The Daily Alaska empire., 1946-01-22
VICTIMS OF FIRE
 HAVE HARD TIME
 GETTING LOCATED


 While telephones buzz with re- quests for apartments, permanent residents rates at hotels and other frantic calls for living quarters from occupants of the 18 apartments burned in the Coliseum fire, work men blow through the charred ruins on Franklin street.
 In one apartment a glearing white refrigerators, by some freak of fate untouched by the fire which lreduced to blackened shambles every other object in the room, sands with it's door open. A quarter pound of butter on a saucer sits in solitary splendor on a metal rack.
 Tn one hallway is a tragic little pile of burned baby pictures, pack ages of letters and half f-destroyed box of stationery, one which first page proclaims cheerily, Hi, chum."
 In many cases, the burned-out occupants of the Coliseum Apart ments have been unable to find liv- ing quarters of any kind of per manent or practical basis. They are living around" with friends, Tn several cases they see no hope for apartments.
 A few of the temporary quarters of fire-victims are as follows:
 Flossie Doolin, Chief Deputy U. s. Marshal, at the Imperial Rooms; Peggy McIver, Deputy Clerk of Court, in the Louis Baggen apart lment on 10th Street; Solon M Dore, City Policeman, with his wife and daughter at the home of MT. and Mrs E. E. Engstrom; Betty Nemuth and Mary Jo Boecker of the CAA, at Hotel Juneau.
 / Most of the Coliseum tenants have returned to their respective jobs. Some are still taking an emergency leave of absence, trying to straight en out affairs, and possibly regain some of their lost property. A purse containing approximately SITS, burn ed black but still holding the money intact, was returned to Miss Nemuth yesterday. A few other persons have received pieces of their now-black- ened silverware or jewellery.
 Heduy Losers
 MT. and Mrs. Vernon T. McDon- nell, whose property loss in the fire amounted to an estimated figure between $450o and s5,o0o are among the more fortunate in obtaining new housing quarters. Temporary occupants of Hotel Juneau, they will soon move, into a furnished apart nent now occupied by Jerry Marsh.
 You're married and I'm single, said the benevolent Marsh as he started the task of moving to ho- tel Both Mcdonnell and Marsh are with the Alaska Communica- tions System.
 Besides a Speed Graphic and a Zeiss TeSsar camera, the McDonnells lost all but a few items of family jewelry, including a string of real pearls Mrs. McDonnell's wrist watch, pins, rings, etc. Mcdonnell had just traded his own watch for a 39 re- volver. At the time of the fire he had not picked up the gun, but had delivered the watch.
 A picture album recording the life-history of the McDonnell's three year old daughter, Robbie, was al- so destroyed. All that was saved of the family's possessions were a number of Mrs. McDonnell's dress es, and several items of bed cloth- ing, including a blanket.
 When Mcdonnell first discovered the fire, no flames were visible Smoke was pouring from an apart ment and filling the hallway
 At that time we felt the fire would be controlled in time We took the bedclothes because we had no idea where we might spend the night
 After escorting his wife and baby outside, he returned with Ralph Becker, called the fire department, and breaking in a window of the unoccupied apartment from which smoke was billowing attempted to extinguish the source of the smoke When it became apparent that the fire had not begun in the apart ment and was of serious proportion, the two men were unable to re- turn to the Mcdonnell apartment which was in direct path of the upsurging flames
 The apartment is now caved in, and the occupants hold no hope of recovering silverware, eyeglasses, Mrs. McDonnells teaching license or any of the other myriad assort- ment of items lost.
 Mrs. Mcdonnell, music teacher at Juneau. High, expects to return to her classes tomorrow.