The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-06-25
FIRE in GRETNA.
The Crescent City Oil Works re
duced to Ashes.
The Oil Tanks saved-A Gallant Fire
mans Pluck True Employees I
The Fire Still Smoldering.

mans Pluck True Employees
The Fire Still Smoldering
AT about d quarter past o'clock yesterday
a most destructive fire. caused by an over
heated journal In tho hulling and ginning
room Of tho Crescent City Oil Works. broke out
and destroyed the entire works texceptlng the
oil tRnks). together with tho two large ware
houses. TO describe the extent Of the confla-
grafton 1t 10 necessary first to describe the sit
uation and the different compartments Of the
various buildings.
The factory, situated in Gretna takes up an
entire block. and Is bounded by First street In
front. Derbigny street on the left. Copanic
Avenue on the right and Second street Ia the
rear The building is q two-story brick edihce,
md IL divided into ten different Compartments.
as follows:
On the ground floor ID the main engfne-room.
the press department the boiler department,
the hulling room, the d0nke enktne-hOuse. the
refinery and soap works department., the i'm
menBe department containing the OIL tanks;
vacant lot and the department. known as the
Rasometer department. where the gas 10 manu-
featured. On the second floor. just above the
press room. is the hulling and gin room.
On the right Of the factory. fronting, on Dsr.
bigny street. just to the rear Of the main engine
room and running as far back as Second s,reet,
was the two-story brick warehouse. wei hlleo
Just IL front Of the factory, situated on the
leyee, and bounded BY First street IN the rear.
the river IL the front. Derbigny s,reet on . me
immense 1 iron warehouse. filed with cotton
seed Oil cake and sacks Ia bundles,
The property Was ~ IL al tanhs
which were saved by the strenuous efforts q
the First street .Babcock. The fire broke out n
1 hps snd nr only ssa
son Ia that department at the time. had barely
time to escape. Before an alarm could be
sounded tne ne shot saek n the
Iron warehouse.
When il reached this point the alarm wns
sounded and 1 e p s
commanded by Capt. Mckay Ida. Capt. Mm.
Stem; Wasp, ana Protector. the tugs ana the
to bear On The burning buildings. The Fl 9 had
seized On such combustible material and had
gained such Roadway that the efforts Of the hre-
AT one time the heat Of the fire became 80 IN
tense that all the tugs. together with the Fro
teotor. save the Wasp and Wood, were forca % to
so. d the heat and fought The element, although
without any effoctual result. Both boats were
badly Bcorched.
all over and looked like huge mass OF 1gni,.ed
coal: shortly thereafter It fell with g te' ripe
crash and set fire to the wharf; When the
seed and oil that were lying In the river, ~
front OF the warehouse. became heated. on.
were saved from destruction by the captain OF
che tug Wasp, who toWed them into ene
The engine David Crockett. in order to get to
work On the flames had been run down on th a..
wharf, and when the wharf TOOK ire she was IN
= very perilous position and was momen,arlly
threatened with destruction. tue engine being
completely surrounded by sheet Vt h anne 49,
president. Mr.. Fred. strallsy, who initiating
the renowned Jim Bludsoe, ssiz q tbe nozzle Ct #
he hose nd t. q e enrne e
IRE was too hot for the gallan. fireman 10 STAND
up. but he lay on his bel and manfully fought
ARD he bnd
and face, and ey !, then he would not have
escaped death had not the mar, who had charge
h hG 81 bs phh m tbT M9aa turned
: During ali this excitement the fre was fast
destroying the factory and 70 attempt to save 1t
At ) o'clock Chief Thos. o,C,nnor put in an
appearance with engines Ms. IL and IS from
this side. and they. Immediately started to
90 ooosf he pof wall wall Of IT, Factory
gave way and fell with deafentng crash. 1lling
First X1 the debris shorty 81 a
Copanic Avenue gave way. -, n..,.
Considerable credit ts due, to Mr.. Parker. the
engineer Of the factory. and his assistant, Mr.
these two gentlemen tgot the factory,5 hose to
work. aud never quilted their post until II was
impossible for u human being to have re-
By O'clock all that was left OF the factory
and the two immense warehouses were three
oed snf Wgt ash 81 salvage wagon
dered valuable service Ia saving some OF the
out buildings and preventing the flames IRON Ita
OF the streets bounding the file.
After the fire flend had done Its work and
people had somewhat got over. the excitement
Of the building. The first man he met was the
foreman of the iron warehouses, MIR. Philip
Drumm, who stated that ne was In the ware re,
house ut the time OF the fire and could tell
nothing about its origin.
. Mr.. Hoffman. who was In the room where the
lire originated. was equally ignorant regarding
Mr.. j. q. Duggan. the secretary Of the com
pany, stat that tae loss woul exceed $l25 900,
but was covered BY sl25 ooo n the foll wing
Mutual. Sun Mutual, Liverpool and London
and Globe. Mechanics and Traders. and the
Merchants Mutual.
MIR. David Mclean, the pre- i1ent OF the COM
pany made statement to the reporter. that he
Thought the fire was an accident. and coriobO-
ane of ne loss 81 and h H
further stated that he had been running the
factory night and day. and this catastrophe
would throw about 300 men out OF employment
MINOR INCIDENTS.
dHu In0 WIHU Uf6u IIOul LILO Weob AASLShh -
from the east the greater portion OF Gretna
would have been destroyed. The most remark
able feature OF the fire. and the one that struck
terror to every one that heard II. was the ex,
plosion Of the gasometer. Fortunately 1t did
no damage.
The tugboat Wasp. Capt A. Queant was the
last of the boats at work on the fire to with
draw from 1t. and then the hea had become 20
intense that the withdrawal bad to be g hasty
one, SO hasty, indeed that it was found neces
sary to abandon i large quantity Of the hose OF
the boat.
Several persons around and about the fire
received slight injuries; some were burned on
the hands, while others were struck with pieces
Of brick.
At . O'clock last night the debris Of the fire
was still burning.
Plain and fancy candies Of all kinds at low
prices at Miller & Dielmanns.
THE LAUREL BOYS SCHOOL.
We have received the following communica-