CLOSE CALL FOR WATCHMAN.
Police Pull Charles Brown From Bed
in Burning Barn.
In a fire that destroyed a sales stable conducted by John Kirby and H. A. Thompson at Nineteenth and Main street early yesterday morning, in which forty-eight horses perished, Charles Brown, a night watchman who was asleep in the building barely escaped being burned to death.
Patrolman Cummings and Duteman, whose beat is in the neighborhood of Nineteenth and Main, passed the barn at 2:30 o'clock yesterday morning. At that time they did not notice a fire. About five minutes later they passed the corner again and noticed a small blaze near the ground on the south side of the barn. They turned in an alarm and returned to awake Brown. Cummings fired three shots in the effort, but only succeeded by breaking in his door and pulling him out of bed. By that time the fire was well under way, and it was too late to save any of the horses. Several buggies were also destroyed.
The building was a one-story frame valued at $2,200. John P. Lynch of the Lynch-Watkins Lime and Cement Company, owner of the building, said it was insured for $800.
Mr. Thompson estimated his loss at $10,000, partly covered by insurance. The barn will be rebuilt.
