Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-12-17
AVENUE House !, ;
~ IA. /.
$1,000 Loss

ST. Johnsbury just escaped a big
fire early Friday morning when the
kitchen of the New Avenue Hotel
was. entirely destroyed and the rest
Of the hotel saved by the splendid
work of our fircmen. To save the
hotel it was necessary to use tons Of
water and much of this soon found
its way from the dining room and
hall to the big stores on Eastern
Avenue. The total loss will APP
proximatc $1,000. Of this at least
$4,000 represents the loss on the
hotel property, while the rest of the
loss falls upon Landlord Palmer for
his furnishings, and the stores of
Ldrchin g. Lurchin, Moore & john
son and Nolin Brothers. T..
The fire was discovered few
minutes after o'clock by the night
clerk who Immediately called up thc
fire station and also woke up, Mr.
Palmer. The fire caught from the
chimney in the kitchen and when the
firemen arrived at 5.15 they immedi-
ately saw the imminent danger Of II
big fire and one of the firemcn lnng
the general alarm which soon
brought out the entire department.
In the meantime Mr.. Palmer had
dressed, and fearing that some of the
guests might be frightened if they
woke up and smellcd smoke he had
the bell boy get, everybody up in tho
house. This included the 40 guests
that were in the house through the
night and tho employees to the num-.
bcr of 20. 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 fircmen held thc
flames right in this room and by>.so
doing saved the rest Of the proRer-
ty. Adjoining the room that was
burned was the new addition, to the
Kitchen which was not touched by
the flames and which was nearly
completed as far US the constrnc-
tioh was concerned The kitchea. is
a total wreck and the contents. of the
room all destroyed, including the
china and table ware. Even the
linen tablccloths in the dining room
are all stained by the smoke and the
stains will. not wash out, .,,.-.4 - e..
Landlord Palmer announces =, that
all customers Of, the hotel will. be
taken, care of.as there was no damage
to tho rooms. r.the heating plant A
partition will be erected as soon, Jas
possible between the burned kitchen
and the dining room and the carpcn-
tiers will get at the repairs as soon
as possible. The hot water heater
which supplies the hot water to the
hotel was located in the basement
under the kitchen. Here the water
was two feet deep. after Friday
morning, but not high enough to put
out the furnace fire. -
The fire was stopped at the en-
trance to the big dining room, but
only by the heroic efforts of the fire
men. Landlord Palmer speaks in the
highest praise Of the way the firenIcn
saved the hotel by stopping the fierce
flames in the room where they start
cd - -
The dining room and the, hall .on
the same floor was soon flooded with
water and this soon found its way
to the ground floor. The drug store
Of C. A. Searlcs got a little water
in the back Of the story, but the
damage in this store is slight. VIE.
Eurchin was out Of town when: the
fire occurred and it is not possible. to
estimate the loss in this store, Tho
display of holiday goods was ncver
better and glass covered cases 'all
oyer the room were filled with choice
T.. Continued on page four)
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