Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1903 — FIRE LOSS MILLIONS. [ARTICLE]

FIRE LOSS MILLIONS.

CINCINNATI HAS Wpl&i* 1(444 IN ITS HISTpRi|»JJJjI , blames Destroy Pike Theater and Surrounding Dti ildin tire Business “Section In Peril for ip -Reaches'Nearlys3,ooo,ooo. r Cincinnati Thursday was visited with the most destructive fire in Its history. The loss JcWlfi J $3,000,1)00. in The morning .flames. were discovered in the cellar of George Joffee’s, grocery In the Pike Opera House building »ta Fourth street, between \ ino and Wealnut. Soon after the fire department had played on the building it | was thought that the flames were under control. But an hour later there was an explosion, >qp-1 posed to have T come from liquors in storage, and the flames soon afterward shot up through the roof of the six-story stone front building and from, that time on for. several hours' the fire ; Was beyond control. . ; ;; The Pike building ; was wiped out, including the offices' of' the United States' Express Company, the Adams ExpressCompany, White’s restaurant, owned by Maynard & Kerr, George Joffee’s grovery, John B. Martin’s restaurant, Eihpi son’s confectionery, Henry Strauss’ cigar store: and the offices of the Pike Theater Company on the first floor, the Pike Theater auditorium and green rooms and- ■ other offices on the second floor and all- of the offices on the third, fourth and fifth floors. The Seasougood building, adjoining the Pike building on the west at s the corner of Vine and Fourth, was badly damaged. Fire Spreads Rapidly. Adjoining the Pike building -on the 1 east was the building owned by the L. B. Harrison estate, the first floor of which was occupied by the Robert Clarke Company, publishers, and Duhme Bros., jewelers. This building in a short time was also destroyed. The Fodick building, next to the eas.l%, occupied by the Norfolk apd Western Railroad Company and other tenants, was badly damaged, while the Carlisle building, occupied by the Southern Pacific Railway Company and Smith & Sons and the Cincinnati Trust Company on the first floor and having many offices on the other fiVe floors, was slightly damaged. It was a dangerous fir® for the firemen. The fire swept across the alley known as Baker street and burned the large publishing hpuse of the American Book Company at the corner of Baker street and other property along Baker street, including the box factory of Zumbiel ,& Co. and the carpenter shop of Henry Behrens and did great damage to the Telephone building, so that all phones in the city were cut off for some time. The fire was in the heart of the city and caused great alarm. There was scarcely arty wind blowing and this prevented the fire from spreading in any direction except southward to Baker street. It' was not until after daylight that the fire was under control and the danger of a general conflagration was believed to be qver.