The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-10-05

fEOLn lueeuay 0 Dhhys
The immense barns of the Canton
| Massillon electric railway company,
located in this city. are ia ashes.
The entire city 10 effected by the big fire
and many clerks and employees waited In
vain this morning for street cars to convey
| them TO their places OF business. Every.
body was late and the feeling Of regret at
the losn suff by the street railway
| company 10 general.
The changing of the fire bell at about
1:15 this morning aroused many ciIizs
and IL wns soon apparent Il a. great coz
hsgrstion was in progreAs IN the west
end of the city. A large crowd OF people
hurried to the scene.
Thomas DyaarI and Calvin G.. Cliugel,
TWO employees OF the company, repair
men who work at night Ia looking over
the cars TO repair auy damage that may
have resulted by tneir use during the day,
we're seated IN the company's o1lice ad-
joining the big barns az fow minutes
| before l o'clock, eating their midnight
lunch. Mr.. Dyssrt states that short
tims previous ne had bsen through the
barn, carrying lantern in his hand and
netised s;sbss on nothing .ba wav OF hFs, oS
the trip back. He states that as
they were engaged in eating their
suppers they noticed lurid glare through
the office windows. With cries of alarm
tuey naHteneu al once intO tue DhTus
where oil the cars are stored for the night.
Fire, which had broken out at point
IN the front portion of the barns
was making rapid headwAy. The men
saw at once that the barn would probably
be consumed and cried 10 Engineer e. q.
Mclaughlin to start the engine and give
them some power to get the cars out OF
the barn. 1he steam was low in the
boiler and at all events any attempt to
get the cars out would have been futile as
the blaze had by this time spread over
nearly the whole surface OF the barns.
The feed wires which run from the power
house to the car barns were among the
first things burned of and no power could
have been given TO move the cars.
The men were still at work trying to re-
move the cars when James Hamilton,
special night policeman at the Theatre
Comique, passed the building on his way
home. He saw the flames aud rushed
back to box 81, at the Valley depot, where
he had left Officer Kincaid short time
previous. Al saw the bisze at about the
same time and made several futile At
tempts TO turn In on alarm. His key
would not work In the box. and Charles
Hill, night clerk at the Melbourne hotel,
ran TO the hotel and got the key that is
always there and turned In an alarm.
The hremen from No. engine house,
at Dueber avenue were the first TO arrive,
| but the firemen state that the blaze could
plainly be seen moment after they left
their engine house. The Centrals soon
arrived and the Summit street company
| also got stream on the blaze. gem
eral alarm soon followed and In less than
| fifteen minutes after the alarm every
| available piece OF hose was attached and
numerous streams were being thrown.
A terrific fight between fire and fire.
men then eusued. The floor Ia the main
1 barns was covered with oil and the whole
L hs.t In IA u Sh nm n atfnFt
save tnat building WAS OF no avail and
tbe main thing to do was to prevent fur
| ther destruction OF property. Under d.
rection of Fire Chief Ohli9er and Assist.
ant Chief Talbot, the fremen worked
with united effort. The shop In which
| done and the building where old cars are
| repaired, was situated close to the main
\ barns. the rear end of the building being
almost against the sides OF the big barns.
| Ia front the Office building was between
them, and as the fire had not started In
these bulldogs efforts were directed to
keeping the flames confined TO the main
barns. The barns were of wooden ma
terial and very dry and made very hot
fire so that every effort had to be directed
to this point. The rear end OF the build
inQ burned fiercely aud the corner OF the
office was burned oil, but the hre was
fiaally driven back and In half an hour
oil danger In that direction had passed.
Thousands of people: attracted
by the blaze, stood around
willing 30 lend hand but compelled tc
watch the Are department do the work
Joseph Dick's mammoth agricultural
works stand next to the east buildings o
the street car company and the Interest ~
saving this concern was intense. Al
though the fire had certainly been ditas
trous, there wac feeling OF relief when
1t was observed that this big enterprise
would be saved.
ANOTHER FIERCE FIGHT.
While the concentrated offorts OF th
firsmen on the regular lines was directed
TO the repair shops and office building, tt
prevent ,h q sgiead, sg9,esn,ng OF ,ne work. nsme,
line of hose had been laid from Steamer
No. 2 which was stationed at q plug nea
JohDson's grocery, about 160 feet east o.
the Vslley railway. This steamer wal
brought TO the fire from the central engine
house and was not of as much service a.
Steamer No. 1 which H. USUALLY
atationed there, would have been. bu
the latter steamer bad burpt Its big feeG
hose "a the fair grounds fire and could no
be used. Some little time was consumed
| la getting up steam and for fully twenty
| minutes only small stream, with yer.
littIe pressure, was thrown from this hose
A small hose used at the powe
house did better service for awhile
aud as this stream from the engine hous
had been directed 70 tne pTo.ecIlon o
uutil a building used as blacksmith shoI
and located Dangerously near 10 tne powe
houeo, was In hames. BY the time tn
: firetuep had the blaze In the repair shop
! | and The Office under control the fire l
!. the Blacksmith shop bad . big start an