Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-02-08
DESTRUCTIVE CoNFLAGRAr1oN.
Loss of Life, and Several Persons L'jmr

kerry, in Boston. The amount of damage, the
importance of the establishment and the nu-
merous accidents and incidents attending the
conhagration, seem to require fuller account,
which we subjoin, having condensed it from
the report of the Boston Journal.
Shortly after two o'clock, Sunday morning,
an alarm in District l, reused the entire Fire
Department. The scene of conhagration prov
ed to be in the large granite front, six story
building owned by Mr.. Joseph G. Russell,
situated on Commercial street, opposite Bat
terry wharf, and occupied by him as Steam
Bakery.
. The flames had made such progress before
they were discovered that upon the arrival of
the firemen, it was found impossible to enter
the building, and in about twenty minutes
after the general alarm was sounded, con-
siderable portion of the rear wall fell with a
tremendous crash, causing no inconsiderable
damage to one or two small and not very val
liable buildings
The monstrous ovens and much of the heay-
Ter part of the machinery, together with the
steam engine, were located in the rear part Of
the building, and the falling of the wall to-
gether with the increasing fury of the flames,
banished all hope of saving any of that portion
of the structure, or the contents.
| The two Steam Fire Engines, and all the
| out avail in saving any part of the building,
as the side walls shortly tumbled in, one after
the other and this was followed by the fall of
| the tall granite 'front.' which came down with
| a tremendous crash, some of the heavy stones
| falling across the street and landing on Battery
| wharf, to the imminent peril Of spectators,
| thousands of whom were in the immediate
vicinity The fine structure was thus render
ed great mass of burning and smouldering
| ruins.
The side walls in falling, crushed and badly
damaged several buildings adjoining on Com
mercial street, and on Salutation, and Battery
| streets.
THE STEAM BAKERY.
This structure was six stories in hight
| granite 'front.' with brick side and rear walls to
the five upper stories-the lower one being en-
tirey of granite. 1t measured 120 feet front,
and about l40 feet deep. The machinery was
selected by Mr.. Joseph G. Russell, the owner
of the building and proprietor of the bakery,
with great care, and cost $4,000. 1t was put
in practical operation last week, for the first
time, and fully equaled the expectations of Mr..
Russell and those in his employ. Portions of
the building were used for storage of flour and
other articles of provisions, and at the time of
the fire some t,Centy thousand barrels of -four,
most Of which was on storage, was in the
building, and was buried among the ruins.
Exclusive of the land, the whole establish
ment cost about $l25, 900, on which Mr.. Rus
sell had $50, 00O insurance on the building and
machinery. On his stock of flour, which con-
sisted of about 5000 barrels, Mr.. Russell was
insured in New York.
ON COMMERCIAL STREET.
The wooden buildings, Nos. 366, $685. and
80, owned by Mr.. EbeneZer Shute, were all
damaged by the falling walls No. $40, which
was occupied by Messrs. Gookin and Stoddert,
was entirely crushed and ruined
ON sALUTATIoN STREET.
No. 16, three story wooden house, owned
by Mr.. Abraham Allcock and sister, was
crushed and burnt so that it was destroyed.
It was occupied by five families, besides Mr..
Allcock, who is bachelor, upwards OF severn
ty years of age, and lived by himself in an up
per chamber. He was found in the cellar, at
ter having been twice driven away, quite bad
ly injured, and was conveyed to the Massa-
chusetts General Hospital 1t is stated that
he had sum of money secreted in the cellar,
and was in search of that. Last evening, Mr.
Allcock was thought to be in a fair way of
speedy recovery.
No. IA was three story wooden house, own
ed by Mr. John Wooley, and was considerably
damaged by the falling walls and fire.
The three. story wooden house, Nos. Is and
II, on the opposite side of the street, was own
ed by sister of Mr.. Wooley, and was nearly
destroyed by falling wall Her loss is about
$1,000, and she has no insurance. Five fami-
lies occupied the house.
No. II was a three story wooden house,
owned by two ladies named Lord, residents of
Portland, and occupied by Mr.. Thomas Will
Hams. This house was completely crushed by
the falling walls.
ON BATTERY STREET,
large three story wooden building, belong
ing to Edward w. Parkman and other heirs,
and occupied by several families, was damaged
by fire and falling walls to the amount of about
$500.
INCIDENTS, ACCIDENTS, &C.
A colored man named Daniel Henderson,
who for several years had volunteered his SER
vices to Cataract Engine Company, No. 4, had
barely reached the burning building, when he
was crushed to the earth by falling wall, and
killed almost instantly, his back and legs being
broken.
Mr. Franklin A. Manson, belonging in Sa-
lem, and by trade machinist, had one of his
legs broken by a wall falling upon him
Mr.. Warren Hunt of the Harbor Police had
one or two of the bones in one Of his hands
broken by heavy stone falling upon it.
Mr.. Luther White, also of the Harbor Po-
lice, was in the second story of one of the
crushed houses, getting the occupants out,
when wall fell upon the roof carrying him
down with the rubbish to the floor below. He
escaped with but Blight bruises.
The foregoing are the most serious accidents
which occurred at the fire. Many of the spec
tators seemed to be perfectly reckless, and it
was with the greatest effort that the police
were enabled to keep them out Of harms way
The total loss, exclusive of -four in the build
ing, is estimated at about 100000, ON which,
so tar as ascertained, there was but SOL 900 in
surance. Together with the flour, the total
loss is estimated at not less than $250,000 and |
some good judges are of the opinion that it will |
not fall much short of 100000.
There is no doubt that the fire was the work
Of an incendiary. Several previous attempts
had been made to set it on fire, and on Sat
urday afternoon a large watch dog, which had
been kept on the premises, was missing and
did not return until after the fire. On Satur-
day night Mr.. Russell's last act previous to
leaving the building, was to see that all the
inner as well as outer doors were secured, and
to give special directions to the engineer and
fireman, who had agreed to remain through
the night to keep a vigilant look out. He
then left by the front door, locking it after
him.
Sometime afterward, the men, who were in
the basement, hearing noise in the third
story, rushed up stairs, and to their astonish-
ment found on some boxes, which were heaped
up around post, a basket of shavings with
a lighted jet of gas turned upon it. The bas-
ket and contents were well on fire. and the
flames had already communicated with the
flooring above, which was directly over the
oven, and of course was very dry
The men seized the basket and threw it
down the scuttle into the basement where it
landed under flight of stairs, setting them on
fire. and finding that there was no possibility
Of their stopping the progress of the flames,