Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1894-08-15

GnolT pldHI, u 1oW rOOS 6Outn OF the mill i.
The danger was early realized, so no
time was lost in getting their steam
pump at work with a constant stream
of water on the buildings The cold
storage of G. May & Sons, the plants of
the Watertown Gas company, the
WatertOwn Stone company and J.
Forncrook & Co., all near at hand
had no blazes, but they were closely
watched. At Theo. Huber's lumber
yard, however, fires were discovered
several times. and also on the buildings
of the st. Paul depot, but these were
extingulshed without much trouble.
The fact that everything was so thor
oughly dry. from the long lack of rain,
made extraordinary precautions nee
essary.
When 1t was seen that the fire was
making such rapid headway-thereb
endangerlng adjoining property-and
that our tire department was Who'll
ly inadequate to meet the exIgencies of
,he case, the fear of a much more ex-
tenslve cOnf1agratiOn became so great
that 1t was thought advisable to seek
assistance from neighbOring cities. A
train was therefore hastily made I'D
on the st. Paul road and dispatched to
OCOnOmOWOC, message from Mayor
Voss to Mayor Fay asking for help be-
ing sent at the same time. At 2:3O
welcome response came in shape of
their Sllsby steamer with twenty men
and two hose carts. The Oconomowoc
boys soon had two additional streams
on the fire, and although the flames
were then nearly under control, the
work Of the visitors had much to do
with Fastening the complete snbdue-
ment, and their presence tended to
give feeling Of easiness among our
citizens and to allay their fears. The
bows worked promptly, efficiently and
heartily appreciated by Watertown
people. Assistance from Milwaukee
was also asked for, but when it became
evident that such would not be needed
the request was countermanded. A
prompt response to the call for help
had been made with an engine, eight
men and a hose cart, and when the
message to return overlook them they
bad reached Brookfeld, the run from
Milwaukee having been made IN IA
minutes. The Oconomowoc company
returned about five o'clock. The To-
cal department worked over the ruins
until 9 O'Clock in the evening.
In connection with the arduous eff
forts of the fremen must be mentioned
the kind work for their relief per-
formed by large number of thought
ful ladios, who served coffee, sand
wiches, etc, with free and generous
hand These donations were very
thankfully received
There is no positive knowledge as to
the origin of the fire, but it is gener-
ally supposed to have been spontane-
Gus combustion, snch as sometimes oc-
ours in Touring mills. The mill was
not running at the time the fire
started. The workmen had left the
building but an hour previous, after
doing the usual Sunday cleaning up.
The mill shut down at 10 CLOCK Satur-
day night, SO the fire cannot well be at
tributed to d hot-box in the machinery.
The burned property is almost total
loss. There will be very little salvage
aside from possibly the engine, which
may not be injured much The aggre-
gate loss is estimated to be in the
neighborhOod of $4,000 or $4,000.
There was an insurance all told of
$46, 800.
A correct statement of the insurance
carried on the burned mill, elevator,
stock and machinery is given below
with the companies involved. All was
placed in the agencies of H Mulberger
and jacob q Blumenfeld. The mill
insurance was as follows: