Source: North Manchester Journal [1901?]

BAD FIRE NARROWLY ESCAPED
Mooney's Variety Store Badly Damaged by Smoke and Water Last Sunday Evening.

Between 7 and 8 o'clock Sunday evening some young men going along the street observed Mooney's variety store full of smoke and smoke issuing from the grating in the sidewalk in front. They at once turned in an alarm and but for their timely discovery a bad fire might have resulted. By the time the fire department arrived the store was so full of smoke that nothing could be seen and dense clouds were pouring out of every crevice in the building. The fire was finally located in the cellar and the department set about fighting it as best they could, it being impossible to enter the room on account of suffocating smoke. A line of hose was run through Ebbinghous Brothers' shoe store and in at the rear end of the basement where the fire was finally reached after several attempts and was soon extinguished.

It is supposed that the fire started from the stove in the store room. Frank Dunbar, a clerk in the store, had been in and fixed the fire about an hour before. The general opinion is that a coal had dropped out of the stove and burned a hole through the floor letting fire drop into the cellar on to a lot of boxes and packing which goods had been received in. These were very inflammable and soon a roaring blaze was burning. The boxes were nearly all burned up and the under side of the floor was badly charred and burned through in several places around the stove.

The exact amount of damage is not yet known, but is fully covered by insurance. The entire stock is badly damaged by the smoke while many goods were broken or damaged by water. The store has been closed awaiting a settlement by the insurance companies. The actual loss is not so great as the damage done by smoke and water, rendering the goods unsalable. The escape from a more serious fire seems almost miraculous.