Providence, RI Barnaby Clothing Store Fire, Dec 1890

A BIG FIRE IN PROVIDENCE.

PROVIDENCE, R. I., Dec. 13.---Fire broke out this afternoon in the establishment of the J. B. Barnaby Clothing Company, at Westminster and Dorrance Streets. The employes [ineligible], mostly women, had barley time to escape. Women clerks in the cloak department and customers stood at the windows paralyzed with fright. But they were encouraged and hurried out by the firemen. The fire was so fierce that a fourth alarm was sounded, as it was rapidly communicating to adjoining buildings. It spread to the Root Building, nest door. The wall of the Barnaby Building fell upon the roof of the Root Building, and it too was soon a mass of flames. The fire also jumped across Middle-Street to the Union Hall opposite, but in this quarter the progress of the flames was staid for the time.

The loss of the J. B. Barnaby Company cannot be fully stated at present, but it is probably fully insured. The Root Building, with its contents of hardware, is valued at $60,000. The Dorrance Building (Barnaby's) cost $75,000. It is a total loss, with insurance for $60,000 placed through the agencies of Addison H. White and Starkweather & Shipley.

The New York Times, New York, NY 14 Dec 1890
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Transcribed by Linda Horton. Thank you, Linda!