Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-10-04
Some CuriOsities OF Fires and Fire
UnanrRnce

The president OF the Hartford Fire insurance
Company, in recent address to the National
Association Of Fire Engineers, in Washington;
noted some curious facts. That pow1er-mtll
can be insured for much less rate tnaR an
Ice house Will strike every body as very queer.
Why is it that matches taste 50 much sxeeter
to mice IL oYer-insured buildings? Last winter
detached ice house burned up In one OF our
New England towns. There had been no work
done there for weeks. The local papers said
next day, as there were no foot marks In the
snow around 1t, it could not have been SET on
fire. OF course not. IL costs twenty cents per
ton to put the ice In and It was insured for
we Acknowledged at that.
In regard to fire hazards, there is perhaps no
idea more thoroughly engrafted upon the IN
initiated public mind than that an ice house
must prove the best possible risk, and powder
mill the worst. The latter is so naturally uni
versally and closely associated with fire that it
at once suggests ignition; while the former
seems It's exact eXtreme-coid, cheerless in
every way its counterpart, and remote from
fire. Yet board of New England underwriters,
after an experience Of both hazards of quar-
ter OF century, fixed the minimum rate on Ice
houses at az per cent. and on Hazard powder
MILL noted throughout the world-f1re risk of
cOurse-at q OF one per cent. This fact Is NOR
ally suggestive. TrampS never hang around q
powder mill, smoking old plug in Clay pipes.
Neither outsiders nor insiders are apt to pour
Kerosene Oil over the floors, nor accidentally
stick lighted candle into a bottomleSs box and
wait for II to burn out, until most Unexpectedly
they lind the place on fire. Men who work In
tall pockets full OF matches. They do not kim
die fires with benZine: they do not leave oily
waste around on the floors, and cigar stumps In
wooden spittoons are scarce. No matter how
well insured, both occupant and owner are care
ful, 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
nnd In powder mill, carried into other
hazards, would make your profession a compar-
at1vely easy one, mine pleasant and profita-
bic one.
Some months ago, In passing prominent pic
tuTe store In the city in which l reside, on
sunday, my attention was attracted by the &C.
tons Of a boy, which seemed to betoken lunacy.
He would stand with his back against the large
ShoW-Window outside for few minutes, then
turn about and carefully gaze within; then
again plant his back against the window. Curl
GUS to solve What seemed to be the case of
fdlocy In bright looking boy, asked the cause
OF his strange actions. Directing my attention
discovered that the rays of the sun through
the glass formed a focus in the middle of large
and valuable chrome, which Just commenced to
smoke at this Identical point, and would evil
IDENTIFY 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 patent living fire-screen, to pro-
tect the picture from the suns rays.
well-inown Hartford adjuster, while re-
Gently sitting In his room in one OF our finest
business b'ocbs saw his silk umbrella, standing
IL the corr er, quietly take fire and consume be-
fore his very eyes, and with no little difficulty
he stopped the fire from spreading. Investiga-
ton proved it to have caught from the concern
oscope, fDnocently resting on his table. With
out doubt, we do not understand many actual
causes of fire, and numerous CONGREGATIONS are
due to far different causes from 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 esTSily
have been, 1t would have remained one CT those
unsolVed mysteries Which surround so many
fires