The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1890-08-19
TWO FIRES lAsr NIGHT
In Tho Eighth ward, both probably Inc
dinry-Flsrhsris plnnipg mill lsstfoxs a,

In Tho Eighth ward, both probably lncen.
dinry-fischsr'a planning mill destroy oil.
A few minutes after 0 o'clock last
night, Flscher's planning mill, at tho cor.
ner Of Woods and Forty.fourth streets,
wa destroyed by fire, entailing u lcss Of
$1,000, with no insurance. A few min.
utes after the alarm was sent in, a house
being built In Behrcps ( Spsidel's addi.
ton, was set on fire by an incendiary.
At s o'clock last night the worknen
at Fitchcr's planning mill closed tho place
for the night, and the engineer carefully
turned of the gas under the steam boil.
ers, II being the only fire OF any kind In
the building.
Ata few minutes past o o'clock some
boys passing the mill saw n small blaze
ginning Roadway In tho northeast cor.
ner OF tho lower story. They yelled
tire, and Mr.. Fischer Nnd his brother,
Charles, both Of whom live n short dis.
tance above, on Jacob street, were
among the tltst to hear them. They ran
to the mill and got in in time to try the
natural gas valves, and found that no
gas had leaked. The fire was well I'm.
der way, however, md the north and
east sid,s Of tho building were almost
burned through.
HAIRY Reuter- and Edward Jefferson,
two young men living in tho vicinity,
went into the building at about the
same time the Messrs. Fischer did, Reu.
ter went into the office for tho purpose
OF getting the baoks, and by some means
the door was closed behind him, and he
had to break a window and climb out
through 1t. His face and hands were
severely burned, and his left hand was
cut In several places by tho glass,
When it was e tia. they could do
nothing, Mr,..Fischer tnrned.in an alarm
from box G5. near by, calling out the dc.
partment. The Eighth ward company
Was the first TO arrive, and In n few min.
utica had two streams on the lre. The
mains are so small in that part Of town,
however, that the pressure would hard.
" carry the water from the nozzles,
About the time the Eighth ward com.
pany had gotten into position, the
Niagara engine arrived, and made an
attachment at rorty.third street,
which depleted the mains entirely and
Left tho Eighth ward company's lines
with no water. While the Niagara men
were getting into position and the Eighth
ward men had no water at all, the fire
got well into the second story, and the
fact that the Niagara engine would
draw more water than the main sun.
piled, and would run of" every lew
minutes, made the efforts OF the firemen
almost uHnyailing. The Atlantic fol.
lowed the Niagara closely and got n plug
st Forty-fourth and Woods streets, and
the two managed to draw enough water
to keep three lines o those filed partially.
The second door fell in, and the roof
burned away before the Ere was gotten
under control. The sides OF the build.
ing were burned through and the axes
and hooks were put to work and the
burned boards torn down.
The mill was n eQuare, two.story
frame structure, fifty by fifty feet, aud
contained some valuable machinery. In
the second story was q big lot OF stock
which had been finished and wsg ready
to put up on some buildings Mr.. Fischer
was wersing on. The mill employed
ten men, and was valued by Mr.. Fischer
last night at 5000. 1t will DO q total
loss, machinery aud all, there being no
insurance On either building or stock,
Mr.. Fischer had made partial arrange
ments for taking in a partner, and en-
larging the mill and extending the busi.
ness. He bad not decided last night
whether be would rebuild or not, nor
could he tell what disposition lie would
make OF the work he has under contract,
As to the origin Of the fire, nc plausible
theory but incendiarism could be ad-
vanced. The IRE under the boiler was
the only one in the mill, and it was care
fully turned out at 5 o'clock, andthe gas
was still turned oil and was not leaking
alter the fire started.
Although the blaze originated In the
corner near where the boiler furnace is
located, Mr.. Fischer did not think a
spark could have been smouldering
there, or that shsyings could have caught
from the heated bricks.
Just after the Fire Department had
passed down EoG street, Mrs. Chris
Viewig discovered a blaze in a new
house being built by Wood Bros, in
speidel l. Rehrens' addition, the old
seybold property, and owned by MIR.
Hornbrook. She called the attention OF
some meu to the light, but they paid no
attention to 1t, and'ran on to the big ire.
Later Mrs. Viewig called William KEEL.
sings attention to the fire, and he ex.
tiDguished it with a few buckets of
waller.
Upon entering the house Mr.. Kelsing
found a most excellent and well planned
scheme to burn the house. The build
ing is about done, except plastering, the
lath being on the studding. The ilcen.
diary had set small STICKS up on end,
resting them against the lath on the
wall, forming a sort OF furnace, inside Of
which light chips and shavings and the
tarred rope from the bundles Of lath had
heen piled. This had been lighted and
the mass, together with the lath on the
waIl,. was burning brightly when MIR.
kelsing arrived.
The people in the Eighth ward are Of
the opinion that the planning mill fire, as
well as the other one, was started BY in.
ceadiafies, in the hope that people in
their excitement would leave their
houEes unprotected. No robberies were
reported, however.