The Russellville Democrat., 1879-11-06
some Curiosities of Fires andFire Insur-


 ance.
 The president of the Hartford Fire h. suranee Company, in recent address to the National Association of Fire Engi- neers, in Washington, noted. some curi- ous facts. That powder-mill can, be insured for much less rate than an ice house will strike everybody as very queer.
 Why is il that matches taste so much sweeter to mice in an over-insured building? Last winter detached ice house burned up in one of our New En- gland towns. There had been no work done there for weeks. The local papers said next day, as there were no foot prints in the snow around it, it could not have been set on fire. Of course not It cost 20 cents per ton to put the ice in, and 1t was insured for S1. Mice chewing ice, possibly, but q rats, We think-two-legged ones at that,
 In regard to fire-hazards, there is, ber- haps, no idea more thoroughly engraved upon the uninitiated public mind than that an ice-house must prove the best possible risk and powder-mill the worst The latter is so naturally, universally and closely associated with fire that it at once suggests ignition; while the former seems its exact extreme-cold, cheerless, in every way its counterpart, and re- mote from fire, and board of New En- gland underwriters, after an experience of both hazards of a quarter of a century fixed the minimum rate on ice-houses at 2 per cent, and on Hazards powder mill, noted throughout the world--fire risk. of course-at of per cent. This fact is morally suggestive Tramps nev- CT hang around a powder mill, smoking old plug in clay pipes.
 Neither outsiders or insiders are apt tO pour kerosene oil over the floors nor ae- bottomless box and wait for 1t to burn out until most unexpectedly they find the place on fire Men who work, in powder mills do not smoke, nor leave their coat-tail pockets full of matches, They do not kindle fires with benzine; they do not leave oily waste on the floors and cigar stumps i'll wooden spittoons are scarce. No matter how well insured, both occupant and owner are careful, and even mice dislike the taste of matches in powder mills, and are averse to the smell of powder. The same care against fire which we find in a powder mill, carried into other hazards, would make your profession comparatively easy one, mine pleasant and profitable one.
 Some months ago in passing promi- nent picture store in the city in which reside, on q sunday, my attention was attracted by the actions of boy which seemed to betoken lunacy. He would stand with his back against the large show window outside for q few minutes, then turn about and carefully gaze with in; then again plant his back against the window. Curious to solve what seemed to be case of idiocy in bright looking boy, asked the cause of his strange actions. Directing my attention 1 discovered that the rays of the sun through the glass formed focus in the middle of large and valuable chromo, just commenced to smoke at this iden- tical point. and would evidently soon be in flames. The boy stated that he was clerk in the store, but had not his key, and discovering the state of things, he planted himself as a patient living fire-screen to protect the picture from the suns rays.
 A well-known Hartford adiuster, while recently sitting in his room in one of our finest business blocks, saw his silk umbrella standing in the corner quietly take fire and consume before his very eyes, and with no little difficulty he stopped the fire from spreading. Inyes. tigation proved it to have caught from the concentrated rays of the sun reflected from his graphoscope, innocently resting on his table Without q doubt we do not understand many actual causes Of fire, and numerous conflagrations are due from far different causes than those suspected or guessed at. In the case mentioned, had the fire occurred during the absence of the owner, and the block been consumed, as it might easily have been, it would have remained one of those unsolved mysteries which surround so many fires,