Fire Destroys Howell Street Home and Shop
A family escapes narrow death in a blaze caused by an overturned lamp.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A story-and-a-half frame building on Howell street, near the corner of Eleventh, owned by F. G. Cadey, was burned to the ground last night at 10 o'clock. Though the alarm of fire was telephoned to fire headquarters, the building was in flames when the department arrived, and the structure and contents were a total loss. The building contained a butcher shop and grocery store, both run by Cadey, while his family, a wife and two children, lived upstairs. The fire started when a coal oil lamp on a chandelier was upset. Cadey was painfully burned about the legs and hands in endeavoring to save the premises, while his family had a narrow escape from death in effecting their escape from the burning building. The place, which was valued at $1,500, was insured for $1,100.
“Cadey was painfully burned about the legs and hands in endeavoring to save the premises, while his family had a narrow escape from death.”
Howell Street and 11th Avenue in Capitol Hill is now a dense neighborhood of apartments and historic homes. In 1892, fire was the single greatest threat to Seattle's wooden infrastructure, a constant anxiety reflected in the city council's frequent debates over fire protection and insurance.
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