Urban dangers

In July 1896, a fire in a tailor shop on the fifth floor of the six-floor brick building located at 88 Blackstone Street resulted in damages of $25,000. Despite the fire having a good start due to roadwork on Blackstone Street delaying the firefighters, the fire was well under control 10 minutes after the second alarm sounded. The part of the fifth floor where the fire had started was occupied by L. Arkin, trousers maker, Goldstein, trousers maker, and S. Elman, vest maker. The cause of the fire was unknown and even though the fire was kept to the fifth and sixth floors of the building, water damage affected the lower floors. This greatly impacted many of the stores, especially those in the basement and first floor.  Some of these are the Eastern Dressed Meat Company, the grocery store of W. H. Murphy, and the meat store of H. A. Belcher. While this fire did not occur directly on the parcel of 47-117 Blackstone, it occurred across the street and demonstrated the risk of fires in an urban environment and how it could affect surrounding businesses. It also demonstrated how building in brick within an urban environment can help slow the spread of fires so that they can be controlled quickly, unlike what occurred in the past with buildings primarily made out of wood. Finally, it demonstrated how various aspects of city life, such as road construction, impacted how the effects of fires are felt by the owners and workers of the buildings. Luckily, in this case, the owners of the building, the Powers, had the physical building insured, which limited the cost of damages and allowed for fast rebuilding. However, the insurance did not cover the products and supplies lost by the various businesses in the aftermath of the fire and water damage.

 On May 30, 1905, Benjamin W. O’Nell of 73 Blackstone Street had his horse and buggy stolen from in front of his place of business by Edward Walsh, a 22-year-old seaman from the ship Colorado, who was on land for his first shore leave after several weeks at sea. Four or five hours after O’Nell reported his horse and buggy missing to police, patrolmen Keane and Feeney of the 2nd division caught sight of the missing horse and buggy and attacked the driver, Edward Walsh, from the flank. They then interrogated the sailor only to receive incoherent confirmation that he didn’t know whose horse and buggy he had and that he didn’t care, leaving him to be locked up later. Interestingly, he was not the only one of his crewmates locked away that evening either for other petty crimes or for indecent exposure and elevated levels of alcohol in their systems.