The Portland daily press., 1897-05-20
A GENERAL ALARM.
City Thought All Eastern Promenade
Was Burning Last Night.
Man Who Pulled 1t Insight Damage
to Grand Trunk Sheds.


Man Who Pulled 1t Insight Damage
TO Grand Trunk Sheds.
night and so did box 81, at the corner o f
Vesper street and the Eastern Promenade
The former turned out by hundreds and
ran up Munjoy hill to the Eastern Prom
enade expecting to find the band stand
on fire, at the very least, while the latter
meaning box 21-rang in that number
for three alarms and awoke the city as
| nothing else could wake it. 1t all come
about in this way:
About O'Clock Or a few minut es later,
Waterman Lee at the Grand Trunk coal
sheds at Fish Point, just below tho
promenade, saw a bright light up the
track in the direction of crane No. B.
This crane was a sort of a house contain
ing the machinery for putting coal into
the tenders of locomotives, and all about
it was heaped hundreds of tons of coal.
This crane No is often used at night,
and SO lamp is kept burning in the up
per part of it, to enable the men whose
NucJ ~ ID W ltldISts5t lIG UislCIillOiJ w
see.
Some youth with propensity for
throwing stones, INDUCED in the prac-
tice last night from the top of the East
ern Promenade, some 80 feet above, and
accidentally hit the lamp. The result
was the scattering of the oil all over the
dry timbers composing the shed and a
fire resulted. When Waterman Lee dis
covered the extent of the fire he did not
hesitate a minute. Over 5000 tons of
coal lay about this point, and Mr.. Lee
knew that if the fire got start it W ould
destroy much valuable property.
SO the Waterman ran out on to the
track and shouted to some people on the
top of the promenade, telling them to
fpull in an alarm. A boy named Weeks
heard the watchmans shout and started
Off on run for the box. In front of the
park stood an electric car with Conductor
George Walker in charge The boy told
the conductor that the Grand Trunk coal
sheds were on fire and Conductor ran to
| box 81 at the corner of Vesper street, and
pulled in the alarm. But when the box
| had struck the first round it kept right
on striking and before it was through
had rung in three alarms. People down
town thought the whole of Munjoy hill
was on fire and in a few minutes the
streets were filed with running, excit-
ed mob. The box which caused all of this
| trouble should have locked itself after the
| first three rounds, but it was out Of order
and didn't. Every engine in the
city re sponded to this call excepting En-
CINE 3, which was caught before it left its
house. Engine made the run to the top
of the hill, over mile, and it was a
quick run, too.
| Meantime the fire on the crane shed
was assuming dangerous proportions, but
was not severe enough to cause all of the
excitement it had occasioned. Engine 2
with its hose wagon was, of course, the
first on deck. After surveying the fire
an instant from the top of the bluff, Clerk
Ralph Eaton of the company took the end
of a 1000 foot of hose and started down
over the steep bluff which few men would
| dare to attempt in the day time to say
nothing of making the descent on a
dark night. But Eaton went down over
| that bluff as a man goes down a tobog-
gan chute. The other members of the
company held on to the line of hose be-
hind him and so gave him support, in
some measure, but his feat was daring
one for all that. A few minutes served
to extinguish the blaze in the crane
shed and the damage done was very
! slight.
| Box q so misbehaved last night has
done the same thing once before. Even
Engine Z, the fire boat, turned out in
response to this alarm last night, but
could he of no assistance