Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-10-19
BURNED OVER ACRES.
Tho Tredesar. Works Blaze the Largest
Here In Recent Years.
EIGHT BUILDINGS WERE CONSUMED,
Much Machinery and Number Of Cara In
Surcd or Destroyed-Tbc Damage
and Insurance.


,o,s,,,c and historical Tredegar iron
Works by fire that broke out there carry
Yesterday morning, and was quite 'u''y
rcportcd in the edition OF the pispa'eh
issued an hour later.
AZ 3, was. the area devastated by the
acres-was greater
,,a, an any similar occasion for the last
ten years. and. In fact. since 'he iai"o"S
Petersburg bridge fire.
The destroyed buildings extehded elohg
enc river for about 500 feet. and all thdt
{. NOW left 10 tell the tale is portion
o. their outer walls.
WAS a BIG FIRE.
=, oil o,cht buildings were destroyed
tho old car-framing house, three car
erecting shops. the horseshoe mill. stock
house. blacksmith-shop and scale-house'
Nth scales capable OF weighing thirty
Thes. buildings were al brick, the
horseshoe having a frame sned N
front.
Tho genera. impression is that the "re
orle.ss,ed in the large boileT-hoHSe Oh
~. shoe-m,ll. a mishap mat had occ"i'e'
,,.i.o previously, but with no serious re-
suits ,,,,..,
nv some strange misfortune lhe 81"
sce,ned 20 have made conslderdOie
,yay before they were discoNeic~
.lorn was sounded at 30 o C'ocN' D"s
H'rhnoud and Danville engineer I'd!
o. no, inc bulldinEs in a lsht D.@Ze al
ga o'clock-just three quarters Q.
- earlier. This agrees with me s'"'e
,n,n,s Of the two police officers WHO
.|a,ding al the corner OF SNta anu ''"'''
streets who say they saw names S','y
nc from the buildings w"eh 'Ae OO'''
began 10 rin6.
TURNED THE ALARM IN.
Tho nrivate box OF the compahy
49, p,'Ilet in by Waterman MOsoS' Oh
,ha works. who says the flames were u l'n
VOL ,noer way. lie denies that any "l!e
,,.as lost bv the Tredegar FIRE DePdl'
mont attempting to handle the o'H-''
,,,s,sts that the alarm was turned III ~
,ora tho men went 10 WORK NS So"
hn returned from the bJA "o
dored the two gates TO the ydi'S
opened. that the appa' ,he
I,ve easy ACCESS by some oversight 'He
S"vartb-strext gate remained closed anu
,be nremen had TO batter II down.
r,ba nrst alarm brought out steamers
and and Truck /. The two engines
last named were put to Woih on 'nI
hank and the other at a pug ih'Iuo ~
I'D seeing what heaiway the Ha'n'
I,,re making Waterman Mospy a.
pi,Iad ia the box "a second tlihe' IN ~
,,er DAYS this would have piousht o"'
,,,ora nnDaratus. but under the present
m ., o. ~ no effect In few minutes
chief Pull.r was on the grouhu' any,
irmediately sent in a private sigma W.
c,nan,ers and 6 and Truck ). THESE TWO
orc,nss were put to work-the hrst d.
- ,r the ward. and the other al 'hc
s',,sr,h- s,rce; gate. There was niue
80 for the trucks. so the members OIL
the companies manned extra streams
THE HEAT WAS INTENSE.
All the while the burning buildings
-, ,oa,,,,g Nke furnaces. a brisk south
,Sest wind FASTENED the WOih " u'"'l"
t.,n II looked as If the entire pant Wa
-,n,ne1 and. as Chief Fuller eNpreSs'u
n he would not have given 10 CENTS iO'
re entire works at this time. ,,,,-.
'rhe pcrtinacity with which the pu' iu'nsS
burned WAS surprising. For several hours
'ra,. l,terally seemed TO spout fire. MS
80 Aue In the fact that there were
many huge wooden supports IN the"i'
e,rne Of them being .-s large as ice-
sonare Sharks few as far As Pine-Stree'
Ills, church. CANDLES Hill was crown
"a .,.,,b neorle and was as light as DAY
~. names were reflected for many bio'NS'
numerous buildings in the business as
trlct-notably the p7st-oiilce-pelhs D''sH'
IL Illuminated. ,,,r &,
About this time there was Iun IA
enc s,iff breeze. and the hremen conceh-
,r...d all their efforts on the moulding
&C., which adiOinel the framing Shop'
ror hours this latter structure wa
soethinr furnace. and tho wall next 10
tho mouldins shed bulged out several
feet. but did not fall.
The immense streams of water now
ever. served to prevent the spread oil 'he
flames. but seemed To have no power 10
ouench them. SO iiercely did they burn.
About this time No. Steamer WAS
brought down 10 the race Directly IN
front Of the shop and began TO deluge IL
with the assistance Of several other en-
.-.,ns and by dint OF steady pumping
AGED I'm course OF time to absolutely
d out. At daylight the fire was
....ug with a steady roar. and il was
several hours later before 1t was sub
du,d. Engine companies and : remain
ed on duty until o'clock yesterday after
noon. as did Chief Fuller, and when they
departed two plug-streams were left 10
be- used by the employees IL necessary.
What the damage will be is hard to say.
Necessarily everything WAS in state
If confusion yesterday. and all estimates
were TO a great extent conjectures.
FINE MACHINERY DESTROYED.
In addition to the buildings great
deal of valuable machinery was totally
destroyed. A number of patterns. some
f which had been in use for nearly fifty
years, were ruined. Fortunately the
more modern ones, and "a large quantity
hcionging 10 the Chesapeake and Ohio.
were ia another building and were unin-
iured. 4 great many of the workmen
lost their individual tools. This is rather
hard on them. as many Of the implements
cannot be purchased, but have to be made
by the men themselves. About 2)O men
are thrown out of work temporarily. The
car-shops had of late only been running
on three-Quarter time. but the horseshoe
mill was crowded with orders.
Superintendent Glasgow stated to Dis
patch man yesterday that no steps as
10 rebuilding had yet been taken. The
blacksmith-shop and horseshoe-m viii
have 10 be rebuilt at once, but there
is no particular hurry about the car.
shops.
NOT FULLY COVERED.
Mr. Glasgow said that the insurance or
the burned building was something over
$50 900. which amount would not cover tn,
loss.
a locomotive engine which had beer
sold to the United States Government
10 be used in the work OF improving
the James river was damaged past al
use. Twenty box and f1at-cars wer,
burned. Seven of these were the pro
perty OF the Richmond and DanVillt
railroad two belonged TO the Atlantic
Coast Line, and the balance were owned
by the Chesapeake and Ohio. Five NOR.
we're damaged. but can be repaired
Twenty cars built for use on sugar cane
plantations OF Cuba were in the car-shop.
ready for shipment. They were all con
sUmed.
THE INSURANCE.
The following insurance-polcies are held
by the Tredegar Company:
Liverpool ana London and Globe. 5 66 0OC
Georgia Home NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 1905
Norwich Union Observation-Disclosures. 1900
Royal Observation-Disclosures. 90
London Assurance INSTRUMENTATION. 7,Jc
Commercial Union decentralization. 1855
National, Of Baltimore ............ 6OO(
Scottish Union and National ...... 6.0W
Virginia Fire and Marine ............ $50.
Hamburg Bremen ................... 500,
VIRGINIA STATE & ny