Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1872-07-11
Partial Destruction OF the Scale
ManufsctoFy Of "'sEOEye-s scaIess..
af Brandon.

Nanufaciory oE s.sEovve-s scaIe.s-
af Brandon.
About , o'clock on the morning of Tie
4th Of July, the alarm of fire was heard
by the citizens Of Brandon, an alarm
which, for a time, promised to be con
ilagration more serious than has ever
visited our town; and had il not been
for the stiffness OF the night. and heroic
and unceasing efforts Of the men of
Brandon, the scale factory. at least.
would have been swept away. and. with
their immense piles of lumber in their
yard ia the rear, the flames would soon
have communicated with the rear Of the
stores on the corner and destroying the
largest portien of the business part of
Brandon.
The fire was discovered by Mr.. Sam
uel J. Hall. lie was on his way to the
depot from his residence, nearly a mile
out Of town, to meet his daughter whom
he was expecting on the train from the
south. As he passed by the building he
saw the flames inside the building in the
wood room, and they were already pour
ing in large volumes from the lower
( windows. lie raised the alarm Of fire
and called foi tie watchman. pounding
on his door and endeayoring TO raise
/ him, ''fOr fear he might not know Of
/ the fire and lose his life in the building.
! He finally succeeded in raising him, but
I
/ had arrived Most of the citizens
/ thought it was 4th Of July celebration
and did not start so soon as they other
wise would, but when the alarm sounded
that the scale shop was on fire, The citi-
zens poured out fn masse and nearly
every man went with the determination
to do his utmost, but when they arrived
/ there, and the engine put to work, hard
| ly man in the whole crowd believed Il
could be saved. It was known that the
/ lower story was full of fcombnstible mater
ial, seasoned lumber in large quantities.
The building, itself, was very dry, and
the flames were issuing out of the win
dows and door in volumes. But they
went to work with viii, every man
fell into his place, some on the brakes,
others passing water in pals, so that
nothing was left undone that could be
done. Men never worked better and
soon their efforts began to tell But as
soon as they were apparently checked
in one place they broke out in another,
running up the side of the building and
reaching the roof But the water in
pals checked it until the hose could be
spared from some other place, and after
three hours hard fighting the efforts of
the men secured to them their well
earned victory. Brandon has always
had An enviable reputation in fighting
fires, and the result of Wednesday nights
work shows that but for the indomnita-
bic pluck never to give up, the build
ing would have gone.
Mr.. Sprague, the president of the
company, and the main owner of the
works, was in New York and arrived
home about 3 o'clock a. m, in the midst
of the fire. The fire probably took from
a heap of charcoal near the forge on the
second floor. and must have burned for
hours, and how the watchman could
have gone into the room every half hour
and not discovered it is a mystery not
easily solved, except upon the supposi-
ton that he did not go in there for some
hours before the fire.
The greatest damage was on the first
or wood floor The loss on stock and
tools is quite large, and the sleepers be-
tween the first and second stories was
80 badly burnt a new floor viii proba-
bly, have to be built. Water did most
of the damage on the second and third
floors.
The loss has been SO widely estimated
it is impossible TO judge what Il viii
foot up at
The buildings were well insured in
good reliable companies, represented
here by Omsbce & Briggs. and are the
-Ena of Hartford, Phoenix of Hartford,
Home Of New York, international Of
New York, Imperial of London, Andes
of Cincinnati. Alps Of Erie, and Yer
mont Mutual
4 letter from a correspondent, re-
ceived after our regular report, says:
Had the building burned, there Is no
estimating the disaster. for in the rear Of
the building there was over five hundred
thousand feet of lumber, and the yard
came up close to the back part of stores
on Park street, and the fire would have
undoubtedly consumed a large part Of
the business portion Of the village. But
it has been said, and very truthfully,
that they use acater in Brandon TO extin-
guish fire, and ecery man is a fremson,
and the work on this occasion adds new
laurels to the Citizens Fire Company
and they have again won admiration as
fire 6glters
The loss is estimated from $4,000 to
500 600, which is fully covered by in
surance.
The company were working to the
fullest extent and were greatly behind
their orders, but the energy Of the Of
ficers Of the company viii, within a
week, have every department inrunning
order.
WEATHERsFIELD.- Daniel A. Wheeler
on the Sd inst.
Nathaniel Gowing, aged 81, died at
Upper Falls, July 4th.