Midnight Fire Consumes Third Street Shops
A mysterious fire sweeps through a block of wooden shops near the Armory, narrowly missing the sleeping residents of an adjoining house.
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.
About 1:45 this morning fire broke out in the rear of the wooden building at 1,013 Third street, occupied by Lamont & McClellan with their tin and plumbing shop, and by James Wheelan with a harness shop. James Nobit, who was returning from the hod-carriers' ball at the Armory, discovered the fire and informed the officer, who gave the alarm. He also warned the lodgers in George Brady's house adjoining. At that time the flames seemed to be fiercest in the tin shop. Since there was no stove in the shop, it is not known how the fire originated. Officer Dunton, who sounded the alarm, roused the people in the houses adjoining. The back of the building was nearly all burnt off, and the stock in the harness shop was wholly destroyed. The tin shop fared but little better. The total loss was between $2,000 and $3,000.
“James Nobit, who was returning from the hod-carriers' ball at the Armory, discovered the fire and informed the officer.”
Before the concrete towers of the modern business district, central Seattle was a crowded, volatile collection of wooden structures vulnerable to 'midnight blazes.' The 1000 block of 3rd Avenue today is a world away from the harness and tin shops that once defined the street's economy.
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