The Indianapolis journal., 1896-04-21
FIRE LOSS OF $4,000
WRIGHT BUILDING, on SOUTH CAP
ITOL AVENUE, DESTROYED.
Street-Car Power House Damaged and
Traffic shut OH-A Violin
Makers Loss.

Makers Loss.
Asixty-thousand-dollar fire on South Cap
itol avenue, just below Georgia street. early
yesterday morning. burnt to the ground the
four-story brick building owned by II. c.
and NJ. p Wright, proprietors of the Wright
Power Company. which has furnished steam
power to q large number of manufacturing
concerns which had space leased in the build
ing. The building is in ruins and all OF the
walls fell down ere the fire was subdued.
While it was burning fercest the south wall
fell with a crash into the alley that sep
arated the Wright building from the power
house of the street car company. Part of
the falling wall crashed down on the roof of
the power house and instantly the roof Of
that building was in flames. The burning
building was a structure with unusually large
windows. and when the pine floors. soaked
with the accumulated oil of years, burnt
through and the timbers, loaded with heavy
machinery crashed to the ground, the walls
were left without support and toppled over.
The loud, explosive noise they made in fall
ing could be heard for long distance.
woman living near Maus's brewery was
awakened by the crash. and when her hus-
band came home from his nights work she
inquired what that awful explosion was.
large force of patrolmen were early on
the scene and placed ropes at safe dis
tance from the building, but that precaution
was unnecessary, as the fierce heat kept the
large crowds far away from danger. People
two blocks away had to cover their faceD
with their hands as a protection from the
heat.
William Hendrickson. the night watchman
| at Henry Coburns lumber yard. on West
| Georgia street. Just west of the Wright
| building, was the first to discover the fire
| and turned in an alarm from Box AIS, which
| is fastened to the front of Coburn's building.
| Hendrickson makes the round of the Co
burn plant every hall hour AT about 4:15 he
had finished round and decided to walk
| down to the annex lumber yard, which oc-
| cupies the corner north of the Wright plant.
While S eao walking TX in that direction Od ne Mnea caught b
| reached the corner he noticed an unusually
| bright light in the ground floor of the Wright
| piles in Coburn's yard and saw at a glance
that the interior of the Wright building was
| burning. 80
THE ALARMS WE'RE MIXED.
| AT that time the blaze was small. and in
| order to convince himself that he not
mistaken, Hendrlckson went to the front en-
| trance on Capitol avenue, when he saw
plainly that a fire was rapidly gaining head
Il
| planning mill and pulled Box 49, Walking
back to the corner, he stood waiting for the
fire apparatus to come, and was considerably
| surprised when Ii did not answer the CALL
| He supposed that something was wrong with
| the box, and went back to it and pulled the
| second alarm. Hendrickson says that 1t was
fully ten minutes from the time he hrst
pulled the box until he tried it again. Before
/ he made the second call he says that the
fire had extended upwards through the build
roof. BY the time the fire apparatus arrived
| the entire interior was in flames and sec
] ond alarm was turned in. This was followed
| by general alarm, which called out every
/ piece of fire apparatus in the city. Firemen
| say that Box 81, in front of the Spencer
House. was pulled at the same time the call
| of the new mountaineering pattern, and the
| two numbers became jumbled together, so
that 1t was impossible for the department to
The new engine was used yesterday morn
ing for the first time and Chief Webster is
| stationed at the cistern at Meridian and
Georgia streets, two blocks and half away.
| About thousand feet of hose was used for
| the two streams which were thrown by the
| engine. Bystanders say that the water from
| the engine easily reached the top of the
building, and was thrown with great force
| An extension ladder, was run up about ten
feet west of the burning building Firemen
played upon the flames for several minutes,
but the heat was SO intense II, that t, the ol lad;
| had to direct a stream of water on the lad
der to save their companions, who called out
| that their clothes were about to burn. They
| were doused with water and quickly clam
| bered down the ladder
LIVE WIRES IN THE WAY.
A great many electric wires were stretched
| in front of the building and greatly inter-
fered with the work Of the firemen. When
| the west wall fell into the street 1t crashed
across the electric wires and the weight of
the falling mass broke off four telephone
| and telegraph poles, some Of which supported
the feed lines of the street-car company.
| The red-hot brick and burning timbers soon
| melted the wires, many of which were "live"
and the firemen working among them were
in great danger Of receiving severe shocks.
AS soon as possible the power was shut off
| and for three hours the street-car traffic was
| delayed, so that people coming down town
to work had to walk The electrician Of the
street-car company. and large force of
linemep went to work at once. Unfortunate
ly the feed line from the power house across
the river was down. and the cars could not
street house was repaired
Wright & Wright are the principal losers.
/ The building has cost them, with additions
and repairs, something near 100000 Besides
the loss On the building, large stock of
new and secondhand engines, in which the
stroyed completely. Their business was
principally that of leasing space to manufac-
turing concerns and furnishing them with
steam power to operate their machinery.
Wright & Wright have a 29O-horse-power
engine and boiler. 1t is probable that the
boiler and engine will be saved, but the rest
of their plant, including piping, shafting,
etc. will most likely prove total loss. Mr..
NJ. p. Wright was busily engaged in trying
TO get at the large safes OF the firm when
seen by Journal reporter yesterday after
noon. He said that ii would be impossible
for him TO make any estimate of the loss
until ne could get at the books He was un-
certain as to the amount of insurance car
rled, but thought 1t was about $4,000 Mr..
Wright and his brother have not decided
whether they will rebuild.
Beside Wright & Wright. the following
firms had quarters in the building: The
Commercial Electric Company. manufac-
turers of motors and electrical machinery:
Schnu,l & Co., syrup refinery: indianapolis
Street Cleaning Company; j. r. Duncan, pat
tern maker; Green * Kiefer Company, man.
ufacturers of cracker and baking machinery;
Only Manufacturing Company, manufac-
! turers of fishing tackle; Mayne G. p Par
ker, printer; Troy Steam Laundry, Rotary
| Plow Company, Pierce Toning Company,
C. r. Weber Hat Company, manufacturers
of straw hats.
ESTIMATES OF LOSSES.
The Commercial Electric Company and
Schnull & Co. heavy losers. Members
of the former firm were unable to make
any estimate Of their loss but thought