Barn Fire Destroys Express Team in South Tacoma
A suspicious fire at 1539 South B Street claimed the lives of three horses and a flock of pigeons, crippling a local expressman's livelihood.
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.
Three horses and twenty-five pigeons were burned to death early this morning in a fire which destroyed the barn of Fritz Mensing, 1539 South B street. The horses were the property of Debery Krasner, an express man, and were valued at a total of $750. Mystery surrounds the origin of the fire, as no one had been in the barn since last evening, and the flames burst out at 4 o'clock this morning. Krasner had but recently come to Tacoma and had rented the barn of Fritz Mensing in which to keep his horses. He roomed in the Mensing residence. One of the horses was a sorrel racing mare, valued at $350. The other horses formed the express team upon which Krasner depended for his living. An express wagon and driving buggy were completely destroyed.
“Each of the horses was burned to a crisp, and when found were laying on their sides with nostrils upturned as though struggling for a last breath of air.”
The barn was a essential utility in 1909 Tacoma, and losing a team of horses was equivalent to a small business owner losing their truck and tools today. The mystery of the fire points to the era's lack of advanced fire safety, even in densely settled areas like South B Street.
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