The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-12-12
Loss Result
from Three Big Fires
Confined from page y

Il son and Nolln brothers.
The fire was discovered d few
minutes after 5 O'Clock by the night
clerk who Immediately called up the
fire station and also woke UP MI
Palmer. The fire caught from the
chimney in the kitchen and when the
/. i1emen arrived at SIS they immedi-
rately saw the imminent danger Of a
big fire and one of the fremen rang
the general alarm which Soc
brought out the entire department
In the meantime MI. Palmer had
dressed, and fearing that some of the
Isguests might be frightened if they
woke up and smelled smoke he had
the bell boy get everybody up in the
house. This included the 40 guests
that were in the house through the
Knight and the employees to the num-
Der Of 90 That Mr.. Palmer showed
excellent judgment in arousing his
guests was soon evident as the hotel
corridors and rooms were quickly
filled with the smoke from the fire
that was raging in the kitchen.
The kitchen opens directly out of
the dining room on the second floor
of the hotel and the fremen held the
flames right in this room and by so
doing saved the rest of the proper
H ty Adjoining the room that was
I burned was the new addition to the
u kitchen which was not touched by
I the flames and which was nearly
completed as far as the construc-
ton was concerned. The kitchen is
(. a total wreck and the contents of the
room all destroyed, including the
/ china and table ware. Even the
-flinen tablecloths in the dining room
are all stained by the smoke and the
stains will not wash out.
j Landlord Palmer announces that
all customers of the hotel will be
taken care of as there was no damage
to the rooms or the heating plant A
/ partition will be erected as soon as
possible between the burned kitchen
and the dining room and the carpen-
( tiers will get t.. the repairs as soon
Las possible. The hot water heater
(which supplies the hot water to the
hotel was located in the basement
under the kitchen. Here the water
l4was two feet deep after Friday
morning, but not high enough to put
out the furnace fire. 49,,
The fire was stopped at the en-
i7traace to the big dining room, but
t@only by the heroic efforts of the fire.
Imen. Landlord Palmer speaks in the
t'highest praise of the way the fremen
saved the hotel by stopping the fierce
thames in the room where they start
| ed
The dining room and the hall on
the same floor was soon flooded with
water and this soon found its way
ITO the ground floor. The drug store
of c. A. Searles got little water
in the back of the store, but the
damage in this store is slight. V. +.
Lurchin, was out of town when the
fire occurred and it is not possible to
estimate the loss in this store. The
display of holiday goods was never
better and glass covered cases all
over the room were filled with choice
sgifts, Mr.. Lurchin is expected home
Friday afternoon and later the loss
will be adjusted. . Il
/ Moore G. Johnson estimate their
rloss by water at $500. The owners
yof this store had good number of
excellent helpers who quickly moved
their stock, though not before the
new cases and much of the store fur
sniture were drenched with the water
Z Nolin Brothers could not be reach
ed when the fire started and when
4 they arrived on the scene there was
an inch of water IN their store. In
the center of the room was large
table filled with Christmas slippers.
etc, and this table received a severe
wetting down. Water also penetrat-
ed into the basement of the store
where they had big lot of goods.
1t is believed that this firms loss
will exceed any of the other store
Keepers and the adiusters are on
their way here to fix the loss.
Walter d. Brockway, of Mont
peller, adjuster for the Vermont Mu-
tual Fire Insurance Company, which
rs interested in the loss, was in St. |
Johnsbury when the fire happened
and has been adjusting the losses
on the property Friday morning.
George c. Caldbeck, who manages
the property for the corporation that
owns the hotel, is at his lumber
camp in Lowelltown, Me-, and can
not get back to St. Johnsbury before
the first of the week.
The New Avenue House stands on
the site of the old Passumpsic
house which was built in 1850 at
cost Of $4,000. After many vicissi-
tudes the building passed into the
hands of 0. G. Hale in 1869 who en-
larged the hotel to four story
structure. In 1875 B. G. Howe
bought the property and held it for
"a years. The wooden building was
burned in 1896 at a loss of 100000
ana /. G. Spencer, the jeweler, lost
MS life at this fire. The hotel was
Immediately rebuilt by MI. Howe as
the substantial structure of today
III 1891 Matthew Caldbeck bought
'he property for $4,000 and the
property is now o,,poJ H. IL mr.