The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-07
LICKED UP BY THE A NJ
|. P. Evans & Co.'s Oil Mills and Ware
house Totally Destroyed by Fire.
The Loss Believed To Be Over $3.50. 900, on
Which There Is an Insurance of $117,-
GOA Fireman Injured.

The most disastrous fire that has visited Indl-
annapolis in many months occurred yesterday af-
ternoon, when the 1inseed oil mill of /. F. Evans
& Co., located on South Delaware street, near
the Union railway tracks, was almost entirely
destroyed. From early morning a swift wind had
been blowing binding sweeps of dust through
the streets, and when, a few minutes after 2
o'clock, an alarm of fire was sounded, quickly
followed by a massive cloud of smoke sweeping
in an easterly direction across the city, it looked
as if Indianapolis was in imminent danger of a
devastating confagration such as recently Wis
tied Galveston. The unfavorable conditions &C
companying the alarming sweep of smoke arts
ing SO near the city's business center. at once at
tracted hundreds of people to the scene of the
peril. and the department had hardly arrived
before a great throng had gathered in the vicin-
ity to witness the destruction by the flames.
The discovery of the FIRE was made almost
simultaneously by Waterman CASTOR, in the
court house tower, and George Massner, the en-
gineer in the mill. Massner was working about
the machinery, giving it the attention necessary
to have everything in proper shape for begin
ming operations on Monday morning. He was
called into the cellar, he says, and when he re-
NA5HHN ~ ANAAS' '~HNt
he saw that the room above was in flames. He
Immediately put into action the automatic fire.
extinguisher, kept in the building, and ran to
the nearest signal-box to give the alarm,
but the Waterman in the tower had
already sounded the bells, having noticed the
smoke issuing from the roof of the mill at about
the same moment that the flames were dis
covered on the inside by the engineer. He had
hesitated for an instant in doubt as to whether
or not the building was really on fire, and had
called up headquarters by telephone to request
the men at No. 2 engine-house to learn where
the smoke came from. II think the Evans
mills are On fire" he said, quickly adding "Yes.
l am sure they are. Here goes!" and the alarm
was sounded. When the fremen reached the
mill a dense volume of smoke was issuing from
the main part of the building, and the whole of
the interior was enyeloped in flames. 1t was
evident that little could be done toward saving
the property from destruction, and that it would
require all the efforts that could be called
into use to prevent the fire
from being swept across the city
by the terrific wind which was blowing steadily
from the west. A second alarm was Immediate
ly sounded, therefore, and the fremen who
responded to the call were put to work on the
property east of the burning mill. The flames
had by this time worked their way through the
sky light elevation in the top Of the roof, and
were leaping ferceiy into the air. Red-hot
sheets of iron and pieces of burning timber were
carried from the roof by the wind, and bits of
FIRE were found two and three squares away. A
third alarm was sent in, and a good part of the
force were kept busy in protecting the property
lying in the path Of the wind which swept over
the burning mill. A number OF frame houses
on Virginia avenue and Alabama street
caught fire from the flying sparks, but by vigi-
liant and active work were saved from damage.
Fortunately there were no buildings in close
proximity to the mill directly east, and no frame
structures nearer than a square, or the destruc-
ton would certainly have been great. The
freight depot of the Chicago, st. Louis
& Pittsburg company, directly across
the street, being a low building, of brick
and with a tile roof, it could easily be protected,
but there were grave fears for a time, when the
fire was raging most fercely, that the flames
would get entirely beyond the control of the
fremen, and would spread to the c., Fl. & 1.
and the Big -Four freight depots, both frame
buildings, surrounded by property which would
have led the fire through a path
of destruction extending almost to
the eastern limits of the city. Had the wind
been blowing in any other direction, however.
the devastation Of a large district of the business
center of the city could not have been prevented.
Across the Union railway tracks, directly south,
is located the city gas-works, and west of the
mill is situated the foundry of Sinker,
Davis & Co., with a row Of whole
sale houses beyond, and the Union
Depot in direct line, while north, beginning with
st. Mary's school, there would have been an
unbroken path of the finest business houses and
residences In the city, extending to the EXPOSE
ton grounds, that it would have been difficult to
save from the ravages of such flames as were
swept toward the east.
The work of the fremen on the burning mill
was almost wholly Ineffective, as the flames had
acquired from the oil and timber inside the
building a ferceness which it was entirely be-
yond their power to subdue. Fer a long time
an effort was made to throw two streams of
water upon the east side OF the building, but it
was blown back into the street by the wind. The
water which was thrown upon the fire seemed to
have no effect. The work of the fremen was
seriously interrupted, also, by the bursting Of
the hose, and the water-pressure was reduced
once by mistake; and other difficulties were en-
countered, making it impossible to do any very
effective work, although little reasonable fault
could be found with the efforts made by the FIRE
men.
The fire, after burning out the roof, seemed to
work its way downward. and in little more than
an hour after it started the supports to the
second story, on which the faxseed bin rested,
gave way, and the brick walls Of the
building fell with a frightful crash. leaving the
frame work of the bin standing two stories high
in the midst of the burning ruins. The south
| wall fell across the Union railway tracks, de-
moliShlnp q frelOhtcar of the New York Cautra1
line, which stood on the mills side track. A part
of the north wall was precipitated upon the roof
of an adjoining warehouse in which was stored
600 barrels of oil, doing it some damage, but it
was saved from destruction by fire.
Over 100, 900 bushels Of faxseed were stored
in the bin, and when the walls fell a large
quantity of it drifted outside the ruins. In the
cellar was stored several barrels of linseed oil.