Street Cars Stop

At an early hour yesterday morning, the barn and rolling stock of the Arm Arbor Street Railway company went up in flames, entailing not only a large pecuniary loss to the stockholders, but putting a stop to the running of cars in the city and greatly inconveniencing , the public. The cause of the fire is not definitely kuown. The electric current had been entirely turned off, and there was no one about the barn except the night watchman, who was busy in cleaning out the last car run in. The fire started about a qüarter to one o'clock. The night watchman noticed a little spiral fíame in the rear or east end of the barn. He ran to throw some water on it, when there was a big puff, and the flames instantly ran up the whole side of the building. He ran across the road to arouse Herman Krapf's family, and after doing this started to run up towards the engine house shouting fire at the top of his lungs. Before he got there, however, the department was on the way, having been warned by a hackman who had seeh the flames a long distance away. Before starting to give the alarm the night watchman turned the biakes of the forward car and allowed it to run out, and this was the only car saved, but this was badly scorched. The gray team was the first team at the fire. When it arrived the flames were pouring out of the barn towards the street and as it went past on the run on the west side of the street, laying the hose, the heat was so intense' that it scorched the horse nearest the fire so that its gray hairs turned to yellow, and the horse cart so that it will have to be repainted. The whole barn was afire and it was clearly impossible to save it. Four streams of water poured into the blaze and the fire was confined to the street caf barns, although there were two other barns close to iS. One cf these was so close that the west wall of the street car barn feil against it. yet it was preserved f rom injury. A dog belonging to the nightwatchman was burned up in the office. The loss was the largest that has occurred in this city since the organization of the paid fire department. In fact, it was as large as all the fire losses here since the organization of the fire department. Five motor cars and one trailer were burned. The motor cars cost when new, $4,000 each and the trailer cost $700, so that the loss to the company on rolling stock was $20,700 and on the barn about $1,200. The insurance of $10,000 on the rolling stock and $1,000 on the building was carried in the insurance agency of James R. Bach and was divided as follows: on the rolling stock, $2,500 in the Paletine Insurance Co.; $2,500 in the Springfield, (Mass.) Insurance Co.; $2,500 in the North British and Merchantile Insurance Co.; and $2,500 in the American of Philadelphia. The $1,000 insurance on the building was carried in the Northern Assurance company of London. A meeting of the stockholders of the road was held in the city yesterday morning, but as Hudson T. Morton, one of the principal holders of stock, was in Chicago and had not yet arrived, no definite action was taken, looking towards replacing the rolling stock. Until new rolling stock is purchased, the running of street cars must entirely cease. As a rule a thing is most appreciated when it is lost and the citizens of Ann Arbor will have an opportunity to learn how much of a public convenience the street railway has been. The theory of spontaneous combustión as the cause of the fire has many advocates. There were two or three oil barrels in the building, it is said, and these with the usual accompaniment of rags and the oil drippings found about machinery made the fire so much more easily spread. The motormen lost coats, mittens, etc, which they had left in the barn. The street raüway lost a large nuraber of tickets. They got out most of their cash after the fire. The safe and its contents were all right. Many spectators looked at the ruins yesterday. They saw the ice coated frame work of the building, charred and burned, and the iron work of the cars also thickly coated with ice. Prices on new cars have been telegraphed for and queries made as to how quickly orders can be filled.