Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1904 — CONFLAGRATION IN MINNEAPOLIS [ARTICLE]

CONFLAGRATION IN MINNEAPOLIS

Property Valued at Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars Destroyed. THREE FIRE FIGHTERS ARE DEAD One of Them Slides Down an Elevator Rope into a Caul* dron of Flames. Entire Retail Business District Was Threatened for a Time—List of the Losses and the InInsurance Thereon. v Minneapolis, Minn., Dec. 15. —In one of the fiercest fires in the history of Minneapolis three firemen lost their lives and’ property valued at $700,000 was destroyed. The entire retail business district was for a time threatened with a similar fate and Its escape was due as much to the absence of much wind as to indefatigable efforts of the fire department. Jacob Miller, a mem* ber of insurance patrol, staggering under a heavy load of tarpaulins on the fifth floor of the O. H. Peck Photo graph Supply company, stumbled into the elevator shaft and fell to the basement Herculean efforts were made to rescue him, but In the rising flood of water and the roaring furnace of flames his body could not be located by his comrades. The firemen withheld their streams of water while the search was made, and In these few minutes the flames gained great headway. Critical Moment of Fire. John Fellows, a pipeman, waß caught on the fifth floor of the Boutell Bros.’ furniture establishment with three of his comrades. It was a critical moment in the progress of the conflagration. The flames had started shortly after 10 o’clock In the basement of the Peck establishment, which fronts on Fifth street between First and Second avenues south. It was a five-story structure and the three upper floors were used by the Boutell brothers, whose establishment was at the corner of First avenue and Fifth street, for storage purposes. An alley separates the two buildings. Although the Peck establishment was filled with chemicals, some of them very inflammable, the fire fighters had little doubt of their ability to confine the flames to that building. They attacked the fire on all sides. Fellows and his mates had climbed to the fifth story of the Boutell store and were pouring water into the Peck building from the open windows. Into a Cauldron of Flame. All at once the wires that controlled the automatic sprinklers system turned a dull red and in aother instant the whole building from top to bottom burst into flames. The sprinkler wires had in some way touched a live, heavy current wire. The great volume of superheated air mingled with gases from varnish and baking wood was touched off by the wires. The mischief was done, and a huge fire was under way. The three men who were with Fellows succeeded In making miraculeous exits down the fire escapes, but Fellows mode the fatal error of running to the elevator shaft and sliding down the cable, in the belief that the lower part of the building had not yet begun to burn. He slid into a cauldron of flame and was seen no more. H. J. Buckley, another member of the insurance patrol, was caught by a falling wall and killedl At last that Is the supposition, for be is missing and none of his comrades can find him or know what has become of him. Losses and Insurance. Following are the losses and the Insurance: O. H. Peck, building, loss $35,000, insurance $25,000; Boutell Bros, building, loss, $150,000, insurance, $50,000; Blntllff building, loss $40,000, insurance, $30,000. These buildings are all owned by the Hale Homestead company of Minneapolis. Powers’ Mercantile company’s stock (photographic supplies), loss $45,000, insurance $45,000; Boutell Bros.’ stock, (furniture), loss $300,000, insurance $300,000; Fintliff Manufacturing company, (picture frames and art goods), loss SBO,OOO, Insurance $80,000; Powers Mercantile company, (department store), loss $25,000, insurance $25,000; Northwestern National bank building, loss $15,000, Insurance $10,000; Farmers and Mechanics’ Savings bank, loss $2,000, Insurance $2,000: miscelleneous losses, $5,000, insurance $3,000; total losses, $727,00; total insurance $605,000.