1908 Bisbee Fire

Submitted by Jean Walker, November 2017

Bisbee Daily Review, Bisbee, AZ

15 Oct 1908 Pages 1 & 8

Worst Disaster In The History Of Bisbee Was Recorded Last Evening

Flames Lick Up Buildings and the Fierce Heat Turns Water Into Steam Before It Can Reach the Fire – Dynamite Finally Resorted To Proves Salvation of Much Valuable Property.

Property valued at nearly $750,000 was destroyed last night by a fire which raged from 6:10 o’clock p.m. for three hours. The entire business section of the city, and $300,000 worth of residence property at one time seemed doomed to destruction. They were saved by the extensive use of dynamite in blowing down buildings in the path of the flames and by the heroic work of hundreds of fire fighters. Insurance is estimated at $100,000.

Nearly 500 people were rendered homeless by the fire. The Y.M.C.A. building, the Central School house, the Philadelphia hotel and other buildings have been thrown open for the free use of the sufferers. E.A. Tovrea & Co. have announced that for a week they will supply meat free of charge to all fire victims. The Y.M.C.A. building is open to those who wish to store their effects. The Sisters of Loretto will take care of women in need of a home. The city was put under rigid police control last night, and every saloon, by order of the city marshal, closed.

The fire started in a closet of the Grand hotel, and was first seen by Tommy Blair and Sam Frankenburg, who stated they could have easily extinguished it at the time with a house hose, had their been one. The fire spread rapidly from the first floor to the second and third, and by the time the fire company arrived the building was beyond saving, although if they had been able to get water at once, it would have probably been prevented from spreading.

When the flames were finally under control every business house on Main street from the Johnson-Henniger building to the north side and the Ball & Bledsoe building on the south side, and every residence between there and Castle Rock, were swept away. Clawson Hill was swept as clean as a prairie, only the Clawson house and the Henkel houses escaping.

From the Grand Hotel the flames spread to the Norton building and the Johnson block. There they were checked by the Elk’s building for many minutes, the members of which made valiant efforts to save it from destruction, as it had been only recently completed and expensively furnished. They pleaded in vain for water. It was not to be had. Dynamite was used and the Bisbee Hardware Company blown down. This gave hope for a time. But nothing could resist for long the fierce heat to which it was subjected, and it soon was roaring with the rest. The records of the lodge were lost. Many of the furnishings were saved.

Meanwhile the fire had spread all over Clawson Hill and across the street to the Angius building. People fled over the hills carrying their most valuable possessions, and merchants along Main street many of them, began to move their stock. The contents of the postoffice (sic) were removed to a place of safety and a guard set over them.

People by this time from all sections of Bisbee lined the hills and streets and the residents of Warren and Lowell had come over, some of them to aid friends, some to see the fire.

The fire was at this time spreading in every direction and the most conservative thought that all of Main street, Brewery Gulch and O.K. street would be devastated in a short time. The thunder of dynamite roared from over the hills, women fainted, and reports were rife that several lives had been lost.

But when the worst seemed imminent, the tide turned. The wall of the Johnson-Henninger building stood like Gibraltar against the terrific heat caused by the Fair building. The Angius block, with good walls, also checked the advance on the south side of Main street. How the men stood the heat who lined the roofs of the adjoining buildings, even they can not tell. But stay they did, and to them and the solid fire walls may be attributed the escape of the rest of the business section of the city. The dynamiting of the Uncle Sam buildings were also largely instrumental in checking the flames at Ball & Bledsoe’s.

While the fight for the business section was made by volunteers and the regular members of the fire department, others were making equally as gallant a fight against the flames on Clawson Hill. Had not the men there fought on when hope seemed vain, the fire would have swept School Hill and from there there is no estimating where it would have gone. But at the Clawson, Graf and Henkel residences the crisis of the fire was met, and was conquered.

Immediately following the control of the flames, the streets of Bisbee were congested with people, some of them hurrying with a definite purpose, others aimlessly, all excited. Women searched for their husbands, husbands for their wives, children for their parents. Many were drunk, may fought. The police swore in scores of deputies and finally restored order.

Hundreds of people were up all night last night, watching their effects, or restless over their losses. Had it not been for the closing of the saloons, scores of them would have tried to forget their troubles or their weariness in drink.

The fire began in the Opera Club building, the first brick structure erected in the Warren district. Although fought sturdily by the fire department, the blaze steadily gained headway and licked up many residences on Clawson Hill, the most populous residence district of the city.

The most dramatic incident of the fire was the rescue of an inmate of the Opera Club building. A man was leaning out of the third story of the blazing building shrieking for help that would save him from the licking flames. Al Stumpf showed the gathering that he could think quickly by diving into a nearby hotel and securing a blanket. It was brought barely in time to save the man as he jumped. He and his rescuers rolled several feet down the stairway upon which the blanket was held, but beyond a sprained back the rescued man was uninjured.

Several men dashed into the flaming structure in search of possible victims, but with the exceptions of a woman and her child, whom she bravely carried out through the flame and smoke, the building luckily was empty.

As a bit of evidence showing the great-heartedness of the people it may be stated that there are more offers of homes for the homeless tonight than could be accepted.

There were here many men and who went through the tremendous cataclysm at San Francisco, and they pleaded with the local authorities for the privilege of dynamiting several buildings surrounding the seething center of the furnace. After hours of argument they were allowed to have their way, but only in time to prevent the city’s entire destruction. Had the explosions occurred sooner many buildings that now are smoldering ruins might have been saved.

The business men of this city, the first town in Arizona which sent a train thundering northward to help stricken Frisco, have risen nobly to the need of their community. Today at 9 a.m. they will meet at the Copper Queen Hotel to decide upon the best means for relief of those who have been made homeless. The Copper Queen, through its general manager, Walter Douglas, has proclaimed its willingness to meet every expense if other sources of charity should fail.

A portion of the relief fund will be distributed through the Salvation Army, member of the above mentioned religious order have been wired for and will arrive today from neighboring cities to assist in the work that must be done for the folk who have suffered.

Because of the destruction of wires, full reports of the fire cannot be sent out today, but tomorrow communication shall be established with the outside world, and detailed description of the most disastrous fire in Arizona’s history will be given.

Destitution in scores of cases have followed in the wake of thoughtless, devouring flame, but out of it all have risen the hero and the optimist and Bisbee will rise from her ashes better than ever.

Throughout it all there was not a moment when the magnanimity of neighbor did not go out to the suffering and deprived in the shape of material aid. Men, and women, too, of all ages, rushed back and forth from the edge of the burned and burning district to places where the sufferers and their belongings could be left in safety.

A sick man, barely over the line of convalescence, struggled pluckily up the steep hill, directing the rescue of his wife and babies, when under normal conditions his feeble strength would not have sufficed to keep him standing alone for half the time. He did not want for help, for there were many there who had appointed themselves living succor to the needy.

Young girls, toilers in the world of labor, stood outlined in the lurid glow, stunned by the blow that seemed to deprive them all of their worldly belongings; and in many such cases youthful chivalry was there, prompt and sincere in its offer of help.

It was a situation, despite, its terrible details, that brought out the best in men and the bravest in women and Bisbeeites are cemented more strongly together because of it.

Long before the cruel fire-tongues had finished licking their plate of tender home morsels, the cooler heads were abroad, seeking organization and the means of succoring the destitute…. Out of chaos had come methodical thinking, and to those who had tasted the bitter cup of fanciful fate’s serving came the fell known edge that is the world of men is much good and the heart of man is great and generous.

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