pro-
s5eetion. The telephone and electric
Eight wires supported a perfectly form
Led fringe of icicles which glinted and
flashed in the morning sun. Great,
deep crevices in the street, where the
water cut into the deep layer of snow
and ice, were filed up with snow by
the street department during Thurs
day fornoon. q
Mr.. Josephs said that he considered
his loss about $4,000, as he had about
$4,000 worth of groceries in the cellar.
which he was unable to remove and
which were ruined with water. The
basement in the Proctor block was
fllled with water level with the street
and the tables in one of the lunch
rooms were floating around Thursday
as they did Wednesday night
The household goods of family by
the name of George Mike, which rest
ed beside the street during the night,
were carried back into the house ad-
Joining the Josephs' block Thursday
and the tenants resumed their family
life.
An incident which carried with it
more or less of a humorous note. was
the fact that about 25 or 80 boxes Of
shoes which We're taken out of the Jo-
sephs store were thrown down in the
street and every youngster in the
neighborhood began to help himself.
When this was noticed, the children
were scattered by someone IN author
ity and as they ran, boots and shoes
were sticking out all over them.
No official estimate Of the loss on
the two buildings has yet been made.
Robert Proctor. who is here from
Portland, however, said that he re-
CARDS his loss as total, as his build
ing is so badly damaged tina, 1t would
have to be torn down. He estimated
his loss at s6500