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THE
EVENING NEWS
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LOS ANGELES
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FIRE HORSE KILLED
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Despite Heroic Efforts of
Bystander, Animals Crash
Into Telegraph Pole
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THREE FIREMEN INJURED
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Thrown Into Cellar by Twist
of Hose, They Are Cut
by Glass
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Three
firemen injured, a horse attached to a hose cart killed and a loss of about
$15,000 were the results of an early morning fire which destroyed the business
conducted in four store rooms at 109, 111, 113 and 115 West Ninth street, in the
one and one-half story brick building at Ninth and Main streets.
One of the features of the fire was the heroic act of
Owen Hoffman, a driver employed at Levy's market. Hoffman attempted
to halt the runaway team of hose cart horses, and was dragged half a
block. His heroism saved the life of one horse. Hoffman was
badly bruised about the legs by the hoofs of the frightened horses, but
was not prevented from engaging in his regular work.
The firemen injured were cut by flying fragments of
heavy plate glass and were bruised by being thrown into the basement of
one of the burning stores. They are:
Julius Lawson, hoseman, engine company No. 9, cut about
face by glass and left ankle sprained and cut in fall.
H. G. Hamilton, hoseman, engine company No. 9, cut
about head and face by glass and back and shoulders bruised and wrenched
in fall.
C. K. Chamberlain, hoseman, engine company No. 9, cut
by flying glass in shoulder and head, was removed to his home after
treatment.
They were removed to the receiving hospital.
Hamilton was the worst injured and was removed to his home. Lawson
could not wear his shoe on the injured foot, but he refused to accept
relief from duty, and later in the morning bravely went about his work of
caring for the hose left in the street.
Lawson and Hamilton were injured in a peculiar manner.
They had carried a lead of hose to the front of the burning buildings. The
heavy pressure of water in the hose as it was turned on jerked the nozzle
from their hands. The twisting, squirming hose threw Hamilton and
Lawson several feet into the air. In falling they rolled into the
basement. Just as they fell through an ax held by one was dashed
violently against the plate glass window in the store at No. 111, and they
were showered with the large fragments of glass.
The hose cart and team was left standing at the corner
tied to a post. A passing electric car frightened the horses and
caused them to break the hitching straps.
Owen Hoffman, the market wagon driver, realized that
the horses might dash into and through the crowd. He leaped for the
horses' heads, grasped the reins and tired to halt them. The horses
were too badly frightened and excited to obey his detaining hands.
He was lifted bodily from the ground and was carried and dragged a half
block before the plunging, kicking animals broke loose from the hose cart.
Freed from the weight of the cart the horses
easily shook Hoffman off and he fell almost under their feet. The
horses then ran headlong into a telephone pole and the hose cart, which
had not stopped rolling, crashed upon one of the fallen horses and broke
its back.
The fire, whose origin has not been explained, started
in the kitchen of G. W. Brokaw's cafe, 111 West Ninth street. The
restaurant was opened Christmas day, and in addition to the fixtures and
stock, Brokaw's personal effects and household goods, stored in the
basement were destroyed. His loss is $1,000. No
insurance. The fire burned through the lath and plaster wall and
ceiling joists into the other stores.
The heaviest loss is that of the Mission Fixture
company which occupied the rooms at 113 and 115 West Ninth street,
estimated at $6,000. There is some insurance. The room at 109
West Ninth street was occupied as a branch office of the Western Union
Telegraph company. The loss on the building owned by William Garland
and water damaged contents of E. A. Heinzeman's drug store stock in the
corner of the building will make the total loss amount to about $15,000.
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