The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 28, 1895, Page 1

rereTow” A @all 50 285, = m———e VOLUME LXXVIII.—NO. SAN FRANCISCO, FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 28, 1895. PRICE FIVE CENTS GREATEST CONFLAGRATION OF THE DECADE. F it was the firebug, he demonstrated | 1 ht how he needs watching. iness has developed into the | The block of bud Fiith, Fourth, Brannar was swept away by flames | which, not satisfied, sp across Fourth | street and ate ravenot 1to the block castward, toward the water and the Mail docks. A lack of water and the presence of a | zale of wina gave evel n to those who witnessed the almost unresisted sweep 2s bounded by | and Bryant streets | <t evening, | Flames Ravage the South Side—Many Mills and Work- men’s Homes Destroyed—Loss About One Million Dollars—Lack of Water. jof the fire became evident to them. By | that time, too, the flames hadeaten their | way half way through the block, and the | firemen gave notice to the Fourth-street people that they should begin to pack up and move if they desired to save anything, as the fire would surely reach them. Then the hustle began. Thestorekeepers begaw to pack up their goods and give | them into the hands of messengers, who carried them to some place of safety. Those who lived in rooms upstairs brought out their household effects and took them wherever they could out of the way of the of the fire that a tremendous path of ruins would stretch through the half mile of irame | structures that extended from the point of | the initial blaze to the water frontand its | shipping. The vee! however, | which turned the t over 'the | ruin it had already w the completeness of its work had left noth- ing for it to feed upon, saved the south of Market street. As it ¥ horror and s enough. All the s of those great o the history | there w anic and rely i not been seen in ; horror and come and co these ten ¥ thos with a cence s pectatc he tin T e being to all its cost. peed of the fire their belongings »d and became | iture; red mob c proact area, ied here e others they could there with axes reak the n the fire e residents treet and em, wait sign of before mov further, of | houses e th to neigh- ) out of the path of the fl d there bivonacked late into a few belong es on the sidewal dy wonde losses and some with 1, that it is impos ber of reside; number is ans cor [sketched for the %Call” by Lewis.] : N THE HEART ‘OF THE FLAMES—ST. ROSE’S 'CHURCI"l WHEN HALF CONSUMED. | flames. It was a little after 9 o’clock when the | fire began to envelop the rear portions of | the Fourth-street buildings. Those on the side below Brannan street were the first to g0, as that was the spot where the flames were hottest. On the southwest corner of | Fourth and Brannan streets was 'the saloon of Harkins & Shea. Next was | the building known as the New Prescott House. The furniture in the | place was insured for $1500. At 603 Fourth street was the store of King & Young, plumbers, and adjoining them was an empty house. - A. Robin kept a saloon at 612, and next door was P. A. Smith’s hard- ware store. Both men were insured to the amount of their losses. At 614} Fourth street Simon Israel kept a furnishing goods store. He was insured ‘for $500. | The Southern Pacific Pharmacy at 618 | Fourth street, owned by A. J. Ashim, was a total loss as far as the stock was con- cerned, but there was a small insurance on the building. Next, on the west side of Fourth street, was the Postal Telegraph office, located in a portion of the Stanford House. This entire building, which was owned by J. Rothschild, was completely destroyed. It was, however, in- | sured for about $15,000. Mr. Rothschild | estimates his loss at $30,000, | On the east side of Fourth street, below | Brannan, there were several places com- pletely destroyed. On the southeast corner was the Standard saloon, owned by Chris Hartman. His loss is $1200, with $800 in- | surance. Next door, going south, were veral two-story dwellings. Following | were the occupants: No. 603, Mrs. Duify; ’ 605, Mrs. Shea , vacant; ), J. Quig- ley; 611, Mrs. Dennehy; 613, vacant. On the other side of Fourth street Stel- ling Bros.’ grocery and saloon occapied the corner. Their place was swept out of sight, but they were insured. Next came the Bargain House and a harness and saddlery store kept by Ernst F. Stein. Adjoining was the Mechanics’ store, par- tially insured. The rooms upstairs were occupied at the time by William Bohle, and adjoining, at 552}¢ Fourth street, John Shea lived with his family. Abe S. Levy was also a resident. The property was in- sured, but the losses on stoek will amount |to about §1800. | - When the fire crossed Fourth street burned o a number of small hotels | . bly the St d | Ines. nan, the ott on Branr Brannan street, unable to throw so much . | as a glass of water on the furnace. In the midst of all the clash and roar | the new burst of flames and the blinding i rush of smoke and shower of sparks; the | electric wires, telephone, telegraph, light b N Pw!l.fe, hut ab head throughout the entire district— ? of thews had been sub. | Were @ constant menace, and nobody s e (hCa ohild oas tos | UL * ever” Fsiow Stlis fmumber ot | in convent attached to St. Rose’s | DATTOW escapes that resulted from their Church on Brannan street. It was said, | fall. During the early part of the fire the again, that three men were lost in the fali | €lectriclight wires ~on =Bryant street of the church itself; again, that a woman | emitted a snapping battery of sparks, was burned in the Stanford House: again, | Warning the firemen. A . telephone that a fireman had been caught in the fall | Message was, after a time, sent to the of Horstman’s chemical works, | company and the current was shut off. ter the poles supporting the wires fell re and there throughout the burning true in so far that a fire- | injured by some burning scant- he taated by Fire Marshay | £reat danger and disadvantage of those 000,000. i th within the lines. 2 ; —_—— m is chargea > fact i it | PROGRESS OF THE FIRE. this district failed | A to supply water suflicient to | Four Alarms Sounded —Furniture Factories Rapidly Turned Into Charcoal. The fire started shortly before 6 o’clock occasion. It witness an_army of b s such these was pitifal | nen hal to facing flam few little. streams that rese languidly to | 1. | the height of the first stories of the build- | For a solid hour and a half an en- | ne stood rattling its balance wheel on | | and hurly-burly, the falling of buildings, | | area, bringing their wires with them to the | in the rear of the engine-house of the San Francisco box factory, operated at 515 to 519 Fifth street by Carrack, Williams & Wright. Their night watchman, A.W. Collins of 627 Webster street, discovered the flames. He raised the cry of fire, and alarm from box 63 at the corner of Har:i- son and Fifth streets. Second, third and fourth alarms followed in quick succession and soon the entire department was at the scene, but those who were on' the spot speak of an unaccountable delay in getting the first stream on the fire. Meanwhile outsiders were making vigor- ous efforts to control the flames, but a strong northwesterly wind was blowing | and the conflagration spread rapidly in all directions. To the southward on Fifth street were innumerable ‘small mills and furniture manufactories and_ these were as | grain before the reaper. To the north, |on the corner of Bryant street, was a three-story building,. occupied by Main &, Winchester's saddle and { collar manufactory. For a time it was | thought possible to save this, but John Horstman'’s bicarbonate factory adjoining caught from the box-factory and burned like tinder. As it fell the corner building | took fire. and the Humboldt Lumber Com- pany’s (Korbel Brothers) tyards_also be | cane ignited. _H. Washburne's horse | ma went also, though the animals | were the policeman on the beat turned in an | Soon the part of the biock fronting on Fifth street was a roaring, seething fur- | nace, of which the heat broke windows on be opposite side of the street and drove | pedestrians from the sidewalks. Sashes | blinds smoked and caught from the heat, and it was only by the ‘constant applica- | tion of water that the spread of the fire | to the north was prevented. | On Fifth street E. Dumontetle’s marble | works, Uhler’s furniture factory, Kunlen's | tool works, Snyder & Richten’s furniture { factory, Hubner’s furniture frame works, |a saloon occupied by John Hummel, 1J. Einstein’'s Commercial Feed mills, |the Independent Tool Manufactory, W. Henneberg’s tool works and the Ousten Feed mills ~ were quick | consumed and the Belmont Hotel, on the | corner of Fifth and Brannan streets, owned by the A. C. Stoetzer estate, was at- | tacked. It stayed the flames fora moment | and enabled the firemen to save the office | and a portion of the sheds of the Scott & | Van Arsdale ‘Lumber Company just | across Brannan street. The flames trav- i eled so rapidly, however, that it seemed that the firemen were fighting along with | rather than in advance of it. Bastward, on both sides of Brannan street, swept the fire, devouring everything | in its path. | St. Rose’s Church. its new half-finished | cathedral, the convent school and the par- ish house, occupied by Rev. Father Nu- gent, were a total Joss almost in an instant. Machine-shops, lumber-yards, wood works, planing-mills and" dwelling-houses added to the fierceness of thie flames, which now traveled at racehorse speed. The new three-story warehouse Which the Califor- nia Casket Company of San Jose had just fitted up fell in within ten minutes from the instant the flames first attacked it. | adjoining Brannan street on either side. | At Bluxome street its southerly course was checked By the big brick warehouses of | the Overland Freight Transportation Com- pany and the Breslauer wool stores. Trucks and piles of lumberon the south side of the street were burned, but the | brick structures would not take fire. | On the north side of Bluxome street | George Fuller & Co.’s manufactory of fine { office furniture offered a fine mark for the | worth of property was in ashes.” An oil | storehouse ' of brick belonging to 'F. B. Joyce & Co. went next, and ' burned with a | men and | efforts. At the corner of Bluxome and Fourth streets the Southern Pacific Hotel resisted the fire for a time. The wind, however, was blowing sparks and embers from two seriously handicapped their it and soon the flames captured it also. The fire ‘spread: throughout the blocks | flames, and within fiftcen minutes $15,000 thick heavy smoke which stifled the “fire- | | blocks of burning buildings directly over {above Brannan it caught Engelberg’s Across Frurth street from the hotel was | bakery at the corner of Freelon street and a large baybarn beldhging to the San | made quick work of it and the adjoining Francisco Hay and Graia Company. Men dings down to Brannan street. Among | stood upon the roof and kicked off blazing es were: M. Green, boots and | embers and tore up kindling shingles, but | shoes, $850 loss, insurance $500; J. Samme, | | in vain. Just eight minutes elapsed irom | barber-shop. $200, totalloss; H. B. Goecken, the time the Southern Pacific Hotel burst | hay and grain, $1200 loss, insurance $900. into bright flames till the haybarn feil in. | T'he corner building at Brannan street was This, however, ended the advance of the | occupied as a saloon by J. Bernhard. It flames in that direction. The Washing- | was valued at $750, insurance $450. ‘lon Hotel, on the southwestern cornerof | All the buitdings along Fourth street | Bluxome and Fourth streets, was threat- | had families occupying the upper rooms. | ened and was actually on fire three or four | They moved their effects out early when | times, but was only partially destroyed. | the first indications were given that the The brick stables of the Pacific Improve- | fire would reach them. It was well ment Company and the big brick winery | that they took the precaution, for of S. Lachman & Co. furnished an effect- | when first started the flames swept ual barrier to- further. progress by the flames and soon the fire was in that section pretty well under control. down like a besom, and carried everything before them. It was only the veering | around of the strong wind after the fire crossed Fourth street which prevented the | big railroad building from taking fire, and ON FOURTH STREET. e thus assist in carrying the flames onward. Heavy Losses of Property-Owners | However, the heroic efforts of the firemen on Both Sides of the Thor- | prevented the railroad building from be- oughfare. ing included in the holocaust. The prop- For quite awhile after the fire started the | erty on the filty-vara lot on the southeast residents on Fourth street did not feel any | corner of Fourth and Freelon sireets was alarm that the flames would reach them. | owned by Thomas Knight the capitalist. They ran out of -their stores and dwelling- | It was insured for almost its full value. louses and gazed’ up Freelon and Welsh | Among the other sufferers on the east streets at the flames, which were roaring | side of Fourth street were the following: and crackling around Fifth street. It was No. 518 Fourth street, Walter Callahan, | fully half an hour before the serious nature | saloon, insurance $700; No. 520, M. M. Mec- A\ WATIINRNNS ) | THE BIG FIRE AS THOUSANDS SAW IT: FROM THE ‘GROWN OF NOB [Sketched-for the-#-Call? by -Camgpdell.] HILL: