The Seattle Star Newspaper, December 8, 1922, Page 1

‘ASTORIA BURNS! i f oregon Town Suffers 20 Million Loss in Fire! a {UII “VOLUME The paper with a 15,000 daily circulation lead over its neg jrest competitor == The seattle Star 1879, , by Mall, 16 to WEATHER urday, rain Temperature Last 24 Hours Maximum, 34 Mintmam, 2a. Today noon, 82 Katored as & o Matter May 9, 1899, at the Postoffice at Hea under the Act of © Per Yo 246 ~~ SEATTLE, WASH., FR IDAY, ‘DECEMBE _ Two CENTS IN SEATTLE 1,000 VICTIMS N DISASTER “iu ae Prominent Citizens Die as Flames Sweep Astoria, Wiping Out Business District; 30 Blocks Destroyed; Furnace Explosion Is the Cause of Fire The entire business district of Astoria, Ore., was wiped out day by a fire which swept thru approximately 30 blocks” in # heart of the city. Two men, both prominent in business circles, are dead as a result of the confi gration. The property damage will be at least $20,000,000 — possibly millio: more. And more than 1,000 persons are homeless. The fire refugees are ii desperate plight, a cold rain, accompanied by a heavy wind, adding g their discomfort. Existing housing facilities in Astoria are hopelessly in quate for their shelter. Howdy, folks! What are the wild crime waves saying? £0;; \Astoria Settled by John Jacob Astor and Famous as Early Day Trading Post The monetary loss entailed by the destruction of the busi- ness section of Astoria will reach a staggering figure. But this is no greater than the historical loss that will at- tend the wiping out of landmarks that are a very important part of the romance of the Northwest. For Astoria is as rich in histori interest as any city on the Pacific coast. Settled for more than a century, it has witnessed the entire transition of a wilderness into a great industrial empire, and its story is so closely interwoven with the development of the Northwest that it is hard to tell where ' the one ‘one begins a and the other ends. - Astoria wan s« [forte of” the }Aator, the w uunded one ‘MBIA HARBOR ei * to Mayor Brown is going to ask xens to volunteer thelr service help patrol the city Laughing Gas, we are here! - Doc wants to organize 5,000 volun | teer cops. Why doesn’t he call in the men he has nominated for street superin. tendent? s. nut asking San- a sled EV KNOWS “Seattle Milliner Turns Bur. gitar.” —Headline. To s mere man, however, the difference between burglary and millinery seems infinitesimal. oe i Tee & Ohare step fer the pst YOUNG WOMAN . milliner from trimming hats to trim-| tiled thru the ef. riginal John Jacdb tle German who at fortunes ming people. Tt takes a lot of headwork successful milliner. wise she will dixguise Jowan so that {t would be impossible for the police fo dis tinguish her from the other residents Los 5 ington turned shoeblacks yesterday) for charity. Naturally, students of Our ideas of the etghtt of affiu- ence is using whisky to keep the| radiator from freezing. ee Ashes to ashes And dust to dust; If I don't clean the furnace The dear wife must Bo hel-hel-help m 1 get them cold BLOO-00-00 o- “The Emperor Jones” ts coming to the Met. We don’t know who this Emperor Jones ts, but we think he ts the Jones that was in the army. on ‘The 8. R. O. sign will be hung up at the Met if all the Joneses in Seat tle attend. 1 to be headed Hla, run! . Mra. Phillips is s: for Mexico. Run * A college student is the only hu man being who, after studying hard for a geometry exam, can rest him self by playing “Hot Lips” on a saxophone |. LI'L GEE GRE, TH’ OFFICE VAMP, SEZ: A man’s word is law round the | house, but his wife frequently I it. | o———— . . Dear Homer: W plant needs the most ing the winter mont Deal Milt A Homer. ao kind of a ttention dur H. L. M heating plant organized basot Hot Btove len close, however, to rave Bout at the southe ung rookies Nature 1s the bunk. Why didn’t we have this cold snap last summer when we really needed it? “ee Taking a slant at the face of Old Mother Earth, we are tempt fd to yell “Beaver!” .- The President Emeritus of Polson Ivy club ts the grouch who sprinkles ashes on the only good slide in the neighborhood. oe . “What is so rare as June?” asked the poet have added, “And w @ day in December a day He should isso raw as . The muny out. Wen from that m railway has a snow plow t Ket our money's worth ine, some way. oe Gotta go home and make a snow how. | _| Johns the | in| | Drowning Girl Falling overboard from the launch Andilisia off Mercer txt and in Lake Washington at 3:30 a. m. Friday, Mrs. 1. €. Petth john, 24, of tne Lanning apart- ments, 219 Belmont ave. N.. was drowned during a snowstorm that swept over the lake, in spite of the heroic efforts of 4. T. Whit- ig, 612 Seventh ave., who risked his life in the ley waters in « vain attempt at rescue. ‘The tragedy ended what the police believe to have been a joy- ride whieh started at 1 a. m. Friday. | The members of the party, Mrs. | Pettijonn; Frank Bennett, 2616% First ave.; Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Gier. eng, 924% Yesler way: Miss Ina Niederauer, her sister, Mra. J. M Lehas, both of 2227 Fairview ave.; J. T. Whitig and R. L. Howard, 1200 | Wentinke ave. N., started the cruise at 1 a. m., passing thru the Ballard locks into Puget Sound. { They returned into Lake Union! soon afterward and entered Lake | Washington, While the launch was | passing Band point, on the homewa rd | the cabin, leaned agsinst the door. | The door catch, which was insecure | ly fastened, came open and Mra, Pet Htijohm plunged thru the doorway | overboard Whitig immediately pulled off his coat and plunged in after | her, altho he is & poor swimmer. Mrs. Pettijohn sereamed and struggled desperately, and it was | with great difficulty that Whiti¢ } managed to get hold of her, He seized a shaw! around the wom- } an's neck and started toward the boat, towing Mrs, Pettijohn, | The shawl came loose and the woman sank, She never reap- | peared. | Whitie was so exhausted numbed by the icy water and the tn tense cold that he himself was res- cued with great difficulty. The boat returned to Seattle and the drown-| | ing was reported to the police. Motorcycle Patrolman J. B, Clark investigated the story told by mem bers of the party and turned tn a | report to the coroner's office. | notified the harbor patrol and drag ging operations to recover the wom- an's bod were begun at 7 a, m. Mrs. Pettijohn’s husband left a few days ago for a duck-hunting trip near Stanwood and could not be reached by the police. have no children. John’s Danish ath and ©. Sunday at 11 unday school SERVICES AT st an mission, et., will by m, and 8 p. m. | will be at 10 a, m Time to Figure for the Future Every day in STAR WANT AD columns many small acre tracts appear at bargain prices that will produce for 1923. Now is the |] time to locate the land you are looking for NO STUMPS TO DIG |] put ready to plow. Thin fine 10 |] “acres of rich, black soil; flow; level as af Surro by Improved berry ‘and poultry ranches; great for strawberries and spuds. You could plow now and set out the berries, The first full crop ought to more than pay. Price only $760 for 10 acres. Good terms. The Classified Columns will tell you who is sowing this land with many other attractive buys. DIES IN LAKE . but we ‘Rescuers Unable to Save Astor quickly recognized the vast} | journey, Mra. Pettijohn, who was in| and Clark } The Petti- | fur-trading vart of the 18th cen Arriving in America in 1783 the close of the revolutionary war, opportunity which the fur trade pre- sented and he embarked In it imme diately. For the first 20 years or so | he confined his operations to the At Jantie coast, buying his fare in Mon. | treal and shipping them to Europe and China, But the field was #o vast that he finally decided to shift his activities | to @ nection where he could enjoy =| | mosopaly the then practically un known Pacific coast of what in now the United States, Map shows location of the to area razed by fire. years has forged to the front ill-fated city and arrow points | Astoria is ideally situated and in late as one of the important indus-| trial and shipping centers of the Northwest. by Seattle Three Astoria theaters, managed Three Theatres M anaged Man, in Fire telephone failed, the disaster havin: One British concern, the Honorable |>Y John Hamrick, of Seattle, un-|ecut the city off entirely from thy Northwest company, was already in| | the Pacific coast field, and he tried |doubtedly are burned to the ground | a4 « result of the conflagration which outside world. | One theater, the most tmportant of The fire has been raging for nearly 12 hours, but is now apparently under Checked by the use of dynamite, the flames simply burned themselves out by the time # j had eaten thru the most thickly built-up section of the city. So-.great was the demoralization which attended the disaster that no ccherent st ithe fire was sent out in press dispatches, but details were gathered over long di phone and by United Press leesed wire. The dead are Morris Staples, president of the Bank of Commerce and.also of the Staples Motor Car Co., and W. H. Fellman, head of the largest furniture store in Astoria. The cause of neither death has been established, but it is believed that both men succumbed to heart failure, brought on by shock. Staples dropped dead while pushing automobiles out ‘of the Staples Motor Car Co.’s garage, and Fellman also | died while attempting to save property. The fire is believed to have been started by a furnace ex- | plosion in the Theil Brothers’ pool room, at about 2 a. m. | A heavy wind was blowing at the time, and the flames jto form a partnership with it, offer. |"¥ePt the city Friday morning. Un-| the group, is the Blue Mouse, just! spread with amazing rapidity. Before the Astoria fire de- jing a one-third interest in hin new | company. Thia proposal waa de. clined, so Astor then persuaded indi | vidual members of the Northwest company to Join him. As a result, the Pacific Fur com pany ,was formed on June 23, 1810. with Alexander Mackay, David Stu art, Robert Stuart and Donald Mo-| Kenzie—all of Canad: 1 Wilson Price Hunt, of New Jersey, as A» jtor’s partners. Astor was simply to finance the scheme, undertaking to} ance up to $400,000, while hin ors were to be in charge of ao 4al operations, with a one-half in- terest to be divided among them. Two expeditions started out at ones for the Golumbia river. One, with the four Canadian partners tn charge, went around Cape Horn on the ship Tonquin, while the second went overland from St. Loius, under command of Hunt | ‘The Tonquin sailed from New | York, September 8, 1810, with @ crew | of 21, and with 33 passengers, under | Jonathon Thorne, a ieutenant in the} | United States army, who had been | | granted leave for the purpose. After an uneventfal voyage via the Hawalian Islands, the Tonquin reached the mouth of the Columbia river on March 22, 1811. A terrible storm was rag- ing at the time, and the ship was blown into er bay two days later, the company landing on March 25. Five days were spent inspect Ing the various sites for a fort on both sides of the river, the finally deciding on Point George, on the south side of the Columbia, about 12 miles from the entrance. Construction of the fort began on April 12, 12 men being sent over from Baker bay with provi sions and tools, | The voyageurs started trading im- | mediately, even before the fort waa | finished, and the commerce of Astor: | | | thus be sald to hi started | on that date, They also began build: | ing a ship, the having | cruised northward ft ia ma of the entire history of Astoria took | place. hy the ill-treatment which they received at the hands of the eo ander of the ship, Lieut. Thorne, a party of Indi 0 had boarded the vessel in the guise of traders, slaugh- tered the entire crew, with the exception of one man, who slid into the hold from one of the masts, where he had been work- ing when the massacre began, The sole survivor of the whites immediately exacted a terrible reprisal. He set fire to the store of gunpowder carried by the ves- sel, blowing up the ship and kill. ing hundreds of Indians—and himself, In spite of this tragedy, the plo. | neers who had been left at Astoria [eee undaunted, and yd za ex. to Page 11, Aroused jand able to communicate with hie Aw |toria manager, Arthur Hile, Hamrick | Friday was at a toss vo know the exact situation Hie first informa tion concerning the fire was provid. | pendent of the Blue Mouse organtza-| house Allen & Lewis, the Bee Hiv: ed him by The Star, Hasty efforte| Before Comparatively little loss to shipping is expected thru the fire that is now raging In Aw toria, The Hammond dock, which was the only dock large enough to accommodate ocean-going lin. ers in Astoria, was destroyed by fire some time ago. Since then all large liners have been an chored in the stream when lying over in Astoria, Twelve vessels from Seattle cleared thru Astoria completed. The two other houses are Jamailer ones, tho important in the jchain. All are fully covered by in- surance. ‘They were operated inde tion's theaters in Seattle, Tacoma jt reach Mr, Hile by telegraph and | and Portland. Seattle Ships Clear the Big Fire for Portland last night before the outbreak of the fire. Ships passing thru the quarantine station there are safe. The quaran- tine depot ts acroms the river from the town. Because of the lows thru fire last summer of the Hammond mill, one of the largest on the Pa- cific coast, very little lumber was being shipped from the port of As toria. |ahips were in the harbor when the i fire broke out. ‘STORM LASHING SEA OFF CAPES Trains Bucking Drifts in Cascade Pass Const vessels reported fighting their way to port thru blinding snow and sleet gales, and rail traffic bucking drifts In the Cas e were features of the storm sweeping the Northwest Friday, Observers at the Cape Flattery weather station report high seas, lashed by the gale that is send- ing vessels scurrying for shelter. Snowplows are fighting a 40- inch fall of snow that is delay- ing traffic and may cut off rail communication with the East, The abse lessens the telephone lines golng dow | Both loca! and rural wires are func. tioning. The Western Union is main: taining an hourly inspection of lines to forestall possible trouble, the of- |fice reported Friday morning ly rising wind off Capo shipping clrcle morning had re ached. 3 40 miles an hour, and the wi bureau reports @ storm approaching oft the Washington coast with wind mounting to the danger mark The weather report for Seattle and vicinity for Friday night and Satur. day predicte rain with increasing southeasterly winds, Light snowfall in Seattle and neg lgible wind prevented trouble here, city utilities report. The temperature has not fallen suffictently to burst water pipes, and the lighting syatem ts intact thruout the city “Not bad yet—but likely to become sof high winds Inland | probability of telegraph | ‘SEATTLE READY TO GIVE RELIEF to Blazing City ‘The sympathetic heart of Seat- tle responded promptly to the ery of distress that came from the fire-swept clty of Astoria this morning. Seattle has not forgot- ten her own conflagration of 1887, when the prompt assist- ance of friendly cities proved a veritable God-send, The following message of hope, and offer of assistance, was sent to Astoria this morning by the people of Seattle thru the Chamber of Com- Because all the wires Into Astoria were down It was necessary to send the message by naval radio; To the mayor of Astoria: “The citizens of Seattle, thru their Chamber of Commerce, extend sym. pathy in your great misfortune. | Please advise immediately what steps |we can take to provide relief and assistance.” FRANK WATERHOUSE, President, Seattle Chamber of Commerce. The story of the Astoria disaster came as a shock to the citizens of Seattle, many of whom have warm personal friends there, as well as business interests, merce. D. W. Henderson. Tracks are being constantly swept and switches salted, Cars are running behind schedules, however, owing to slowness of pas sengers in getting on and off the so,” is the municipal railway situa-‘cars thru the snqw, Henderson re- tion as expressed by Superintendent ported, For that reason only a few! Radio Message Dispatched | leggy oa could really get into action the fire had leaped th Commercial and Bond sts., which bound the block | where it started, and attacked the Mason-Ehrman wholesale e department store, the | Palace restaurant, the Astoria Hardware Co., the Bank of Commerce, the American Railway Express Co. and many other business hous By 4 o'clock, two hours after the explosion which started | it, the flames had gained such headway that the fire depart- ment was absolutely helpless. | PORTLAND DEPARTMENT RUSHES AID TO ASTORIA An appeal was wired to Portland and the fire department in that city immediately dispatched two engines while the A. G. Long Fire Apparatus Co. sent another. In addition, 6,000 feet of hose and eight men were rushed to the scene from Portland. } Even the arrival of the reinforcements, however, failed to bring the fire to a halt. The flames spread from build- ing to building, eating them up, in spite of the most heroic efforts by firemen. The Star and Liberty theaters, the Owl drug store, the office building formerly occupied by the Astoria Budget, the Astoria Savings bank, the Astoria National bank and the Budget and Astorian newspaper plants were all de- stroyed. Both the Western Union and the Postal Telegraph offices were also consumed by the flames, thus cutting off com- munication for a time. The Weinhard Astoria hotel and the Northern hotel {burned to the ground, but the managers and clerks were able to warn their guests in time to permit them to escape with most of their personal belongings. The lives of dozens of rooming house dwellers were saved by Patrolman Entler, who rushed from room to room in several establishments, awakening the residents. HOSPITAL IS THREATENED; PATIENTS BEING REMOVED After the fire had spread north of Bond st., two big ware- houses and also the M. Nelson Furniture Co. and the Dixie Baking Co.’s plant were wiped out. The Sanborn dock and other docks in this block were threatened, but apparently there is a possibility of saving them. The telephone exchange has escaped the fire so far, but, because the phone is now the city’s only means of commu- nication with the outside,: the long-distance offices were moved to the city hall as a precautionary step. The burned-out area at present runs from Eighth st. to 16th, and from the railroad tracks on the north to the foot- hills, a distance of eight blocks, but it may spread consid- erably farther. At 11 a. m. word was received that the fire fighters were barely holding their own, and that the blocks on Commercial st., between 16th and 17th, were slowly being consumed. The city hall has caught fire, but, altho seriously threatened, it may be saved. The Catholic hospital, which is now in the line of the advancing flames, has been abandoned, and all patients have been taken to the, high school for temporary shelter. In view of the fire in the city hall, where the phone ex- change is now located, the city is threatened with complete isolation. It seemed to be the irony of fate that fire insurance un- derwriters recently reduced their rates in the city “because Astoria never had a fire.” This in face of the fact that the fire insurance companies recently paid a $1,000,000 loss, covering the destruction of the Hammond Lumber Co. plant in Astoria, RED CROSS I READY TO HI Astoria is being provided for ous relief organizations tl Northwest. The Seattle Re holding itself in readiness in any way it may be ¢ to. It will take no action, | unless requested to do so by cific chapter at San F likely will work thru the chapter. FARE DUE 5-Cent Measure x ed to find little vf winning a favorable report session of the finance © Friday afternoon. ‘ The principal ae the substitution of a charge for transfers for the p posed 6%4-cent tokens transfer privileges. The fare remains at 5 cents, Opposition to the token p transfers developed when Superintendent D. W. Hend dicted that customers would ¢ stantly argue with conductors whether they dropped nicks transfer tokens into the regi “In the peak hours,” Hi sald, “many persons would ut edly beat the railway out of thru receiving transfers for n Mayor Brown su ed that 4 reduced fare for school children @j ply to children riding to school, but the committees take action on the question. . Other changes were of a nature; but the postponement passed at the request of Cor John FE. Carroll and Oliver T, son, who desired more time in to consider the bill before ball TOWN WRECKED BY LANDSL 600 Flee as 100 Build , Collapse MODENA, Italy, Dec, 8.—Sir dred persons fled today from tle town of Piandegalli, hundred houses already have lapsed in a landslide and eo destruction is threatened, ‘ ‘The town hag been deserted its inhabitants are homeless, Premier Mussolini Is Closely Guz PARIS, Dec, 8-—Premier lint of Italy was closely gi against communist attacks gg. traveled across France route to the conference in London,