The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1894-03-16
THE TWELFTn AVN TaIRrHrSru
FIRES.
Within a Y~ar-Both Believed to be Incen-
dlarv L0.sos of ~ome $1,000 some In
s1iAnCe Figures and numiuat Ons

(.Ot Tn
sa' 'Ance Figures and numiuat .Ons
Su 'nav morning five minu,es before ouc
O'Clock VIM. Boyce was awakened by hearing
me morse kicking IN the barn back
or the house occupied by his fatbee
on Blrge street, looked out and
.aw the whole upper part Of the barn aDlaxe. /.
An alarm was Immediately rung, and the 4 re
department. maze the best time 1t had ever
MADE 1or nat section OF the village. 1t wss
on l-2 minu,es before 1t had stream a,
water On and II minute, before the Gre was
under control and the recall sounded. THE,
narn was totally destroyed, though the horse.
which belonged to Will Cain, was got Cd.
safely 6y him, but not q minute too soon as
ger blanket was burning when he came out
thick around them. Most Of the suS 3
mer clothing OF the family of Thos. Cain
which was packed In large dry goods box
Wa totally destroyed. The side ofCain's house
next to the barn was charred, and the win
dows smashed through q good IT of the
mouse, whiIe the crockery and furniture were
very YER, much injured IN throwing 1t out all
have to 70. The house occupied By
James Boyce had the clapbosrds.
burned of the rear side. but hts.
furniture was but little damaged. The whole
los. was perhan. $500 or 5000 The barn was
insured for 500 a, d the houses for $500 and
$4oO, through Cudworlh 4 Childs In ihe Lon,
don. Liverpool & g OBJ. Gains househoN
goods, clothing, provisions, etc. ven,
insured for 300 IN the Vermont Muto4t
through Sherman & Jenne. Royce had no IN
-urance on his furniture. The 6re was prob
ably incendiary. 1t hogan 10 the loft where
here bad not been light for .ix months 1t
least and Its progress was too raDid for ..
when Wm Boyce looked out toward the
barn everything was all right and at 1S 20
O'Clock when Coupe driver Holden wa. 6y
there everything was perfectly dark.
Yesterday mornings :4S O'clock there was,
anoi her alarm rang by one of the occupants
Of whetstone block owned by DR.. c. d.
shole- Of Boston, on So hsio street. Tue
upper part At the south end Of that
nl"ck. filling It with sitting smoke. Mra
Minnie Brown who occupied q tenement "a;
third d 'Or WAS awakened by her ehih
s'vusgIiCg a. II s'rangling and she was nearH
su6ocated before she could get out.
Wa only four minutes after the alafm
before the department was on the scene and
al work. an an hour and II minutes before
the call. A hose cart was run out to the
hvdrant In front of Galvin's store and a line
Of hose run to the burning building, but an,
opening of the scuitle had to be made to lei
out The terrible smoke before anything could
b. done. Soon here we're five streams play
iUks IOuT lTou lDe uyuTdDts anu SlehIueT NOs
4 aud tney were fine streams, with snfn lent
'Orce 10 play over the top of the building.
Two lines were run from the hvdrant 10
front Of Galvin's. one from that on Flat rek
ut } w Smond-' and another from that On
Cana'-So. Main street corner. 1t is probably
safe To ssy that 1t was the nv drsns that saved
'b's property. a. they have more than S100,-
n0 before In the village Steamer No. 3 W ben
she got set wouldn't pump drop of waters
what the trouble was no one can tell, though
az hour later when set In The same place In
the same way sne worked all r'gnt; there hss
heen good deal of trouble with her for some
time So II there bad been nothing to depend
on hut the remsinir G steamer 1t is more than
doubtful II the property would have been
saved.
The nremen have always dreaded this build.
ing becauss of the likelihood from its peculiar
construct,on that il one floor gave way the
whole building would tuu,ble In, and they
were NOT extra Dumerou~ on the scene, but
they fought brsvely and efficiently They got
outside Of the building by mean. Of = ladder,
sud Squire Msnning and John Calvin took
anoih up the 6re escspe on the back side.
The men mad to lie on the 4 'nr on their fa0ea
ct hrst bee use Of the thick .uff cstin< smoke,
to play s,eir streams. Before to. nsmes were
su1dued they had burned hole 16 or 20 fest
.quare in the roof and had burned through
O. v-rsi rooms In that part of rbe building,
practically running them. while the Wh0kN
building from top to bottom was soaked with
water.
The a-e seems to have started m sneif b,
the r. per part OF dark closet on the thtrt
q ,nr OF the building, to have burned a.,
through the Il 'or to the shed room where H.
was discovered and followed up the parttttot,
to the roof. No Cause can he assigned excer;
spontaneous combustion or deliberate tncer..
diari-m \ ef E gineer Turner thinks 1t va
the latter. Nitntng can be founl to indicat.
an accidental origin.
The damage was principally by water and
10 ard to estimate On the building, whioi
was 10 ured for $6 OOO throngn Suermao &
Janne the loss I. perhaps 81 OO0 to % 800
On he ground flDor the thie- stores were o.
euDied by A g Barnes meat market. P Man
Dinx's billiard room, anu P F eming's stove
and plumbing goods store. Barnes less wss
Q elie ny to refrigerator. OF which The hn
Ing Will have to come out. and nv sm Ikiag
the mesr 10 the room. He WAS 10
sured for $500 through Cudwortb 4 Childs,
and the Io-. was s.'jlsted last evening at e3lS
P. Manning hs" 9725 insurance through Cud
worth 4 Childs snd mis- loss is perhaps from
$3.50 to $3.50, Mr.. Fleming had stock OF
bssemtnt. and " next Saturday he would
have had in e25O0 more. H's insurance was
Dl 5O0 through Cudworth l. Chihis, el5OO
,hrosxh Sherman Il Jeune and o1 900 through,
rNlor Bros. He thinks bis loss will reach
b2 800 There v large quantity Il sheet
ron In the basement that is ruined, a. are y
arge .tock Of bath tubs, tanks, etc. Mrs.
BRO ~n's lose was very nearly total; she had
400 Insurance with She man 4 Jeune The
,lher tenants we're Julius Nichols, who was
insured for $500 through Cudworth Il Childs,
md ie.es perhaps 82OO by wate. damage.
". q. Norris, who .uffers $500, and had no
n.arance, because the rate WAS % high ant
,e calculated 70 get out soon, taking his risk
.ather than paying It in the meantime. Louie
Wimrtte. Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Brown ana Mr..
licboIs lest seriously by water.
ng the present hscal year or since May ist.
be wort record we ever had, even wbeA
'Syfax' was operating. And yet the total
oss has b,on . matter Of some elo 900. A
lumber OF ares have started In places where.
{ they could have got good start, they
would have swept . wide swath. Our pesple
annot too highly appreciate the work which
De Ore department is doing and the great i'd
Iition to our security which the hydrsnt ser
ice makes.
The Insurance companies have, sitter ale
hese lres. pulled . clean profit Of 80 zoo out
4 Bratileb0r0 In the past yeAr. .N
II We had no more than the facilities OF %
ears ago these l3 ores would have meant
roosbiy destruction Of 100000, Q clean
,s- Of $4,000 to the ceupsniea zisstesd of
80 600 pront.
Aud IT Brattleboro, iu spite Of oil the IA
iliries which make such di6erencc. is now
veraging to pay about 30 per cent. higher
Or her Insurance than she Wa ~ years ago.
Curious, isn't it!
--latest u. S. Govt Report.