The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-03-25
The Reid Packing Company's
Plant Nearly Destroyed.
LOSS MORE THAN A MILLION.
A Large Quantity of Meat and Lard
Feeds the Flames.
Funeral OF the sixty-One Miners Killed
at Red Canyon Most OF Them Being
Mormons. High DIgnitarfe~ OF the
Church Conduct Services Over the
Bodies.

Kansas City, March 2i-At s:ao o'clock
tonight ire broke out in the hog huild-
Ing OF the Reid Packing Companys plant
al Kansas and Railroad avenues in Kan
sas City, kan, and almost the entire
group of buildings were completely de-
stroyed, causing a loss Of sI.ssa1.a
When the FIRE was discovered watch
man telegraph 10 the Kansas CITY.
Kan, fire department and a general
alarm Was sounded. The flames spread
over the top aoor Of the hog building
with incredible rspidity. feeding on The
meats and oils. Before the hremen had
laid line of hose the roof had fallen in.
The flames from the hog building conmu-
nicafed with the engine house on the
south. and soon wrecked the boiler and
destroyed the effectiveness Of the com
paDys fire apparatus. A disastrous Ax-
plosion was narrowly aveTied by the fire.
men. who. al the risk OF life and limb
rolled twenty barrels OF ga soline from the
buildings. From the engine building the
fire spread 10 five onG~s1ory frame lee
houses. each 40 by t25 feet. These were
rapidly devoured by the flames. and then
the fouT-story storage building which
was right Ia line. fell a prey TO the ele-
ment OF destruction There was sfao6so
worth of meats in she basement OF this
buiidinS The first floor was used as A
warehouse. the second was filled with dry
SAN tilFd4cs On tB1 tnaFU HRfF We're hfE
hogsheads fun of meats ready for ship
ping. and the fourth fioor was packed
with dressed meats. The fire leaped from
room TO room and roared and cracked
until the roof fell in and the flames shot
nifty feet In the air. At this point the
Kansas city, Mo, fre department was
appealed to FOR aid. and six hose CON-
panies and two engines responded. The
water tower from the Armour Packing
Company also assisted.
At I'D o'clock the west wall OF the
hog building fell with crash. The
flames burst over the bridge connecting
the storage house with the beefhouse.
and the bridge burned iiercely. The Are
men turned their whole attention 20 saw
ing the beefhouse and a dozen streams
were turned on the burning bridge. Not
withstanding the strenuous efforts OF the
department. section after section OF the
bridge was partially destroyed and final
" fell to the ground where the work Of
destruction was completed. Finally the
beefhouse caught Ere and the fremcn
were pOwerless 10 stay the greedy flames
as they ate their way Into the building
through the bridge. When II was seen
that the entire plant was In imminent
danger OF complete destruction, more aid
was called for, and the entire force on
the ground was turned 10 Saving the beef
warehouse. In short time the building
and contents were safe. and the firemen
concentrated their efforts on Ire storage
building which was burning fiercely. A
heavy wind coming up caused the flames
10 burn with renewed fury. and within
twenty minutes the roof fell IN. and soon
thereafter the south and west walls top
pied over. But a little time elapsed be-
fore the building was a complete wreck.
The four-story smokehouse Is separated
from the storage building by - feet,
small one-story building standing be-
tween them. This was soon blazing. The
wind veered 10 the east before much
damage was accomplished here. AT las
the fire WAS brought under control. bat as
a heavy wind was blowing the firemen
were kept on duty 70 avoid any possibiI
fly OF the fire spreading.
The entire plant is valued al $50 Co.
while the estimate placed on the stock
ranges from SN0. 90 10 81 .Cssna. The loss
on the buildings destroyed Will probably
be $eo0. .0p0 20 10000 and that on the
meats oil. lari and other products con-
sumed viii bring the total 10 over 81, 60
oeo. The insurance is ample 10 cover all
losses. -Four men were slightly injured.