Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1888 — HEAVY LOSS BY FIRE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HEAVY LOSS BY FIRE.

An Explosion in a Basement Results in the Destruction of a Chicago Piano Store. [Chicago special dispatch.] The large piano manufactory of Julius Bauer, at 156 and 158 Wabash avenue, Chicago, was destroyed by fire, causing a loss of over SIOO,OOO. The porter. employed at the piano store went into the basement in the morning to get some varnish. He had a lighted lantern in his hand, according to the accounts of the men who know most about his death, and somehow an explosion occurred. Whether the basement was full of gas or whether the varnish i aught fire no one knows, but in a few minutes the great building was on fire. Up the elev tor shaft the flames roared, and from the top of the house to the bottom the fire had everything its own way. The porter, .John Schwenk, has not since been seen. ‘ He is believed to be lying dead under a pile of broken pianos in the flooded basement, crushed and mangled by the avalanche of debris that came down through the broken floors ; but he was probably killed by the explosion. His

cap and part of his coat were found when the debris was cool enough to permit a search, but nothing has been seen of* his body. It was a very quick fire, the building being, filled with highly inflammable material. - A great many pe .pie were at work in the building, which, betides the piano and organ warehouse, was occupied by the Chicago Carpet Company. Thiß company also occupied the next building south. On the top floors about one hundred and fifty young women were at work, and these were got out with a good deal of excitement but no casualties. The chapter of aocidents is a long one. Frank Loor was in front of the store, Bitting on a box. He was knocke 1 down and badly singed. Louis Wasche was also slightly scorched. Firemen Scott and Caesar were partially smotbMiecl. Marshal Murphy was also temporarily overcome, and another fireman was badly wounded in the face. It was thought for a time that the Chicago Carpet Company’s store would go, too, but by hard and well-directed work it was saved. For more than an hour the fire had things entirely its own way, but finallv it was brought under control, and, little by little, flooded out and stopped. A great deal of damage was done. The heaviest sufferer in, of course, Mrs. Julius Bauer, who now conducts the business which her husband began in Chicago nearly forty years ago. Nothing more than an approximation of her loss is possible at present, but a very conservative estimate .puts the figure at $75,003. If the. papers in the fireproof safes ore intact it is said it will not go much over this figure, but if the a< counts and notes are lost the sum will be increased by a good many thousand dollars. Outside the stock which the Chicago Carpet Company had in the horned building its loss is due rather to water than to the fire, and it Will not be as heavy as was at first supposed. The other neighbors also suffered, but the total damage done, both by fire and water, to buildings and stock will hot run over $125,000, if it reaches, that figure. The building was insured for $75,000, which Is distributed among a large number of home and foreign companies. The insuranceon the stook is not definitely known. The walls of the Bauer store are standing intact. Nothing is g6ne but the floors, the windows, and the iron pavement in front. The building will speedily be put back into its formar condition.

THE BURNING BUILDING.