The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-05-09
FURIOUS FLAMES.
The Glass Works Destroyed
by Fire Saturday night
Full Details of the Serious
Conf1agration.
Loss Estimated at $5O.OOOs
the Insurance half
that amount.

Saturday night this city was visited by
| a disastrous fire, which resulted in the to-
| tai destruction of one of the chief manu-
| featuring industries of Rock Island. The
glass works, for the second time, have
been leyeled to the ground by the flames
and number of workmen are thus thrown
out of employment.
The fire, at first, was thought to he the
work of incendiary, but subsequent
facts show that it originated from sparks
in the heating department, known as the
pot arch The wind was blowing at a
stiff rate of speed, and caused the flames
to spread with wonderful rapidity. In a
| few moments after the fire was first dis
covered the entire structure, covering the
block, was wrapped in flames. For time
it appeared as if adjoining buildings and
more particularly..the Buford Pillow Works,
were in danger and could not be saved
Such, however, did not prove to be the
case, as the water supply was ample, and
enabled the firemen to confne the fire
within the glass works. and prevent it
from spreading, as would certainly have
been the case but for the abundant supply
of water furnished them.
THE ALARM.
Al half past eleven O'Clock the first alarm
was turned in. and very soon thereafter
the fire department was on the spot. The
alarm bells and the Illumination caused by
the burning woodwork, of which the
glass factory was principally composed,
attracted universal attention and drew an
immense crowd of people to the scene of
the conhagration At the time the fire de-
partment arrived the whole structure was
enveloped in flames, and it was evident
that the best work could be accomplished
by preventing the spread of the flames to
adjoining buildings. To this end num-
Der OF streams We're soon playing on the
stove works. the brewery and the pillow
works, willie close watch was maintained
on the smaller dwellings facing the burn
ing block of buildings, The material
composing the covering for the the glass
furnaces and works in general was like so
much finder ana It's combustion being very
rapid created an intense heat which mill
tated against the near approach of the fire
men. The latter, by degrees, concentrated
their efforts on the warehouse and office of
the glass works and saved them with very
slight loss.
THE ORIGIN.
The fire was first discovered by George
Kelly furnace tender. He was on night
watch, the works running night and day
and had occasion to visit, the heating room.
This was the furnace room on the extreme
south of the works which connected two
main buildings. In this room the vessels
were heated before being filed with glass.
As he entered the room he discovered that
the floor about the furnace was on fire
which rapidly worked its way to the sides
and finally reached the roof He fastened
to return to the room Immediately east Of
the burning apartment but found that the
flames had preceded him and that the roof
was burning furiously. He made his way
out of the building, gave the alarm and
ran for the water works near by. Before
reaching the water works the flames had
spread on the roof in all directions. The
main buildings and sheds Were soon enveI-
oped, making a scene of great brilliancy,
and illuminating the city for many blocks.
The other workmen engaged on duty, of
whom there perhaps 20, were We're apprised
of the fire by having the flames dart along
the rooms in which they We're laboring
The roof appeared to be the means of com
municatiOn from one building to another
and from room to room. So rapid was the
communication that the workmen were
obliged to run out of the building and
had no time to take even their tools with
them. The fire originated from a spark
falling on the floor of the heating room,
from the furnaces in the pot arch. This is
the presumption, as there is no other theo-
ry that viii satisfactorily explain the origin
in this department. The room had been
visited a short time previous to the discov-
cry of the flames and everything was
working in perfect order.
SPREADING
After the fire had extended along the
surface of the roofs, in both directions
from the starting point, until it met on the
opposite side of the block, the buildings
being arranged in a quadrangle which was
bounded by the four streets, the flames
worked along the sides and into the interi-
or. The fire covered such large area that
its successful extinction with a limited fire
department was out of the question.
1t had gained such Roadway and
was famed by the heavy wind
prevailing at the time, that the
efforts of that department were directed to
the warehouse and office located on the
northeast corner of the block. The first
arrivals at the fire had visited the office
and removed the books and valuable