Late-Night Blaze Threatens 'Whitechapel' Row
A saloon fire in the early hours nearly consumed a row of wooden buildings, saved only by the quick work of local firefighters and a watchful dog.
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.
Fire broke out in the two-story frame building at the southwest corner of Jackson and South Third streets, known as the 'Never Touched Me' saloon building, about 2 o'clock this morning. For half an hour, the whole row of wooden buildings forming the front of Whitechapel was in danger. The firemen did good work and Chief Hunt showed excellent judgment. When Officer Laubscher turned in the alarm, smoke was coming from the roof in the rear and had burnt through a window next to the adjoining building. The cause of the fire is not known; it was well underway when the dog 'Sport' jumped on 'Hick,' the watchman who slept in the saloon, and awoke him. The building is owned by Tom Clancy and Pete Burns and cost $1,500. It is now valued at $800. It was to have been opened in a few days by a man named Harrington as a saloon. Jack Lundgren, of engine No. 2, while trying to force an entrance through a window, had both hands severely cut and was taken to the hospital in the patrol wagon.
“The fire was well underway when the dog 'Sport' jumped on 'Hick,' the watchman who slept in the saloon, and awoke him.”
This area near Jackson and Third in Pioneer Square was once a dense cluster of wooden structures prone to rapid, destructive fires. Today, while the neighborhood remains a hub of historic architecture, the legacy of these early fire-prone years is still visible in the city's strict masonry building codes.
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