Evening star., 1947-12-21
Loss in Fire al EIkton
Exceeds Half Million;
-Four Sent 10 Hospital
BY the Associated Press

ELKTON, Md, Dec. 20.-Six build
ings in the center of the main street
business section here were DESTROYED
or damaged today by a fire which
volunteers from a dozen neighbor-
ing towns helped bring under con-
troll about noon, after six-hour
battle
Half dozen fremen were hurt as
the water they played on the fire
turned to ice in the 15-degree cold
and glazed streets, ladders and
equipment.
Owners of two hotels. a. theater
and several stores which were burned
out estimated the loss at more than
$500,000. About 100 persons who
lived in the hotels and the apart
ments over the stores were left
homeless and lost their belongings.
Hotel Guests Routed.
AT least one honeymoon pair were
among those who fled from the two
hotels in their nightclothes. Elkton
was famous haven for clipping
couples along the Eastern Seaboard
until Maryland followed neighboring
States and imposed a 4S-hour wait
ing period.
The fire apparently started about
$50 am. in the basement of a three
story building occupied by the Janis
shoe store. The building was in the
middle of a long business block on
the east side of Main Street. across
from the town hall and the fire.
house.
In an apartment above the shoe
store were Mr.. and Mrs. Miller Jen-
sen. Mrs. Jensen telephoned an
alarm. Mr.. Jensen carried his Wife's
90-year-old mother to safety. She
had just arrived to visit them for
the Christmas holidays. Mr.. Jensen's
mother, rs, made her own way out
OF the building.
Fire Spreads Rapidly.
Patrolman William Binder was on
the scene in few moments and
reused occupants of the two hotels
and apartments in the adjoining
buildings.
The fire quickly burned through
the shoe store and burst into the
buildings on both sides-an auto
mobile accessory firm on the south
and a chain grocery on the north.
Alams brought volunteer COM
panies from half a dozen towns in
the northeast section of Maryland,
including Chesapeake City, North
east, Perryville, Rising Sun and
Havre de Grace. They were Joined
later by departments from Aber-
deem, Md; Newark and Christiana,
Del, and Oxford and Union Pa.
Despite their efforts, the fire
worked northward through the
three-story Ritz Hotel and restau-
rant in the same building, and then
into the New Central Hotel, one of
the largest structures in Elkton.
Wilmington Sends Help.
Ruined along with the second
hotel were the towns only movie
theater, another restaurant. liquor
store and Photographic studio.
The volunteers sent a call for help
to Wilmington, Del, which brought
two bumpers, water tower and a
force OF professional fremen.
The next building north of the
hotel is modern two-story dime
store. It's Prevails and the help
from Wilmington were credited
with bringing the flames under con-
troll The dime store was heavily
damaged, and the $4,000 jewelry
stock in the next store north al
ready had been removed
-Four of the injured fremen we're
hospitaliZed. Walter J. Wassmer
of Newark, Del, received fractured
ribs when he fell through the roof
of the New Central Hotel and part
of the roof fell on him. William
Carlen of Wilmington slipped on
the ice and suffered a lacerated
forehead. Harold Lloyd of Newark
and James Mackey of Chesapeake
City were overcome by smoke.