The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-12-27
FIRE IN MINER BUILDING.
Continued from Page IL

contents of many rooms were either de-
stroyed or soaked with water. princi-
pally on the east side of the building.
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 a part of the theatre and
about two-thirds the way back from FL
hot street. Mr.. and Mrs. Gagnon and Il
young man were in the room at the time.
Some partly cooked meat in a spider in
d;cated that some cooking was in progress,
\ 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.
1t is the opinion of Mrs. Church that
the flames from the wood alcohol lamp got
under the metal sheathing and set fire to
the paper lining. This view is not shared
by Fire Chief Frank {. Streeter, who
thinks the fire started either around the
steam pipes which run from the boiler
room up through the partitions or from
electric wiring. Some wiring was
changed recently by order of state off
GIRLS lOlioWlHS an Inspection. out now
much more there might be in the parti
tiOns that needed changing was not
known.
Whatever may have started the fire.
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
to the street. and the latter sent her
nephew, William Adams. to the fire sta
ton. The motor fire truck quickly re-
Sponded. but it was seen that the fire
was more than the apparatus on the
truck could handle and general alarm
was given from the station house box,
No. 81
Meanwhile Mr. Church Mr.. Miner md
others tried to reach the fire with axes
and pals of water, but without success.
Only few of the roDmeFS We're in their
rooms at the time but such occupants of
the building as were there began carry
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 Alelrose hospital.
where he underwent an operation for ap
pendicitis, was assisted to the police sta
ton Office, while Mrs. q. e. 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
+. Bushnelfs.
Firemen carried lines of hose up the
stairs on the west or Church street side,
while other lines were taken to the top
OF the low building on the east, which is
a part of the rebuilt DR. Waterman
house and is owned by Mr.. Miner. Soon
the flames began bursting through the
metal into the rooms and the tiremen
flooded the east tier of rooms, breaking
windows in many rooms in that section,
while streams were poured into the peril
| tionS from the roof. The smoke was
dense in the rooms, making it impossible
to enter them until the fire had been sub
dued.
The rooms which were most seriously
damaged were those of Levi Strong
Abiiah Gill. Edward Best. Edwin Sher-
! lin, Clifford Babbitt, AIouzures George
and John Hayes
Charles Miner carried $1,000 insurance
on the building. The damage to the
building probably will reach that sum. His
/ insurance was in the III. Il. Taylor 4
Son agency. Mr.. and Mrs. Church sus-
tanned a loss of $1,000. They carried no
| insurance The Princess theatre prop.
| crty was insured in S n Daniels'S agency
Repairs already are in progress.
| Mr.. and Mrs. Church took a five-year
lease of the Princess apartments over
| Il year ago.
! While fighting the fire from the roof
| Harold II. Miner. driver of the fire truck
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
| three floors, with board walk about
| four feet wide connecting the east and
west sides. The walk is about 10 feet
| 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