The Newport Club Burns: A Saloon's Last Call Comes as Smoke

Monday night about 12:15 the Smith barber shop in the Koch Weinkauff building on Fourth street was discovered to be on fire, the flames breaking through the roof. An alarm was quickly phoned in and in a very short time the fire department and a large number of citizens had responded, and two streams of water were playing on the flames.

The fire seems to have started in the roof of the barber shop bath room and was well under way when discovered. The flames quickly communicated into the attic of the main building, and it seemed that all efforts to stop them would be unavailing. But the work of the fire company was so effective that the flames were largely confined to the attic, and a large part of the damage in the lower room was caused by water and the falling in of the roof. At 1 o'clock the fire was practically out.

Koch Weinkauff carried insurance to the extent of $2000 on the building and their fixtures, which amount will hardly cover the loss, as what remains of the building is worthless except for some lumber salvage, and must be wrecked and removed from the premises. C. E. Smith carried $400 insurance on his barber shop fixtures, part of which were saved. His loss was adjusted at $267 and paid the next day, the adjuster happening to be in town to look after the Sammons fire loss of the week before.

The Kelly building, with solid brick walls and high fire walls, prevented the further spread of the flames and was of great assistance in confining the fire. Mr. Kelly's building was not damaged in the least, and doubtless was the means of preventing the spread of the fire into the frame buildings up the street. The absence of wind also favored the firemen in their fight.

When the fire was nearly under control W. F. Kinnear, one of the nozzlemen, was overcome by smoke and was dangerously sick for a time, but was fully recovered and able to be out the next day.

Night Marshal Straight and Gus Schilsby had the hose cart on the ground and water playing on the flames within five minutes from the time the alarm was given. The work of the company received many compliments, and it is evident that Newport has the best fire-fighting force it has had in recent years.

The Koch Weinkauff building was one of the oldest in the Washington town, having been erected in 1901, and was the third business house to be built on this side of the line. It has been continuously occupied by Messrs. Koch Weinkauff up to this time as a saloon, until the local option election of last fall, and as a pool room and soft drink establishment since that time. As the Newport Club the building was known to all of the old timers of this section, and was a favorite resort for the miners and lumberjacks of the early days. It is hardly likely that the owners will rebuild at this time, as they consider the business location not as desirable as in former years, and now have a suit in Federal court against the Idaho Washington Northern Railroad, alleging that the construction of the railroad across Fourth street injured their property.