Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-12-22
A MONDAY BLAZE.

A MONDAY BLAZE.
Loss Of the St. Paul, Minneapolis 8 MAN.
itoba Round House-Wreck Of the
Building and Seven Enginss-Narrow
Escape Of Mechanics-Loss-I
Shortly after 10 o'clock yesterday number
of workmen employed by the st. Paul, Min
neapolis & Manitoba railroad company, en-
gagged in eating their MONDAY repast, in the
roundhouse situated on the line of the rail-
road just south of the Mississippi street
bridge, were startled by the cry of fire. The
next moment an angry shaft of fire flashed
up, as if by magic, and the building was en-
veloped in flames. heard some one yell
"fre," said one of the workmen in converse
ton with GLOBE reporter, saw blaze and
had barely time to get out with my life.
This literally transcribed statement was con-
| firmed by another mechanic, whose beard and
| neck were singed and blistered in his efforts to
get out of the doomed building, and the won
der is. from his graphic account, that he lived
| to tell the tale.
By dint of prompt action and hard work,
| two of the nine locomotives in the stalls at
| the time the fire was discovered, were taken
out intact. One of these belonged to the
| Northern Pacific railroad company, and the
other to the Manitoba company. OF the re-
| naming seven, six were the property of the
Manitoba, and one was owned by the Northern
Pacific.
| lily responded to by steamers numbers one and
two and all the hose carts. A slight delay
was occasioned owing to the bursting of
section of pipe, but the fire laddies worked as
| well as circumstances would permit. The
| structure was largely composed of wood and
| it seemed as infammable as SO much punk,
the flames spreading very rapidly and gaining
such persistent Roadway that in an hours
| time the building was almost total wreck.
at least it will amount to the same thing, as
what little remains will no doubt be replaced
! by new structure.
The rOnnd house was a cOmmodious affair,
and constructed so as to accommodate twelve
engines. 1t was built nearly three years ago,
| and cost between $40, 900 and SIS, 900. At the
| time OF the fire the stalls contained seven en-
gines, Nos. Is, 81. 81, IS, so, 46 and 43, be-
| longing to the Manitoba company, and two
engines, Nos. and 50, owned by the Northern
Pacific. As before stated, No. 50 of the North
ern Pacific and one of the Manitoba engines
were taken out.
THE LOSS.
The loss on the building will be in the
neighborhood of $4,000. The locomotives
were valued at various estimates, at from
s.. 900 to $4,000 each. On these Manager
Hill informed GLOBE reporter, that the loss
would be from one-half to twO-thirds each.
| AS the relative loss on the engines could not
be definitely learned last night, it is fair to
presume that the six engines of the Manitoba
will suffer loss not to exceed S., 900 each,
| making total of $4,000, which, with the
building, makes tangible loss of $44,0OO.
| At the same estimate. the loss on the engine
belonging to the Northern Pacific railroad will
approximate 5000.
INSURANCE..
To cover this there is a total insurance on
the seven locomotives of the Manitoba road of
$21 900, and an insurance of $4,000 on the
round house, all of which is with the Royal
Insurance company of England. The loss on
the engine owned by the Northern Pacific CON-
pany is covered by a policy supposed to have
been issued by the Liverpool, London and
Globe. 1t was insured for 81, 1000.
The actual loss, however, is far1greater than
can be put int accurate figures. The fire
comes at time when the company was badly
in need of rolling stock, this being the third
fire of the kind within three days, the suffer
ers being intimately connected with the Min
nesota system of railroads, the other two fires
at which engines were destroyed, being al
Green Bay and Bismarck. To make matters
| worse the fire came when the business of an
important branch of the shops was almost
| suspended, owing to the boiler makers strike.
THE ORIGIN OF THE FIRE.
As usual a number of theories were advanced
in the absence of definite knowledge concern.
ing the way the fire originated. Unfortun
ately the theories were based mainly on con.
lecture. The supposition is that the roof
caught from the flying sparks or embers of a
locomotive. One theory is that match or
spark from pipe ignited quantity of oil
| that it caught from the explosion of a lamp,
and lastly it was mooted to limited extent
that the fire was the work of an incendlary.
1t is justice to say that no credit is given in
support of this theory. When asked if he sup
posed there was any foundation for such be-
lief, Mr.. Hill promptly replied that he did not
believe it.
So far as learned no serious accident result.
ed from the fire, As before stated, one of the
mechanics, Mr.. j. r. Morrison, narrowly es.
| capped the horrors of a roasting.
GENERAL MANAGER MARVEL,
of the st. Paul & Manitoba, spent half Of the
| afternoon at the scene of the fire and on his
return was called upon by GLOBE reporter,
to whom he stated that the loss on the
building was about $4,000. The damage to
the engines, he said, could not well be esti
mated before they were in condition for par
| tcular examination, but he thought the seven
! which passed through the fire were seriously
damaged. Yet really the heavy loss is in the
disablement of the engines for the long time
it will take to repair them, and that at time
when the companies have use for more en-
| gines than they had or could obtain from the
manufacturers. So far as he could learn the
| fire started in a cupboard or case of
| shelves used by the lamp trimmer, where there
| was probably some waste or cotton shred,
| saturated with oil. 1t spread like flash over
| the oil saturated floors and about the dry pine
building, and made such fire at once that it
| was impossible to have saved all the engines.
The one engine least injured was being repaired
| and off its tracks, but the fire was least at
| that end of the house. There were three men
ON duty in the roundhouse at the time the fire
| broke out, and one man was making ready to
eat his MONDAY lunch. One of these men was
slightly burned. AS to the place where the
fire started Mr. Marvel was positiyelv in