Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1921-12-30
STUBBORN FIRE In
MINER BUILDING
East Section of Princess Apart
ments Damaged
Partitions and Rooms Flooded damage
Aggregates $1,000 or MOre--Section of
Ceiling in Princess Theatre Falls.

Princess apartments northeast of the juno |
ton of Elliot and Church streets, in the
building owned by Charles Miner and con
tanning the Princess moving picture the
atrc and 60 rooms and II apartments.
The rooms and apartments are conducted
by Mr.. and Mrs &. +. Church under Il
lease from Mr.. Miner. and the theatre is
leased TO the Black circuit and is under
the management of Mrs. f. &. Earring
ton.
The building is four stories tall. and as
| it has Il metal exterior and the rooms
have metal walls, the fire. which started
in a partition, was imprisoned to a large
extent between the exterior and interior
metal surfaces and offered stubborn re-
Sistance to the efforts Of the fire depart
| mpnt
Firemon fought two hours and did ex-
ccllcnt work in saving the building. They
used five streams and had another line
of hose laid ready for use in case of ne
ccssity. The partitions were flooded.
tons Of water being poured in. the most
effective work being done from the roof,
through which several holes were chopped.
Water collected in large quantity
above the steel ceiling of the Princess
theatre and its weight caused the front
part, near the stage, to sag deeply until
/ finally u large section of the ceiling gave
way and fell. releasing the accumulated
water in a drlugc and damaging some of
the seats. The orchestra pit was filled
and the piano soaked with water which
came down from overhead, and the Christ
mas decorations took on anything but II
holiday appearance The film machines
were taken out safely.
\ dozen or more rooms on the second,
third and fourth floors were Quilted and
many other rooms were damaged, and the
contents of many rooms We're either de-
StrOyed or soaked with water, princi-
ually an fho ~ DiIn nf tba milling
just what started the fire is not known,
but the fire was first reported by Mrs.
Edward GagnOn. She and her husband
= have a room on the second floor on the
east side, over part of the theatre and
about two-thirds the way back from Ell
lot street. Mr. and Mrs. Gagnon and a
young man were in the room at the time.
Some partly cooked meat in spider in
; Dictated that some cooking was in progress.
A small cooking outfit in which wood
alcohol is used was found in the room
Mrs. Church had notified Mrs. Gagnon a
few days before that she must not cook in
the room.
It Z, the opinion Of Mrs. C'hnfch that
the flames from the wood alcohol lamp got
under the metal sheathing and set fire tc
the paper lining. This view is not shared
- by Fire Chief Frank G. Streeter, who
, thinks the fire started either around the
i steam pipes which run from the boiler
Q electric wiring. Some wiring wa,
2 changed recently by order of state off
Gals following an inspection, but how
much more there might be in the parti
+ tons that needed changing was not
known.
Whatever may have started the fire
Il Mrs. Gagnon was first to report it. She
@ ran to the kitchen on the same floor and
told Mrs. Merle Fuller, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Church. Mrs. Fuller ran to her
mother, who was in the living room next
t to the street, and the latter sent hel
, nephew William Adams to the fire sta
ton. The motor fire truck quickly re
; spOndCd, but it was seen that the fire
{ was more than the apparatus on lho
truck could handle and general alarm
was given from the station house box
; No. b.
= Meanwhile Mr.. Church. Mr.. Miner and
= others tried to reach the fire with ayes
=, and pals of water, but without success
Only few of the rOOmerS were in theil
rooms at the time but such occupants OF
the building as were there began carry
n ing out articles of furniture. assisted by
, outsiders who began to arrive in large
numbers. Some of the furniture was
, stored in the hoOk-and-ladder building
. across Elliot street
Merle Fuller, Son-in-law of Mr.. and
Mrs. Church. who came home last week
\ Wednesday from the Alerose hospital
T. whore he underwent an operation for ap
pendicitis was assisted to the police sta
tion Office. while Mrs. q. c. Adams, Mrs
/ Church's mother, and Mr. and Mrs. w
. ii. Hart, aged people who live with Mr.
and Mrs. Church, were assisted to Jason
+. Bushnelrs.
Firemen carried lines of hose up the
: stairs ON the west or Church street side
, while other lines were taken to the toI
of the low building ON the east. which is
{ part of the rebuilt DIR. Waterman
+ house and is owned by Mr.. Miner. Soon
the flames began bursting through the
I metal into the rooms and the tiremcI
Y flooded the east tier of rooms. breaking
. windows in many rooms in that section
while streams were poured into the perti
tons from the roof. The smoke was
: dense in the rooms. making it impossible
to enter them until the fire had been sub
ducd.
Q The rooms which were most Seriously
4 damaged were those of Levi Strong
- Abiiah Gill, Edward Best, Edwin Sher
! lin. Clifford Babbtt, Aouzures George
G and John Hayes
+. Charles Miner carried $4,000 insuranc,
ON the building. The damage to the
building probably will reach that sum. His
/ Insurance was in the ii. Il. Taylor
Son agency. Mr.. and Mrs Church sus
tanned a loss of $1,000 They carried ne
insurance. The Princess theatre prop
Grty was insured in $. \. Daniels's agency
= Repairs already are in progress.
. Mr.. and Mrs. Church took a iive-yeal
y lease of the Princess apartments .Vel
year ago.
$ While fighting the fire from the roof
- Harold II. Miner, driver of the fire truck
I narrowly escaped serious injury when
@ he slipped and fell into the ventilating
, court in the center of the building. The
court IS 20 feet square and goes down
l. three floors, with II board walk about
four feet wide connecting the east and
e west sides. The walk is about 10 feet
q below the roof level on the Green street
!, side. Fortunately Mr. Miner fell on that
side of the court and landed on the walk
, instead of going down three floors AL
though somewhat shaken up he was not
injured.
, Alden l.. Bailey, as, one of st. Johns
| bury's veteran merchants and financiers,
ltn1 nj L.. H.. H..