The Portland daily press., 1893-08-04
MoRToN's GREAT BARN.
1t Burned, and in it Perished Cattle of
World Wide Fame.

Kingston, NY, Aug. 9.-Ex-Vice Pres
ident Morton has suffered loss which
undoubtedly means more to him than
the fact that he is about $780, 600 out.
Mr.. Morton has great farm near here.
1t consists of about 1000 acres. 1t fronts
on the Hudson river, and is the largest
single estate on the line of the Central
railroad. The ex-Vice Presidents fine
mansion is on the southern end of the
estate overlooking the finest part OF the
property. 1t is within sight of the river
and surrounded by broad lawns. The
one-half of the estate that is within the
view of this house is magnificently laid
out A large part of the remainder is
wilderness, intersected, however, by fine
drives.
The barns and buildings that were
burned yesterday, were about a quarter
of a mile from the house. and were di-
rectly on the river front. The main barn
was mammoth affair. 1t was built less
than year ago to replace the building
that was destroyed by fire last July.
That fire was caused by lightning. The
new barn was believed to have been the
most costly and complete in the United
States.
Being the newest, it combined all the
best features of other famous barns
built by rich men, and it had many addi-
tional ones of it's own. The main build
ing was 297 feet long by 65 feetin width,
and so feet in height, with an L 80 feet
long by 81 wide and so feet high. The
structure included, besides three 500-ton
silos, each Al feet deep, a tool and engine
room, grain bins, laboratory, bathing
room, ample Railways, and no less than
120 ordinary stalls and 46 box stalls on
the first i1oor In the basement there
were the same number of stalls.
The grain room had twenty car loads
of grain. The south door looking up
through the centre of the building, was
much larger than would be necessary to
admit freight train. The barn was
fitted to accommodate $50 head of stock,
or 400 when crowded, and also to house
all the grain, hay, and other feed that
was needed.
1t was early yesterday morning that
the great barn was found to be on nre.
The structure was a mass of flame be-
fore any one reached it and nothing
could be done to save the imprisoned
animals. One of the persons who
witnessed the burning of the barn said:
1.-THE fire broke out about 4 O'Clock in
the morning, but no one seemed to know
what started it. We were all awakened
by the glare of the flames and the fright
full believing of the poor animals. They
were nearly all fastened to their stalls,
and the fire had made too much head
way for any one to enter the building,
and so nothing could be done to save
them.
ssThe men who were in the barn, how
ever, all escaped, and no person was
injured. Mr.. Morton's private fire
engine and other extinguishing appara-
lus were on the spot, and we all helped
in trying to put out the flames, but with
little success"
There we're nine horses, so head of
Guernsey cattle, several hundred tons of
hay, number of reapers and moving
machines, and other valuable property
Three valuable Guernsey bulls were
also burned. One was the celebrated
Midas, five years old, and said to be the
finest bull in the world. He had won all
prizes in contests in which he had been
entered. Another was Safeguard, a
seyen-year-old, that has won more prizes
than any other bull in the world. There
were also in the barn 10 head of calves
and heifers, all of which were burned.
The flames spread quickly to the poul-
try house, standing a few feet to the east,
and the building was burned to the
ground. 1t contgined $500 chicks and
and ducks, of which only about 300 were
saved The loss on poultry will be
about $1,000.
The incubator house, standing to the
south of the large barn, also caught fire
and was burned to the ground. 1t con-
TONED 10 incubators, which were de-
stroyed, together with 1000 eggs in pro-
cess Of Matching. The loss on incuba-
tors and eggs is about $4,000.
The loss on the buildings and stock
will exceed $4,000. There is an insur-
ance on the property of about half its
value.
The News at the Beach.