The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-02
HEAVIEST LOSERS
 ALREADY PLANNING
 FOR NEW BUILDINGS
One Entire Block Wiped Out and Two Other Blocks Par italy Burned-0ver Score
 of Buildings Destroyed

ciaI .)-Jasper, although stag gering under loss conserva- lively estimated at $500,000, but which may total $750,000 | by reason of the fire that early today completely wiped out one block in the business section and partially ruined two oth- CTS. will rise from the ashes and rebuild.
 I That announeement was ma''
 evening by J. H. CrsnfGM ae Gran ford Mercantile company and owner of the big Cranford buildings The Iran- l ford company's loss alone is estimated at $250, 900. But he, with the score of other victims even while the great ruins still shoulders, is laying plans for new and bigger buildings The fire which started in the rear of the Cranford Mercantile store at o'clock this morning was the biggest | in the history of this section of the 1 state and among the most disastrous 1 in the annals of Alabama. The flaraes famed by rather brisk breeze. ad gained awful strength before the gen. ieral alarm had aroused sufficient dc- lpartment and volunteer fire fightsts to retard their progress. With a swish and roar, the blazes swept north and quickly enveloped the Cranford Ha-d- fware store, inmediat tely adjoining The mercantile company.
 ! Shenrerx restaurant and 'he
 bnildinE occupied by tbe Southern i Bell Telephone company and the Western Union Telegraph company
 were quickly devOured. The Pe0-
 pIe's Grocery, BnlienGcr Grocery
 md J. NJ. Hays Dry Goods company
 auoved in quick succession, with
 ass First National Bank building,
 &a the corner of Third and Nine z Ii, one block from the point ! Ny1Ht the holocaust began, as the
 3@As as the block front fronting
 aAir1 ayenue.
 Rs5atH OTHER BLOCKS
 sa nc meantime the flames hao jumped the street and began eating into two other blocks. Storas, offices, residences-all crumbled before the whitening progress of the fire Fire | fighters displayed courage, took long chances in an effort to control the situ ation. Dynamite was freely used, and buildings torn to pieces by repeated blasts but these efforts apparently @cteu as pul auucu IueI. Y ldme5 leapSu from building to building and stopped only when the outer rim of the business area was reached and the gaps between buildings became sufficiently wide to tgive the fire lighters q chance.
 In detail, the First National Bank building and fixtures are total loss. The vault stood the test of fire, ard the money and valuable papers of the linstitution were saved.
 | 1Ia-t .lrrr saved but scant volume of their stock. The building Is In complete ruins. This companys loss is partially covered by insurance.
 The ]. A. Ballenger company saved only part of ts stock and carried TO insurance. The Peoples Grocery com pany. building and stock. is total loss and carried uo insurance l The Western Union and the Southern lEen Telephone company tn the Cran- ford building, suffered complete JOSS. land the furnfture and fixtures in the offices of Dfs. " II. Wnliams, w. w. Woods, R. " Woods, Attorney " c. Davis. J M. Pennington and RI. Blaa- ton, together with the office fixtures land furniture of the Guy and Sartain, insurance: the Dixie Mining corns,,tny and the coal offices of Mrs IT. B lays l--these. like the stores on the grouad lfloor. melted into a complet te loss. | The heaviest losers in the Cranford lblock. however. were the P w. -ran- fcrd Mercantile company and Cranfofd Hardware company. The loss is 1sti- jrnated at s25o,000, 50 per cent of warch 1 is covered by insurance.
 REDUCED TO JUNK ! To these totals. ehe Sherrer S Johnson cafe and the Odd Fellows hall are added as complete losses. as was the c. v. ] Rainey Auto company At the rear of 1 the Cranford Hardware company build- ' ing huge warehouse, in which four carloads Of farm machinery and lS sec 1 ord-kand automobiles belonging to l Rainey company, was reduced to ashes and it's contents to warped and irredeem- able junk
 | Across the street the American Com pounding company, the Southern Express | company, the A. B. Legg Undertaking company. and the Southern hotel were destroyed And further down in the | third affected block half-score of | homes were burned. The hotel was a large l5-room, two-story frame building. Mrs c. F. Williams was proprietor.
 The loss may be conservatively es- | tirnated at s500,0oQ." said J. II. Cranford ! tonight after a survey of the ruins had | been made. Our loss alone will ac- cum uiate total of s2s0.0O0. This will | oe reduced by about one-half by reason | of insurance It may be added that tho | gin reconst truction work at once and busi- ness will be resumed in the same old ] way"
 Among the outstanding features of the fire was the destruction of Corner Lesss undertaking rooms. in which two bodies were awaiting burial. The bodies were | not rescued and cremation was the re- suit.
 ONLY ONE ACCIDENT Peculiarly, there was but one accident during the eight hours of intensive fire 1 lighting in which hundreds participated. 1 This lone casualty was Robert Christian, who was slightly injured by B dynamite explosion. It is believed the injury list was kept down by the work of the so- l diers stationed here who responded to the call for help They formed cordon and kept all but the active fighters frora entering the danger zone. Tents have been obtained from the Continued on Pa~e Twel