The daily banner., 1919-07-14

Cambridge had two fires last night
the two occurring in an interval ol
only about one hour, and both
strange as it may seem, were of sucf
| a nature that had not the fremeI
got them under control promptly, the
loss of property might have beer
very great.
The first one was a small frame
building in the rear of the shoe re
pairing shop of Henry Walker, Pop,
lar street. This building was on the
property known as the Lehman prop
erty, and in former years, when the
late MI. Lehman and others were
buying wool, was used as a storage
| house. By the time the alarm wa:
turned in, a few minutes to nine
o'clock, the entire building was
mass of flames, and so close was it tc
| the Barnett Building that this build
ing caught on fire, but the flames
! were extinguished so quickly thai
practically no damage was done.
Situated in close proximity to the
fire were the stores of Willis &
North, j. G. Evans, and McCready's, S,
while across Gay street is the large
frame building owned by Mrs. Will
liam A. Clash, in which are Hurley
& Williams, Donald Stewart, and
Gon5rlon6 Inst across
a narrow driveway on Poplar street
is the Spedden Building, a frame
building owned by Mr.. Oliver Sped
den, and occupied by Olin LeCompte,
while all around the vicinity are a
large number of frame residences
and places of business.
AS soon as the members of Rescue
Fire Company got in action, however,
it was seen that the fire did not have
a single chance, for the streams If
water poured on the small fire simp-
ly smothered it although the small
building in which the blaze started
was completely destroyed.
The members of the Fire Company
had hardly gotten away from the
first fire; in fact, quite a number OF
them were still at the Engine House,
when the alarm of the second fire
was turned in. This one proved to
be much more serious than he first,
and was very much harder to fight,
on account of the fact that it was in
a hay barn.
This fire started in some mysteri-
Gus manner in the barn on the prop
erty of Orem & Winterbottorn, at the
foot of Commerce street. Just a few
moments before the fire was discov-
cred, Mr.. Ivy Leonard heard noise
in the rear of his property and went
down as far as his stable to see it
everything was all right; finding
nothing wrong, he came back to his
house, and had only been there about
five minutes when someone called to
him that his barn was on fire. The
fire proved to be the barn on the
property of Orem e Winterbottom.
The fire was spectacular one, for
the building contained from fifteen
to twenty tons of loose hay, which
burned like tinder. By hard work
the firemen kept the fire confined to
the hay barn and the lime plant,
which adjoined it, although at times
the long ranks of cord wood, which
were piled right up against the barn,
were on fire. The barn and its con-
tents are a total loss, but, strange to
say, the lime plant does not appear
to be very seriously damaged and
will likely be in operation in a short
time, as such repairs as are needed
will be rushed.
During the early part o: the fire
the burning shingles from ihe build
ing were borne by the wind right in
to the front yards of the homes on
High street, and quite a number OF
the residents of that section were
Kept Uu IAO 1OOhcuJ " SCO LhoI IASAA
homes were not set on fire by these
flying embers.
Close to the property burned are
a number of oyster houses, including
the old Tubman, Mills 6 Co. proper
ty, the w. G.. Winterbottom G Co.
property, and the two houses Of I. L.
Leonard & Co. IN addition to these,
the wood and coal yard Of Orem &
Winterbottom, and the stables and
garage of DR.. B. w. Goldsborough,
the Stables and sheds Of Messrs. J.
L. and James G. Leonard, while a
number of Uboats were moored close
to the property.
This is the second fire that has
occurred in this section in a week,
the oyster house occupied by Mr.
John J. Phillips having been burned
Sunday, July 9Th.
The losses in last nights fires
were small that of Mr.. Edgar b.
Simmons, who owned the outbuild-
ing burned uptown, being very small
while that of Orem C Winterbottom
probably amounted to from $l,2OO to
$1,000, partially covered by insur'