Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-04-21
A PENITENTIARY BLAZE.
West Virginia Minus State Prison-A
Sharp, Sudden and Fierce Efre-A Wagon
Company Loses its Machinery Descrip-
ton of the Building.

Sharp, Sudden and Fierce Tire-A Wagon
Company Loses its Machinery eserip-
ton of the Building.
WHEELING, w. Va, April 20.-The
wagon factory of the Webster company,
located in the West Virginia penitentiary,
at Moundsville, is now burning, and the
penitentiary is in great danger unless
help arrives soon.
MoUNpsvLLE, West Va, April 20.--As
night warehouseman Hankershot was
making his hourly rounds tonight, at
the Moundsville penitentiary, he saw a
slight fire in the little room in one corner
of the second story of large brick build
ing known as shops No. 8, and occupied
by the Webster Wagon company. The
warehouseman makes hourly rounds and
had made careful examination of every
portion of the premises at 8 o'clock when
there was no sign of of fire,
In his next round there was quite
BRIGHT BLAZE
in the little room referred to and though
he Immediately raised an alarm, the floor
of the rooms was so saturated and COW
cred with chemicals of an infammable
nature that the blaze spread all over the
room almost instantly. The only means
of extinguishing fire at the penitentiary
is by the pressure from very small res
ervoir in the prison, used with such aid
as force pump can give.
So good a start had the flames obtained
that this proved entirely inadequate IN
this instance and the fire rapidly pro-
crossed IN entire length of the building,
and licked up all the wood work as it
went.
The building was of brick, two stor-
les high. 262 feet long and forty feet
wide. 1t was very substantially built
and was comparatively new, having been
built in 1878. It's first cost as near as
could be ascertained last night was about
$4,000.
1t was occupied, as before stated, by
the Webster wagon company, who had
in it large portion of their most valua-
BILE machinery. On the first floor was
the box and wheel mandatory in which
some of the costliest pieces of wood work
ing mechanism manufactured were used,
the work being greatly facilitated by the
adoption of every improvement in wood
working machines without regard to
cost.
The second floor was the paint shop,
the commoner painting being done in
one large apartment and the finer work
in the small room where the fire was first
noticed. Several theories of the cause
of the fire were entertained by the differ
ent people. The most commonly accept
ed one is quite startling. being that the
ingenious convicts employed as scroll
and fancy painters in the smaller
shop, 1gnited slow match aad
so arranged 1t that at certain
time it would communicate the fire to
some highly inflammable material; that
this was left in the shop when the work.
men quit work in the evening and had
been smouldering all the time interven-
ing. This theory was not credited by
those connected with the prison, how
ever, to any extent. They all regarded
it as impossible that this should have
been the case. The guards and officials
were generally inclined to believe that
the fire was the result of a spontaneous
combustion.
Mr.. Gamble, superintendent of the
Webster Wagon company's works, was
aSKeu Ill regard 10 LHc theory ny IT,
porter, but said that he always cautioned
the superintendent of that department
and was careful himself to see no that ma
terial which could catch fire spontan-
eously was left lying abou'. He was
afraid the true explanation lay in the
theory of an incendiary origin and that
some sort of a slow match had been en-
ployed.
The loss will be about 1000 on the
building itself, on which there was an in
surance Of $1,000.
On the machinery and stock, the Web
ster Wagon company's losses as neatly as
Mr.. Gamble could tell last night, are
above $4,000, which was nearly covered
by insurance.
Mr.. Gamble could not give the par.
ticulars of the loss. About $4,000 or
$4,000 represents the machinery and
wagons in various stages of completion,
paints and partly worked up material.
Many of the prisoners were most ter
ribly alarmed. No panic ensued, how
ever, as all were in their cells. The At
lantic engine and reels arrived from
Wheeling at 1920. The fire had then
been gotten under control and the en-
CINE was driven out to the prison to COM
plete the work of extinguishment.