Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-03-16
LlNsEED OIL MILLS BLOWN UP.
Many Persons Injursd-The Fiace
Total Wreck.

MANY Persons IDjured-fne Flaco
Total Wreck.
TOLEDO, March l5.-The mills OF tn
Toledo Linssed Oil Company owned b!
Varney, Taylor Co., and the largest in tn
country, were entirely destroyed by fire a
an early hour this morning. At l:45 a
m. q Observation-Disclosures aroused the en-
| tire city, and when the people rushed tc
the scene the mills ,were ablaze. The orr
gin Of the fire is unknown, the theory o.
spontaneous combustion and that of incen
diarism both having supporters The build
ing where the fire started was devoted to
new patent process for extracting the oil
from the crushed seed by psrcolatiop
naptha being the agent employed to effect
this. There were over one hundred bar
rels of this dangerous fluid in the building,
stored in iron tanks, which exploded almost
simultaneously. The shock was like en-
earthquake. The FIRE depsrt4 spa had not
vet reached the scene, and but few spec
tators, or the loss of life would have been
terrible.
Frank Longmore and VIM. Kirkham,
two Lake Shore railway employees, were
standing across the street from the build
ing and the broad sheet of fame was driven
across, euvelopipg them, scorching of their
hair and eyebrows, and burning their
hands and faces till the skin hung in
shreds. Their injuries, while serious are
not fatal.
The night watchman OF the Dayton and
Michigan round house was in the cab OF a
locomotive, blowing an alarm on the
whistle, and was blown ont Of the cab by
the conclusion, but received only a few
bruises.
Jhmes Stark, telephone boy, who was
on duty at q railroad Office near the round
house, had his face badly cut by window
glass, but is not seriously injured. NJ.
merous minor casualties from the explosion
are reported.
The infammable material Of the build
ings. filled with Gnseed oil and haxseed,
and the wood work, saturated with oil
prevented any portion Of the works being
saved. The company's Office was also
burned; the Dayton and Michigan Road
masters office, bunk rooms and blacksmith
shop, and several smaller auxiliary struc-
lures were also burned. Three or four
cottages near by were badly scorched, as
we'll as partly wrecked By the explosion,
while the window glass in all structures
within several squares suffered more or
less.
There were three large buildings and
several smaller ones All are destroyed
totally, except the boiler house. The old
process mill was valued at sixty thousand,
it's machinery ct twenty-five thousand; new
process mill and machinery cost forty
thousand. These figures include stock Of
oil and seed on hand in each. The Var
van Manufacturing Company, which owns
the patent on the new process, lose $4,000
worth of machinery. The total loss on lin
seed oil works, including the Iaryan Com
pany' loss, is $l3O,O0O. Loss OF Others,
including railroads, $4,000. The insur-
auce on the new process mill is put at
thirty thousand, of which the New York
Mutual holds ten thousand. The other
buildings and machinery was insured for
fifty thousand six hundred, in twenty.seven
none holding over Eve thous-
and. The company will rebuild at once
and continue the business. .