Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1884-11-17
SERIOUS CONFEDERATION.
THE WORK9 OF THE wILWING-
TON GLA91 COMPANY DE-
STROYED M FIRE.

Shortly before o'clock last Saturday
evening, an alarm Of fire was sounded
from eOuth Wilmington, to which 'be
entire department responded. UpOn
crossing Third street bridge IL Was
found that long building, known a.
the 6atteniDg house, of the Wilm ing ton
Glass Company was in flames. The
freinen Immediately prepared to get in
service, but were delayed for somo
time owing to the tide being very low
in the Christians.
Water was finally procured from the
pond belonging to the Kennebec Ice
Company, and this with what was OBJ
tained by means of long line hoso
from . plug on Hea Id strs ct. and from
the bitches, enabled the companies to
get several streams In opera iun. Tho
delay, however, WAS disastrous, NJ by
the time water WAS obtained, six Of the
n inc buildings belonging TO the ccm.
pany were In flames, and the efforts Of
the iremen we're directed toward cav
ing the remaining buildings.
Streams of water were aiso poured
upon the burning buildinss unil the
flames were almost extingnishtd, when
all the companies except the Fame
Hose, Washington and Weccacoe w~re
sent TO this city by First Ass srapr En-
gineer Wigglesworth, who in the ab-
sence of Chief Raeder was IN charge.
The FIRE was pretty we'll extipeuished
by 10 o'clock, when the rem aiming COM
panies returned home.
The buildings destroyed were the.
flatteniDg house, cutting room, packing
room, store room, Office aid pot houss,
while the furnace room, blowing room,
and engine room, were, through the
1 nf
There we're about 5000 boxes of win
dow glass, and large amount of ms
terial and valuable tools in the burned
buildings, all of which will be q total
loss. As the damage to !he machinery
cannot he ascsrtained for day or no.
until the debris IL removed end q
thorough examination ms de, H. is i'm
possible for tie firm to definitely state
the full amount of the loss, but IL 10
believed thar it will reach $18,C0O,
psrtially covered by insurance. The
insurance is distributed as follows
Flattening room, $1,000 tools, $500
stock of glass, $1,000 pot house, 300 !;
pots and equipments, 5000; damage
to blowing house, $500; damage to en-
Rine bonse, 5000 damage to box fac
tory. 500. The com panies in which
the property was Insured are as fol-
200 Etna, 81, SEQ North American,
s., ,5O0 Phoenix, $l.500; Liverpool,
London and Globe, $4,000 other com.
panies, 81, 600.
i In addition to tho loss of TIE COM
papy, the workmen loose from 500 10
$50 apiece, in work done which was
destroyed before a final account WAS
taken of the same. BY the foreman who
had only taken a eli orandun. wh;e
was also burned. 1t is very prohs BILE.
however, that the company will r. I'M
burse their employees when the works
are again put in operation.
The origin of the fire is shrouded in my
s,ery, as less than halfan hour before
the flames broke out a careful search of
all the buildings was made by Horace
Wilson, the treasurer OF the company,
and j. j. Westcoat, the superintendent,
and everything found in a safe copdi-
tion, after which they started for their
homes, hut before they had proceeded
far the fire broke out. The company
will proceed to replace the burned
buildings as soon as possible, but 1t is
not thought that they can be got Re ady
in less than month, and in the mean
time the hands, about 45 in number,
will be obliged to remain idle.
The Wi mington Glass Company, Of
which James Bradford is President, was
incorporated by the last Legislature,
and all their buildings were erected
during the past summer. Operations
were commenced Monday morp,pg,
Sep tember 1st, about o'clock, and the
Fl rst glass ever made in the State of
Delaware blown. Since that time the
works have been busy, and the enter
prise proved grand success.
i The safe, that was in the burned
building, was opened yesterday, and the
contents found unipiured.