Midnight Explosions Rock Pacific Avenue
A late-night blaze at the Robinson Clothing Company forced hotel guests to flee into the streets in their nightclothes.
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 rear of the Robinson Clothing company's store about 12:50 this morning, and before the firemen could get the blaze under control, the establishment had been flooded with water. The origin of the fire has not been ascertained, but, owing to the fact that two explosions preceded the outburst of flames, it is thought that instantaneous combustion ignited the gasoline stored in the clothes' cleaning department of the store. The inmates of the Rockwood hotel, in the upper stories of the building, were greatly alarmed, and several hastened to the streets clad only in their night clothing.
“The inmates of the Rockwood hotel, in the upper stories of the building, were greatly alarmed, and several hastened to the streets clad only in their night clothing.”
Pacific Avenue remains the historic heart of downtown Tacoma. While the dry-cleaning methods of 1909 were notoriously combustible, the recurring fire risks in mixed-use historic buildings remain a constant concern for today’s urban residents and business owners.
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