Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1901 — DAVENPORT’S LOSS IS $800,000. [ARTICLE]

DAVENPORT’S LOSS IS $800,000.

Relief Movement to Care for Victims of Thursday Night’s Fi e. The estimated damage in Davenport, lowa, by Thursday night's fire is SBOO,000. A district a third of a mile square was ravaged by the flames. Not a stick is standing in the whole district. A relief movement was started at a mass meeting of citizens and measures taken to care for the homeless and destitute. Between two and three hundred persons are without a roof or any household goods. Ten firemen were prostrated and one, Emil Lucht, fell into the fire, but was rescued and probably will recover from the burns received. The loss of the Weyerhauser and Denkmann Company is $500,000, insurance $300,000. Only the dying out of the wind saved the city from several times as much loss. The fire was the most disastrous in the history of the city. It is supposed to have been started by a lighted cigarette, and it burned with great avidity. Starting in the lumber yard, a -strong wind blew it into the residence district, and within a few minutes 'the flames became so threatening that the local fire department sent urgent appeals for assistance to Rock Island and Moline. After fighting the fire for seven hours the firemen, with the assistance of the townspeople, ■ueceeded in getting it under control. At Sioux City, lowa, the fierce rays of the sun, beating through the plateglass show windows on the south aide of John F. l’helan’s dry goods store, caused an SBO,OOO fire Thursday. The light and highly inflammable contents of the show window burst into flames. The glass broke and in a few moments the three-story building was a roaring furnace.