Suspicious Blazes in Blackchapel Row
A series of suspicious fires in the building row owned by the Great Northern Railway suggests an active arsonist targeting the property.
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.
Two small fires broke out early yesterday morning, giving the fire department a difficult start to the day. At 2:45 AM, a blaze was reported in the second story of a building on Jackson Street, between Third and Fourth, formerly known as the Minnehaha saloon. Investigation revealed the strong smell of coal oil, a recurring theme in recent fires in the 'Blackchapel row.' A second fire broke out shortly after at the Cosmopolitan lodging house on Main Street. The property in the row is owned by the Great Northern Railway Company, and there was no insurance to cover the $400 loss.
“The blaze was found to be in the second story of the building on Jackson street, formerly occupied by the Minnehaha saloon. It was soon extinguished, and then an investigation revealed the usual strong smell of coal oil.”
The 'Blackchapel' row, once a dense area of saloons and lodging houses, would eventually be cleared for the massive regrade projects and the construction of the current infrastructure surrounding King Street and Union Station.
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