Show Li fIRE IN PROfiRESS BUiLDiNfiar Match Starts a Blaze on the Top Floor 01 r the SixStory Structure Causing a Loss of About 35OOO Low Water Pressure Handicaps the Fire Department Until the Fire Had Gained Great Headway Damage to Various Occupants of the Building Estimated at 25000 i Ji < j > r f Y 4v A I V Z < a tit1i i j Bolt Lako was vistcd yesterday af tcr tnono by the most dlsastroub fire which has occurred hero since tho burning of tho ScottAucrbach building on Fcbru ey 2 1S97 The lire yesterday was In tho Progress building ou Mln street almost opposite the new structure which was erected on the ruins or the destroyed ScottAuerbach building JThe extent of the lire yesterday was not nearly so great as on the other occasion referred to tho loss In this Instance probably not exceeding 535000 of which 10000 is to tho building Tho fire broke out on tho top floor tho oixtb and was confined almost cxclu nlvely to tho rear part of that floor but the damage by water on the other floors down to tho basement was great exceeding far the value of the property prop-erty actually burnt which was not Very great WAITED FOR WATER Had the conflagration broken out on one of tho lower floors tho probability is the entire building and some of tho adjoining structures would have been destroyed < < JIB owing to the very defective defec-tive water system It was nearly half an hour after the fire department ar I irlved on the Bceno before a sufficient pressure1 could bo obtained to throw > ny considerable amount of water ont on-t tho burning building Recently tho light wclla bywhIth the Interior of the building was partly JllumlnaUd were closeddown which I was a fortunate circumstance as It shut off the draft to a largo extent and contributed considerably to saving the building Tho places completely burned out iflvere tho three offices and their contents I con-tents of the Lower Mammoth and Galena Mining company and their drafting room and contents offices of P SL Tumor Son architects W P Hardest civil engineer G M Lewis merchant tailor A V Taylor law office Thomas A Mulholland law officeWORK WORK OF THE FIREMEN Tho alarm wan received by telephone at tho Fire department at 154 In the afternoon and In less than three nun utes tho department was on the scene A line of hose was run up the front of the building by a number of the fire boys while others quickly got the chemical engine In action through another an-other hos plpo No sooner was the water turned Into the first hose from tho hydrant than It was seen that the pressure t was Insufllclent to raise the water above the third floor and oven at that point the flow was feeble The little stream pumped up by the chemical chemi-cal engine vas therefore all that could be brought to play on the nlxth floor where the flames were rapidly spreading spread-ing and tongues of fire began to dart out of the root The twimer from the West Side came along and a lIne of hose was run up J Hi alleyway In the roar of tho building from Second South street and soon two other lines were tralm on the building build-ing the flramcn climbing the lire escape es-cape with great dexterity but still the pressure was InBufllclwit although It began to rise gradually and In the j Bourse of half un hour there were several sev-eral good streams playing on the flame which hud got a good start Hud It been potslbla to got water onto on-to tho bz when the firemen got the Urst hose up the fire could have been t extinguished with little danmgc r VERY LOW PRESSURE When the alarm was given the Indicated Indi-cated atcr pressure at tho Fire department de-partment was sixtythree pounds and further north It WitS only forty pounds 1 vente n street sprinklers were atM at-M work at the time and 3up rJnU ndonl of Waterworks IIlncB Immediately hk Pulled them off nnd caused the walei Ito be shut off from every portion i of the l city except wher the flro v as raging Jtfid by that means the pressure gnidu I IJly Increased until It reached about J 50 pounds to the square inch Such madw y had the flames gained 1 that ten nfier the water Increased It wua tully un hour before the blazo was entirely en-tirely I subdued MOSTLY OFFICES Th building is of brick with to stone 1 front six stortw high and basement The ground floor la I occupied by the JUrald countingrooms and linotypes I and b > Friedman pants furnishing I fUabllshmcm The Herald editorial rooms aro ou the second floor and the reminder of the building la I umd for omcw the majority of which are tenanted ten-anted by lawyers HOW IT STARTED The fire originated in the office of the Lower Mammoth Mining company In the rear of the sixth floor a little to th south of the center of the building 01 A C Ellis Harry Joseph and Samuel Paul wer In the offlce Col Lllls says that Joseph struck a matrh lighted a cigar and threw the match Into a cuspidor In Ahldi wore IooM rrnp of Paper which caught lire The upldor wim standing nwr n louiig the frliiicu or uliltji lmm llKtely luirwt l E > U lluiic C A Kill x a tilt 1lVl tn l flU it if ntH out to th < ch < mKal I rti Jlngut hr In tic corridor Millo t JMrh attfrmpt d tn 8mnt11rr th Hr I Hrit with a soft hat and then with an i 5 > S r t I I ic kk 4 VfJ 1 1j 1 ij A 5 1 riiJ feIV1 isu1 fA11 WPM kiM 4 I fl yf 7f4J gp JWM ri J I T I I7 r I m j f r r i m7 Iwyr yr M ii Tr I L mm I 1 I p The Fire in the Progress Building overcoat and Paul sought water elsewhere else-where but obtained only a tumblerful from the lavatory The chemical extinguisher ex-tinguisher would not work it was MthT empty t or out of order Col Ellis gave It UJ and tried a hosepipe which was In tho corridor but owing to tho lack of prerfaure on the mans It vtas empty All this occupied less tlnift than it Uiku to tell It but Joseph efforts with the overcoat failed and soon tin lounge which Joseph said was made < excelsior was in a blaze and tho < flames reaching up the wall to the ceiling S JOSEPHS HEROIC EFFORTS Paul telephoned to the Fire department depart-ment while Joff + ph threw up the window win-dow with the Idea l of throwing out the biasing lounge He says he made several sev-eral efforts In that direction but only I succeeded In ulnicln his already decidedly I decid-edly auburn locks mustache and eyebrows I eye-brows and 90 filling his lung with smoke that he fell half uffocated By this tlm the carpet caught tIre and the room was filled with tpqokc Joseph grubbed a lot of arn M lu containing samples and otbIw4t things and I < variiiitMl thv nladi It F J I Jer1u av > h ha furdWtmct rrcol f I Wtton of llphiirjc it match bu may have done AO Tlifi nrat he knew ct the fire he ap as henCol Ellis aLled his nutrition to tt When thy fire department arrived I such of the tenants as happened to bIn b-In tho building were rushing about getting out their belongings lav hooks wore very much In evidence niid mining certificates and business documents were flying hither and thither The law office of Dlckwm Ellis A Ellis is on the fifth floor Immediately below whore the fire brok out They have a law library there of great value with only about UOOIJ Insurance A great manv books were gotten out In a more or lest damaged dam-aged condition while those that re malnetl were badly the worse for the water The Ore had Just taken good l hold on the celling of their office when Judr MoriIlls office subdued It was IK altO on tin fifth floor In tho rear Its contents were damaged by the water and like Dicksons the room was slightly burned about the ceiling With those two exceptions the tIre was confined i con-fined to th sixth floor In the rear The office in the rear on every floor from the bassment to garret were soaked with water while those In the front of the building escaped without damage worth mentioning The rear of the IxtK floor tvns gutted LOADKD RIFLES DISCHARGED Wh n thC III r wg1 at Its height a 1ceded rifle and Rhotgim Tn the Lower i Mammoth office were djschnjged both 1DI6 oft bllt FlwmiU M W Earl Byron Crosby and Aylaml were In the I room manipulating the hose pipes ANGELLS NARROW ESCAPE Fireman Frank Angell had a narrow escape from death He scaled the fire escape leading with the hose line and when he reached the landing place at the sixth floor the cat head through which the ropes pass that are used for hoisting furniture and the like to the offices burst away and fell and as it appeared to the crowd from the street struck Angell full on tho shoulder and neck knocking him almost over the edge of the little platform When he was struck the crowd held its breath expecting him to fall to the street but he quickly threw out his hand caught i a round of the flre escape and drew himself Into the building to a place of comparative safety As it turned out the plucky fireman was hit by the falling debris on the hand and arm which were quite severely bruised HIS CLOTHES ON FIRE Fireman Elkron the sailor of the department de-partment scaled the stand pipe like a monkey from the ground to the sixth landing When lIe got there his clothes were on fire and they had to turn the hose on him to prevent cremation Fireman Jack Hoffcnback received slight Injuries to one of his hands but with those exceptions there were no casualties I WHY WATER WAS SCARCE City Engineer Kelsey asked for an explanation of the Insufficient water pressure said There Is no scarcity of water but the system is Inadequate to handle It The pipes arc too smallj and there are no reservoirs What we need Is i larger water mains and distributing I dis-tributing reservoirs If the proposed I 5000000 gallon reservoir at First South and Thirteenth East streets had been built and adequate water mains laid there would have been no lack of pressure today Councilman Robertsons explanation of the shortage of water was Too many Democrats In the last Council EXTENT OF THE DAMAGE Bough Estimate of the Losses Places Total at About 35OOO After the flames had been subdued it was seen that the rear half of the upper story had been completely destroyed de-stroyed the outer walls alone remaining remain-ing and the flames had eaten their way a short distance Into the fifth floor on the south side A rough estimate I places the damaceat about 35000 well covered by Insurance it will be Impossible Im-possible to get accurate figures on the lots for several days The structure itself It-self suffered most and It will require tlm to ascertain just how much the wall ant other portions of the buildIng build-Ing have been Injured by the water which flooded tho entire rear of the bulldlnjC to th 1 basement The woodwork was thoroughly soaked and > t il ford that tlu floor Continued on pace i PROGRESS BUILDING fIRE I II I I Continued from page L may become so warped as to require extensive repairs and much plastering 1 I will have to be replaced on the lower floors The building which belongs to f I F Auerbach Bro was Insured for about 4GOUD and It Is estimated that l thi loss will be about 10000 The Herald Her-ald companys loss is placed by the management at between 5000 and 10 i 000 Its damage was wholly by water A carload of paper was placed In the I basement only a few days ago and the I water running through Into the basement I base-ment Is thought to have damaged tho stock to the extent of about 1500 The i r linotype machines were located l on the first floor and considerable water I dropped on them before coverings could I be scoured The presses In the basement I base-ment also suffered somewhat and tho t other damage was to books flies etc I WHERE RUIN WAS WROUGHT l The rooms on the sixth floor which were totally destroyed were occupied by the Lower Mammoth and Galena Mining companies O M Levis I the tal I I lor A V Taylor Thomas Mulholland I I 1 F M Timor Son and V I1 Hardesty The los in the rooms occupied by tho I I mining companies tu rooms where the lire originated will probably amount to I about 51700 compiling instruments f urn lure maps and records belonging I I to tho companies and to Harry Jo sephs PuM Ulmcr Son estimate I their loss at about 1500 consisting of I I architectural instruments plans etc I Mr Hardesty lost all his surveying instruments in-struments and maps notes etc estimating esti-mating his Joss at about SJOOO A V Taylor lost law books of the value of 1 about 500 aiiJ Mr Mulholland lost law I j books Iud at about SV Much of I I value was curried troni the rooms which woro destroyed and taken l to places of I safety before thj lire gained ouch headway head-way as to make It unsafe to enter that I part of the building Almost all of Mr r Lewiss stock was saved In this way The it G Dun Mercantile agency had I rooms on the sixth floor at the front Its loss Is estimated at about 2000 I records damaged by water I ON OTHER FLOORS I DIckson Ellis Elite hud rooms on the fifth floor and managed to save a law library valued at 25000 with but nominal damage by water The library was Insured for about 53000 The clothIng I cloth-Ing stock of the E M Friedman company com-pany which occupied half of the first floor of tho building was considerably damaged by water the exact amount of tho injury being not known Wells Stone suffered a loss of about 100 on I their stock of cloth located at time lear of the second floor Dr Bower who had rooms on the fourth floor had his surgical sur-gical Instruments and furniture Injured to the amount of about 100 E D R Thompson had his library damaged to tho extent of about 300 by water Among others who suffered a nominal loss chiefly by water were Judge S A MenIt A L Jacobs Miss 13 C Curtlss Judge A B Sawyer J M Bowman Tuttle Bros Henry ICohn J A Brown R B Quay W T Gunter I Herman Bamberger D C Eleanor and N W Sonnedccker I Many records of value and which cannot be replaced wero destroyed Among them were the records of all the 1 O O P subordinate lodges for this jurisdiction They were in the office of-fice of Uliner Son who were assisting assist-ing Grand Secretary J J Thomas In preparing the annual reports for presentation I pre-sentation to the grand lodge which meets next month The engineers and architects suffered heavily from the destruction de-struction of notes and records some collections of over twenty yearn being burned The value of these cannot be estimated HOW INSURANCE WAS PLACED Tho Insurance on the building was carried by the Anderson Insurance company com-pany the WilsonSherman company and H W Lawrence The companies represented were the Norwich Union of England the TransAtlantic of Germany Ger-many Niagara of New York the Glens Falls of New York the Royal of Liverpool Liv-erpool and the Insurance Company of I North America The Herald companys I loss Is covered a blanket policy the loss being equally shared i by the following fol-lowing companies Norwich Union Palatine Union Assurance Greenwich Homo Fire Liverpool London Glob Royal Exchange Assurance Queen American Central Thuringla Auchcn Munich Hanover Fire Aetna Fire mans Fund and Svea companies REMOVAL OF PROPERTY During the early part of the tire when It seemed probable that the structure would be totally destroyed an army of vohinteors was busily engaged In carrying I car-rying out valuables Among the llrst things taken out were the files of the Herald which were deposited In an adjacent ad-jacent building The different offices were then visited and many books etc taken to safe places One enthusiastic volunteer entered the office of Dun Co and began throwing their valuable files out into the street from the top floor One of the office force soon I caught him In the act and ran him out of the room feeling that It would be Letter for the files to be destroyed than to have the companys Confidential In i formation distributed about the streets |