Evening star., 1941-07-13

conf1agration. 1t really burned itself
out, for in three hours the space occu-
pied by the buildings was thoroughly
cleared.
The new sheds recently erected by
the Market House Co. on the Avenue,
near Ninth street, as well as the sheds
of the fish market, are all that remain
standing of the motley group which
Saturday night were filled with buyers.
The abutments of the walls Of the main
building also stand.
"The flames swept from the Ninth
street end Of the main building TO the
frame structures fronting on that street
and south of the butchers market. Rap
idly devouring the feed store and cook
house of Mr.. Clayton, they approached
the feed house of Alfred Jones. Some
noble hearts were hard at work endeav-
oring to save some little Of the property
of the poor dealers, and five or six en-
tered Mr.. Jones place with that inten-
ton. Among these were Joseph Reed
and (as subsequently ascertained) Solo
mon Hammond and Reuben Alpheus
Boyd. Mr.. Reed states that while he
with others were struggling TO remove
some bales of hay. he heard the cry:
Get off there, the place is tumbling!"
He rushed out, his clothing all singed,
and succeeded in making good his es
cape. second after he heard a crash
and the roof of the structure fell in.
Not seeing the men who were behind
him, he gave the alarm that two men
were inside. Water was brought, the
burning embers were quenched, and soon
Mr. James Kelly and Officers Markwood
and Roderick drew forth from the ruins
the charred and mashed remains OF
two human beings. The bodies were
taken to the Central guardhouse and
placed in cell to wait Identification.
Origin Of Blaze.
'Of course, the stories told as to the
origin Of the fire were many and varied
Some had it that the catastrophe was
the work of incendiaries, that the build
ing had been fired in half dozen places,
while others shook their heads and said
the Market House Co. had caused it to
be done to rid themselves of the expense
of arbitration, cost of building, etc.
Our inquiries have been made on
every hand, and the most ineligible
and reliable story seems to be that of
Special Officer Thomas Young, who
states about as follows: An old man
named Brenehan, who keeps his tenn
porary fruit stand at the corner Of
Seventh street and Pennsylvania avenue,
had the privilege Of using little room
on the north side of the building, about
80 yards from the Ninth street entrance
About half an hour before the fire, Mr..
Young noticed the old man putting his
things away, and shortly after depart.
The fire appeared to originate directly
from this room, and the supposition is
that the old gentleman dropped fire OF
some kind In the inflammable material
which was stored therein, and left the
place without noticing It, The matter
will doubtless be yet more thoroughly
investigated, in order to get at the
truth Of these statements"
Grave Inconvenience.
While the burning Of these buildings
was really godsend, yet the great in
convenience 1t gave the marketing
public could hardly be estimated, for
ever so many families depended entirely
upon the merchants here for their daily
food supplies and the next neart st
market at this time for them to 60 to
was the Northern Liberty Market, then
located at Mount Vernon Square, where
now is the main building Of the Public
Library.
Therefore, for the imperative reason
indicated, it did not take long for the
Washington Market Co. to secure a
charter from Congress the same year
the old building was destroyed. The
stockholders were Matthew G. Emery,
Fitzhugh Coyle, Alexander r. Shepherd,
Moses Kelly, H. D. Cooke, NJ Tinker,
Hiram Libby, Mr.. Chandler, Mr.. Hid
reth, r. B. Whitney and Gen. Ordway.
The new Center Market, the one that
was removed 10 years ago for the
Archives Building, was one Of the finest
and largest market houses In the
country. 1t was commenced In the
spring Of 1871 and completed during
the summer of the following year.
Over the north side of this market
was for many years the arrnnrv cf the