Putnam patriot., 1924-01-04

Henry E. Bannister, druggist. J. C. z. Chabot. clothier.
 Emil Roemer. graphophoncs and music store
 Dr. Albert Ianoie, optician.
 In addition to these merchants the boarding house conducted by Mrs. Theriault in the Eagle Block was de stroyed.
 Starts In Eearly Morning
 The blaze started in the boiler room of the Eagle block and a telephone Ieall was sent in first, but this was 1 quickly followed by another alarm 1 Within a short time fourteen streams | of water were being played on the | blaze as it was realized from the first that the fire was te be enc of the big gest in years
 The wooden block. long regarded as bad hazard. was quickly roaring I furnace. and all hope was abandoned i of saving this property. The firemen then started a desperate battle to save l the Giles block. and several streams of water were played on this building | In spite of all efforts. the building caught afire from the rear, and gained headway in spite of the tons of water that were poured into the building,
 Occupants of tenements in the Dresser block, adjoining the Giles property, moved out all furniture and household goods early in the morning. Volunteers assisted Mrs. Katie Casey, who occupied .he apartment directly over the Dileseo fruit store, in remov- ing the household goods.
 The firemen, coated with ice. fought Itas. s4tt.4tftfr | hn sssktglugf 4ftfy of the year, and many of the members of the department suffered severely from the cold.
 During the blaze, n group or hose men. including Michael Canty, Fran eis Love and George Badreau, were blown down the stairway of the Eagle block by the force of hot air explo- sion. None were seriously injured, al though all were bruised.
 Fire Chief Otto Gatzke, who was on hand early. directed the fight, and with fourteen lines of hose playing on the blaze. the pressure was considerably reduced. The pump was started at the Maanexit river, to assist in creating enough pressure to force streams to the top of the buildings.
 According tn estimates placed on the loss. 1t is believed that t will amount to about S200.0o Tn some instances no insurance was carried, as in the ease of Dr. Albert Lanoie, who loses his business equipment and en- tire household goods, with no iHsur- ance In no instances Is the amount near to the actual loss sustained.
 To Build Bank
 A modern bank is already being planned to stand on the site of the Canister drug store, and Luman II. Tiffany, Webster's millionaire banker. is supervising work of removing the smoking ruins in order Co clear the space for a new, modern, up-to-date building. Mir. Tiffany said Wednes- day night if the land wasNot purchas- ed by some one who wanted it more than he did, building of which Web ster could be proud. would be erected there.
 Mr. Tiffany is president of the Web ster National Bank which was plan ming an addition on property recently acquired farther up Main street.
 Plans Second Building
 Nicholas C. Giles, who owns the other big block which was a total loss in the fire, has intimated to friends that he will rebuild for modern mar ket which will further add to the beauty of the street. in n large up-to- date block of stone or hard constrnc- tion above which will be far superior to the old wooden frame building.
 The entire town of Webster is ring ing with praise for Webster's fire fighters who fought the S225. 900 blaze for hours with their cold rubber gar ments completely covered with ice and who prevented what spectators believ- cd would be a eonhagration in which the entire central business section of Main street would go down.
 A general alarm was blown at 2 o'clock. according to the official report although engineers of the department claim that from their investigation the fire had been smudging since four o. clock.
 Occupants of the two blocks claim that prohibitive insurance rates here caused them to neglect insuring their property for anything like what 1t was worth and in nearly every in- stance the occupants of the blocks which are now smoldering ruins were far from adequately insured for the tig loss that they stood today.
 The fire was in the chain of wood ea [ iidings on Main street which have long been considered a fire trap and how the Gale block which is also of wood was saved can only be credit ed to an expert call department which worked with superhuman strength Co save the buildings in the vicinity of the confiagration and the entire business section of the town.
 Bremen took to the roofs of the wooden structures when they found flames seeping through the partitions of the two doomed blocks and with f4 lines of hose, held back the flames which looked at times as though they would eat up the entire street. The fire departments of Southbridge and Thoruugon offered to come here