The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1881-07-30
FIRE IN WILMINGTON.
THE PUSSY AND JONES COMPANY
SH1PYARD BURNED.
A Workman Burned to Death While
Trying to Rescue His Tools.

The ire on Monday evening at the Pussy
X Jones Shipyarl WAS The most disastrous
that has occurred in tl,HI city for number
of years. 1t WAS \ few minutes after sin
O'Clock " hen The fire started rs the steam
boat FCltoh was passing by the works ol.
her way To the French street wharf several
passenger, noticed the flames. They wer..
then i'll the southeast corner of the huildin,
occupied as a Joiner shop, saw and planin,
mills, and mould shop. The facilities Ia.
eNtinguishins the fire ut The yard Mere very
poor, and the railroad company were al
piled to for hose. y steam pump ut III
na"hine shop was put i'll motion. There
was Il bIi>k breeze blowing from he >outl
in the direction OF the depot. The building
was frame, AMI its contents were of III
lghtest material. ~ soon the'iire kin
died and began TO spread all the doors il,
the building were ordered 10 Ice closed
! Seeing thar the destruction Of the huildiu.
was inevitable, Waterman Dawson, at iii
risk of his life, for the structure was f.,
filling with slnoke, rushed i'll and blew ui.
the boilers, which prevented AN explosion,
that otherwise would lave occurred, with
possibly IA loss Of life.
AS the sparks and ,in,terS began to fail in
the other direction the roofs OF the threat
ened locality We're mounted 10y men and the
women OF the households formed lines ami
passed buckets TO The workers above. Al
though the heat was hardly as intense a.
that experienced by the men on the depot
sheds, The danger was just as great because
of the thick volumes Of smoke. The roofs
of the houses caught fire i'll many places,
hut the continuous applications OF water
saved Il general contagration.
While these workers We're thus engaged,
the buildings in the lower part of the ship
ward were being DESTROYED The great Ia
pidity with which the fire spread re
rnarkahle. From the office it ccnmuni-
Gated To the sand room, where finished pat
terms We're stored. From here il spread to
the foundry. where the first successful eff
fort III checking its further progress was
made. Being confined within the walls of
the office, the sand boiler and engine rooms
il spent its fury, and WAS soon under con-
troll.
The fire originated from 4 forge on the
ground floor below the mould loft. 1t had
been used by the workmen during the day.
The flames We're communicated to the mould
loft. The buildings destroyed are: Joiner
shops. two stories. built 1861. Iron work
shop and mould loft, two story frame hnild
ing, built 1873. Fitting shop, one story.
Boiler and engine house. Office, with draw
ing rooms, a twu-story brick \ sand house
and storage room for patterns. \ two
story brick, used as office, carriage and
storage rooms. Store sheds for TASKS. The
foundry, Il two-Story binding, and the pat
tern shops Il three-Story building, were also
on fire, but the fireman Succeeded in saving
them The stocks, on which We're three
iron steamships, We're saved by the favor
able direction the wind was blowing. Had
these caught and burned, and the untiniSh-
hulls toppled to the ground the damage
would have been considerably greater than
it is. The actual loss will probably exceed
10000, fully covered by insurance.
About 200 men are thrown ont of regular
employment y great part OF these, how
ever, will be put at work clearing up the
debris, as it is the intention OF the firm to
rebuild Immediately. The loss 10y the de
struction of patterns is great, and can hard
ly be accurately estimated, rs in many cases
Il pattern once DESTROYED is extremely diff
cult of replacement.
The body of John Mutchler was found hv
the workmcn willie searching among the
debris on Tuesday morning, in Il horribly
muti!ated conditiod. His trunk was found
lying in the northeast corner of the shop
The head and legs We're burned almost cont
pietelv OFT, leaving only an almost uurec-
Ognizable mass of charred flesh. He was
about Il years old, and q nephew of Joseph
Stockle, the brewer. He has Il brother-in-
law, Joseph J.. Thatcher, in the United
States navy. 1t is supposed the lad rushed
in the burning building to save some tools,
and that he was overcome by the rapid rush
of the flames, which spread through the
building with fearful. rapdity. Another
workman, who entered the shop with him
at the time, fortunately escaped. Although
one or two others are missing, no other re-
mains have yet been found, and so far as
known positively. no other lives were lost.