The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1877-01-05
rags. and then nailed all up in starch

y
shall have an explanation OF the fire.
1t is now noon; come here at o'clock
this evening"
went away and almost forgot him
until evening. When | reached his
shop he was in good spirits and his face
wore bland smile.
"Put your hand on the box" " he said.
/ obeyed, and to my great surprise
found it warln-almost hot.
sYou will have to wait an hour," he I
continued as we sat down; ''combus-
ton has already commenced"
So it had. There was smell of |
burning cotton and heated wood, and
within fifteen minutes after my arrival
smoke poured from the box and was
soon followed by flames. l could but
take his word that he had not meddled
with the box5 ard each little jet of flame
leaping from the box was theory in
itself to support the main theory.
ou may receive it as fact that,
when oil and shavings and rags come
together, fire will result,'' he said.
i clad / not allowed the box to stand
here in the draft the flames would have
consumed it two honr5 ago"
Within the next week we repeated
the same experiment, with the same re-
snlt, and we produced spontaneous COM
bustion with oiled shavings afone aud
then with oiled rags. Since that time
have witnessed three fires in buildings
which originated from oiled rags. Two
OF these were in paint stores, where the
rags had been thrown III heap en- the
floor, and the third was III a grocery
store, where oil had accidentally been
spilled OH heap of paper rags. The
shop or factory or store which does not
provide an iron chest for its greasy rags
will sooner or later suffer from fire.
One day, not long after our first ex-
periments, | met Old Spon on the street
and we walked together. We passed
by an old house which had just been
converted into store-room for the re-
:. ception of paper rags, and a large lot
was just then being taken in. The old
man looked into the building, then care
} fully noted the windows, and as we
walked Oh he said
) ''They are building bonfire there p
) 'sHow ?'' asked.
r Every paue of glass is i'll place, the
\ doors shut tightly, and there is 10 es-
5 cape for the heat engendered by the
i rags" he replied. s'If they do not Sc
cure ventilation, the building will burn
within a week 70
lie was right. On the tlsiId hight
: after that-a close, sultry light-the
; old house was discovered to be on Ere.
!, The firemen gathered so promptly that
: the building was not greatly damaged,
:. aud they called it an incendiary fire.
!, Cd Spon was OH hand and we found
the identical sack in which the combus.
ton occurred-a sack containing sever.
al pieces OF cd silk. and quantity OF
paper and many pieces OF old cotton
The flame bad run up the side of the
house and shown itself before half tho
sack was consumed, and we could trace
it as easily as any one may trace thG
:, course OF highway.
About month after this, | had busi
o ness III large picture frame factory
d I met Old Spon at tie corner, anG
e, while [ was III the factory office the olt
re man went 'smousing" through the vari
ous departments. Returning, he sait
r, to the superintendent
N 'slf you men are not more careful yor
le will burn out here some day"
t, ssHow-why 2" asked the official.
h. Old ;Spon led us to the room wher
a the oil-tinished frames were being fiji
k ished up. 1t was a small, close room
le the floor was spattered with oil; score
70 of oiled frames were hanging on th
ID walls there was bushel or more {
as oiled rags ON the floor and benches.
lis 1--WE never have a stove here, eve
ct i'll winter said the superintendent. 6
n. he looked around.
ne Each one of those rags is a stove,
e. replied the old man. 81 he window
as are up now and the hot air has chan,
I'd to escape, but put them do WI and spol
ng taneous combustion will fire the factor
d, within six Eours.o
ed The superintendent smiled comtemp
er uously as he turned to me, and OH ii
nd way out lie wanted to know if my o.
friend was not an escaped lunatic
an To follow this case through, I VI
I'd. add that one cold day in october, Il
ed. employees of the finishing room p
q down the windows aud left them dov
nd when they went home at six o'clec
,as At ten o'clock in the evening, an alar
m, of fire was turned in from the factos
ok and the flames created damage to I
/ amount OF So 900 before being conqu,
ed. One could trace the origin of I
lire directly to the fI1lshlng roo
md That room was all ablaze before a
we other portion ofthe factory was touche
op. The cynical superintendent became
tly believer IN spontaneous combustion, a
the oiled rags are now thrown into
La iron box for the night.
rop 4 case in which spontaneous comb
ere tion could be more clearly traced sc
vas occurred. A woman used a piece of
JUS cotton and some linseed oil to brighr
ak up the table of her sewing machi
ags Through her carelessness the rag afl
of wards found It's way into the basket
soiled clothes, which was kept III cl
,ous closet. That night, within six no
his after placing the rag in the closet,
house became filed with smoke ard
viii investigation proved that the clot
Ifter basket was on FIRE.
vay. Old Spon was delighted when