Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-20
NEWS Bull DING
WRECKED BY FIRE
EARLY YESTERDAY
Flames of Unknown Origin ken
dered the Building and Plant
Useless.
POSTAL TELEGRAPH
OFFICE BURNED ALSO

Fire of unknown origin, which started
about q o'clock Yesterday morning,
DESTROYED the Morning News Bniding,
Mt 5li Market street, occupied rs the
publication Office of the Morning News
and rs the main local headquarters oi
the Postal Telegraph Go, wh1ie several
nearby structures were damaged by ife,
smoke and water All Of the equipment
IN the News building Is complete wreck
and almost n total loss, much oi whIch
loss however, will be covered by insurance.
Nearby stores and Offices sustained smoke
and water damage.
While tho full extent Of the losses had
not been determined UP to Q clock tins
afternoon. il Will probably aggregate
S25O.OOO of which approximately S1oU,~
600 represents the destruction oi the
News building and equipment
Edgar l. Haynes, general manager Of
the News Publishing Co, was unable,
thus afternoon, To estimate the loss or
glvc any idea how the FIRE started From
what he was told, the blaze appears 10
have started IN the third floor, whcre
tho news rooms were located Rats may
have been responsible. though there were
no matches about. as far as Mr. Haynes
knew The entire building had been
cleaned on Saturday night, he SAID, rs
was the custom, and all refuse had been
taken out. The watchman had made
his rounds at midnight Saturday night
and there was 10 trace OF ire IT that
time, while q policeman who passed the
building 1T 80 Yesterday morning,
sand n, saw na fire then As far as Mr..
HAYNES knows, there was no person N
tho building when the fire broke ont
Tho Postal Telegraph office had been
closed for several hours, aud nohody
was there
Notwithstanding the complete de-
stn,ction If Its plant, the News was
printed today rs usual, through the
courtesy Of the Flenmg journal In
,Idcntallv, al Of the papcts had offered
the News such help rs they could give.
The News Will be printed hy the Journal
until permanent arrangements can be
made Whether the destroyed lHnldmg
VIII bc reconstructed for tho News OF =
new location for the plant will he Sc
lcctcd MIR. HAYNES did not know today
some location will hc found where =
plant can he temporarily installed until
4 now building can he provided. he
company today began negotiations tor
equipment For the present the company
has temporary business office NJ 90
Sh,Dlcy street. and aIl departments
can bc gotten through its regular tclc-
phones. As listed IN the telephone dr.
rcctones
OTHERS SUSTAINED loss.
Losses were also sustained hy the Hotel
NIullin. 5i3 Market street. owned by
Thomas NJ Mullln to the extent, probably
Of 81 600; the t. 4 @ clothing store at
800 Market amount unknown untl 4
survey has been made; building AZ son
Market street, owned by Nnnc liarrl~
of Philadelphia, loss undetermined, Al
fred ID. Peoples. hardware store. 50., loss
estimated 1T several thousand dollars
Artisans Savings Bank sos loss unde-
tormincd Central National Bank, Fifth
and Market loss slight Water is prlmar-
ilv responsible for this damage, while
smoke had a share Benjamin Wolfman,
who conducts men furnishing store
at 503. and NJ ID. Poland, jcwelcr AT
sos ). sav they sustained no damage.
The r. d q. shop appears to be the
ONLY establishment in the fire zone that
is temporarily put out Of business. The
Postal Telegraph Co, established tempo
rarv quarters at SOP Shipley street and
expects to locate permanently at I'll
Shiplev in day or two. All OF the other
establishments, except the Morning News,
are doing business Mt the old locations.
The r. x g. shop cannot reopen until a
survey has been made. Much water
got into the store, and although the cloth
ing was covered with canvas, much of
II was soaked while much more was
smoked. 1t will also be necessary to re-
pair the building before business can be
resumed. as the floors above the store are
sagging, due to water pressure on them,
it is believed. 1t is hoped to reopen IN
few days.
HOTEL GUESTS ESCAPE.
The FIRE was spectacular. Il was dis
covered by Miss Mary Nurnburg, night
chief at the Bell Telephone office at Sixth
and Shipley streets. who saw 1t from one
Of the windows Of the telephone building.
She telephoned the Fame and Washington
fire companies, which quickly responded,
and. upon their arrival an alarm was turn
ed in by William j. Lutz, president of the
Fame Co. which brought all Of the district
companies The fTemcn were not long
in getting to work. and they are given
great praise for their efficiency in con
fining the flames TO the building IN which
they started The water pressure was
excellent and there was no handicap In
anv way Nobody was hurt, but William
r Wallace Of 1921 Lobdell street, mem
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