AN ELECTRIC FIRE.

Crossed Wires Make a Stubborn Boston Block Blaze.

A very serious fire from a prospective point of view occurred in the Boston block about 5 o'clock this morning. Though little damage was done the fire becomes a significant one from the fact that it was caused by the electric wires in the building.

There is not much doubt that the dangerous electric fluid started the blaze, for the fire was located in the ceiling of the rear room of the restaurant underneath the block, where all the electric wires for that part of the building are centered. The spot is almost directly underneath the stationery room of the City bank, as well as the large office of Carey Emerson, the wholesale grocery brokerage and commission man, on the ground floor. The firemen worked for a long time to extinguish the fire, being obliged finally to tear up a portion of the floor of the south side of Mr. Emerson's office. This office presents a rather sorry spectacle this morning, and the stationery room of the bank contains a mass of charred paper. The damage to Mr. Emerson is confined to his fixtures and is about $50. The City bank will lose about $100, and will be obliged to use blank paper for its correspondence for a few days. The damage to the building is probably about $100 more.

Chief Stetson, of the fire department, said this morning that he did not believe the fire was caused by the electric wire; it originated in a corner of Emerson's office, and to all appearances resulted from spontaneous combustion. That was the only way he could account for it.