Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1921-01-12
Five of the Largest Mercantile
Stores Included in Tuesdays
Fire-Origin Unknown

Lexington witnessed one OF the
most disastrous fires Tuesday
that has been reported in that city
for many years. The fire. which
started from an unknown origin,
was discovered by Mr.. Dolphc
Wiley at 1880 o'clock, when he
noticed smoke issuing from the
vcntilatOrs ON the street from the
basement OF the Wolfe, Vile &
Company's store, of which he Wa,
one of the owners.
Five Of l.cXington's big stores,
including Wolf. Vile & Company.
Kaufman Clothing Company. ].
ID. Purcell Company, Peerless
Company and IIammel'S store,
suffered heavy losses from the
disastrous Main street fire. csti-
mated to reach close to $500
with nothing like enough INSTR
ance to cover that amount.
1t will take several days before
some Of these we'll known firms
will be ready to continue business.
Announcement was made late
Tuesday afternoon that Wolfe.
Vile & Company and the kauf-
man Clothing Company were the
greatest sufferers from the fire,
and that they would establish
temporary offices ON the shird
foor OF the Lexington Leader
building.
Details of the connagration in
the Leader give one some impress
sion of the devastation Of this dis
astrous blaze:
''Firc, the origin of which has
not been determined. breaking
out in the basement OF the Wolfe,
Vile * Company's department.
store at 10 Tuesday morning. had
totally destroyed that building
adjoining ON tho east. which is oC-
Cupicd by the Kaufman Clothing
Company. within an hour and Il
hall III spite of all the efforts Of
the entire Lexington fire depart
mcnt and scores OF volunteer
workers To control the flames.
y "rhc fire started in the base
mcnt under the sidewalk and
swept up the elevator Shalt to the
upper floors within a few min
utCS.
"Whcn the fire department
reached the store smoke was
pouring out of the upper front
windows.
Several streams OF water
were started ON the fire immcdi-
atclv. but the flames continued tn
spread rapidly and portion OF
the wall had collapsed ON the ROOF
OF the Kaufman Company store
within 80 minutes.
'Soon after this two lines of
hose were taken into the kauf-
man store To fight the flames.
which had broken in through thu
hole in the roof caused by the
falling wall.
Several additional hose lines
were taken to the roof OF the
building and played on the kauf-
man building. but it seemed at
II As o'clock that this building
and contents also would be prac-
ticallv total loss.
''I'ire had not reached the in
side of the J. -. Purcell Compa-
ny's store at II 80 o'clock. but the
goods ON the third and fourth
floors were badly damaged by
smoke and water.
"Noluntccrs directed by fircmcn
took two lines OF hose to the ROOF
OF the Purcell building and played
streams of water into the secth-
ing furnace below.
After the Wolfc-Wilc roof had
fallen in, the two streams of Wa
ter being played upon the fire
from the aerial truck were halted
a minute for the tower to be low
cred and the truck moved to the
north side OF Main street to lie
out of reach of the front wall,
which showed signs OF falling.
The front OF the building. how
ever, withstood the terrific heat
and was still standing at noon.
"The fire started at 1910 in
the basement of Wolf. Vile &
Company, 322-324 West Main
street, and spread to the kaufman
Clothing Company, 314-316 West
Main street.
"Dolph Vile, one of the owners
of Wolf, Vile & Company, was
standing in the front door talking
to Richard Van Der Veer when
he noticed smoke curling up thru
the ventilators on the street from
the basement. The cause of the
fire is unknown. 1t spread rapid
" and soon after it was discover
ed the flames started shooting up
the elevator shaft.