Winter Fire Destroys Cottage Near Old Town
A morning fire leaves a local family homeless, while a separate blaze claims a notorious dance hall just as its license expires.
About 6:30 Tuesday morning, fire destroyed a cottage on State Line Avenue, near Old Town. The building was owned by Matthew Nett of Chewelah and was occupied by Wm. Russell, a bartender at the Spokane bar. Mr. Russell had started a fire in the stove and gone to work just a few minutes previous to the discovery of the fire, his wife remaining asleep. Mr. Meadows, a neighbor, rushed into the burning building and rescued Mrs. Russell, who was nearly suffocated. All the personal belongings of the Russells were destroyed but were insured in the sum of $400. The adjoining cottage was badly scorched but was saved by the efforts of the fire department. The loss on the building was about $500, with $400 insurance. Separately, the Riverside bar and dance hall building went up in smoke about ten minutes after the license had expired last Saturday morning. The building was occupied by a few women and men, but most of the valuable property had been levied on and removed from the place a day or two before the fire. The building was owned by William Vane, who secured it when the owners failed to pay their ground rent early in January. It is thought that the fire was of incendiary origin.
“The Riverside bar and dance hall building went up in smoke about ten minutes after the license had expired.”
Fire was a constant, terrifying threat in early 20th-century Newport, where wood-frame construction and heating stoves made every home vulnerable. The suspicious timing of the Riverside bar fire—occurring exactly as the license expired—hints at the era's volatile mix of prohibitionist pressure and insurance fraud.
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