The San Francisco call., 1896-05-11

from the burning building was not high
enough TO afford complete protection, for
flames leaped through the roof and caught
the Reliance building. Presently the two
large works were blazing furiously.
The water tower was introduced oppor-
tunely with four streams combined and it
did good work until two more streams
were added. 1t seems the men handling
the tower were not aware of this and the
result was startling. The big tower re-
coiled and fell backward against Garratt's
brass foundry, smashing its upper works so
that it was rendered unfit for further use.
Water was poured into the fire from doz-
ems of engines so copiously that what had
threatened to be conhagration was kept
in q comparatively small area.
two-story brick building, which was
part of the Vulcan works, tottered in the
flames and fell with a prodigious. crash.
The front wall fell outward and the roof
and second floor, the latter weighted with
ponderous mining machinery, went down
in O shower of sparks. This was about
o'clock, and half an hour later the flames
caught the Reliance works, while cor
nices and bits of wood were flying through
the air. The firemen attacked the flames
in this ground and succeeded in keeping
them back, but it was not till after
O'Clock that the fire was under control.
A mass of machinery and burned and
charred timbers, seen through the remains
of wooden walls, was all that remained
yesterday of the Vulcan works. These
works were originally the Savage foundry
and now belong to Messrs. Eyre and Gra-
hon The 10
mated at about $50, 600. The insurance
was $31, 500. How much the ramshackle
old three-story frame building and the
two-story brick one adjoining were worth
was difficult to estimate, as they were vir-
tually long past their day of usefulness.
The latter is heap of bricks and debris.
while the former could only present
badly battered front yesterday with its in
terror gutted and filed with great mass
of wreckage. Luckily for the owners the
Office was not badly damaged and the
books escaped injury. The insurance was
placed by Brown & Eyre in several COM
panies on the plant.
In the Reliance works of Clot & Meese
at 100 and 131 Fremont street, the fire pa
troll saved the insurance companies a
handsome sum by covering the valuable
machinery on the floors with waterproof
sheets. This work was performed even
while the fire ragged in the third story.
The patrolmen tied their covers like 80
many hammocks, from wall TO wall, with
the result that all surplus water was di-
verted into harmless channels. The build
ing was an old three-story frame struct-
ure and in all probability will have 20 be
replaced with a modern brick factory.
The top story was used as pattern-shop
and storehouse for wooden pulleys. All
this expensive stock, with the patterns
and pattern-making machinery, was de-
stroyed. In the next floor were numerous
iron pulleys and machines, but they es-
capped almost wholly, having been covered
by rubber sheets.
The ground floor escaped except in odd
places, where water rusted shaftings and
few machines. These were given a liberal
coat of oil yesterday and saved thereby.
Mr.. Meese stated that lie carried an in
surance of $4,000, in several companies,
and believed that that sum fully covered
his loss. He was pleased that his works
escaped so well. But for the brick parti-
ton wall, he said, the whole place would
have been blotted out. 1t was the firms s
first fire and they were in business there
for thirteen years. There had been other
fires, however, in the place next door.