Smyrna times., 1875-08-04
FIRE.

Last night, about midnight the canning
factory of this town, belonging to Hoffecker
& Bro. John Ii. and Joseph w. was en-
tirely consumed by fire, with most of the
contents. 1t was large three-story frame
structure, with extended back buildings.
The lire broke out at halfpast l /, in the third
story, where the can makers work. The
usual precautions had been taken the pre-
vlous evening put out the soldering fires,
1t is said, and hence the origin is uncx-
planned. There was a partial insurance of
5000 on the building and machinery. The
most serious loss, however, is on stock,
consisting of cans for this seasons use.
There were over $4,000 of these made up
and material for about 2O00 more, all of
which were destroyed. These, with the
machinery, will entail and absolute loss of
from $7,000tO $4,000 About $4,000 worth
OF canned tomatoes were saved, and 5000 or
1000 peach baskets. A small portion of the
tomatoes and 1000 baskets were DESTROYED.
Fortunately some additional stock ordered
The heavy rains of the early evening had
much to dO with preventing wide spread
coniiagration. Tho residence of Mr.. j. ".
llotfecker, i'll close proximity on the one
side, and that of Mrs. Ann Cats, ON the
other, were in imminent danger, particularly
the former, it being frame and quite near
the burning building. 1t took the utmost
cXertions of our working citizens to keen
down the ever communicating flames. a
noticeable feature during the intense cx.
cltmcnt was the hard work put forth by =,
number OF ladies, whose struggles with the
buckets to keep the engines supplied was
heroic indeed. a number of tlamps also
came to the rescue and worked nobly and
faithfully for our towns interests. With
no special interests in our welfare. their
efforts called forth marked appreciation
But those efficient men who always labor to
the purpose-tO them our citizens are
especially indebted, at this time and all
others. The drOncs are marked here at
home. Some of them or property owners,
and may some day need the assistance thev
withhold from others. 4 sad feature of
the fire, beyond the heavy loss it has caused
to the ProprietOrs, is that over one hundred
men, women and children are Knocked out
OF anticipated work, soon to have begun.
OFFICERS UNDER BAN.-lt would seem
to he difficult thing for man to hold a
public office and II good reputation in vii.
mington, at one and the same time. Some
official, either State, Municipal or National.
Is running the gauntlet of public criticism
there all the time, and the recent investi.
cations into personal character there, tire.
some and disgusting as it was, was calcu
lated to make outsiders think that it is only
necessary to give man an office to subject
him to distrust. The latest charges made
public are against the Mayor and his police
The Wilmington correspondent to the
Lewes Light comes out in this pain style in
his last letter:
" Known violators of the law are winked
at by the authorities little effort being
made by the chief executive to secure
prompt and efficient service from his subor-
dinates, he being according to current
runorl frequently unfit and hence unable
to perform the duties of his office. A man
employed TO discover unlicensed liquor
dealers, publicly charges the chief of police
with perjury, and is threatened with a
knock down, and advised to get out of the
way quickly,-as the only answer to the
charge. And this chief of police is a
prospective justice, by Gov. Cochran's ap-
pOintment. Men of known intempcrate
habits are given public employment, to the
detrimcnt of sober men.