The San Francisco call., 1897-06-30
BURNED
LIKE A
TORCH
Destruction Of the New
Folsom-Street Pier by
Fierce Flames.
THE SHIP COMMODORE In A BLAZE.
Overheard Jumped the Wife Of
the Captain, but She Was
Rescued.
HEROIC ACT OF JAPANESE SAILORS.
Asiatic Man-of-Wa Fought the
Flames and Were 0heered by
Americans.

EOAoOm-otICob plcI3 Inc p11Q6 OF L0o
Harbor Commissioners, is a ruin. Ten
minutes after the cry of fire was raised
the entire superstr ucture was a mass of
fames and an hour later the loss was al
| most complete. The shed was gone, the
ship Commodore was almost gutted by
the flames and the scow schooner Katie
Nc was burned to the waters edge.
The wife of Captain Davidson of the
Commodore jumped overheard when the
flames envelopsd the ship and was saved
only with difficulty. The three men on
the Katie Nc were only saved by the cour-
age and daring of Jack HeaIy, Henry
Peterson and others. In spite of the
fierce flames they backed their boats up
to the burning schooner and took the men
off. They yelled again and again to them
to Jump, but the sailors were paralyzed
with fear and did not move. Each boat
man threw a bucket OF water over himself
ana backing alongside the burning
schooner took the men aboard. 1t was a
narrow escape.
The steamer Homer was living ahead of
the ship Commodore discharging a cargo
OF lumber and it was lucky for her that
steam was in the boiler. The sudden out
burst of the flames nearly caused the crew
to desert, but the captain and officers
brought the men to a sense of their duty,
and when the heat became too intense the
lines were cast off and the steamer backed
| into the stream.
The loss will be over $50, coo, and of that
sum the State loses at least $50, 900. The
Commodore had been recoppered and re-
| fitted throughout, her new sails had been
| oert and sho was ready to sail to-day for
| Honolulu to load sugar for New York
when the fire came, and now the charterers
will have to secure another vessel to take
her place.
| The Katie Nc was formerly owned by
! Uncle Sam and carried sand TO the various
military posts in the bay. M. Peterson
| bought her and ever since she has been q
regular trader on the bay.
| The origin of the fire seems TO be in
doubt. Some say it started In the oil and
| paint shop, others that it broke out under
| the wharf from spontaneous com bustion,
| while stall others assert that it was caused
! by he tar boiler overfowing into the fire
underneath.
| In talking about the matter yesterday
! Henry Peterson, whose office is only a
] short distance from the oilshed, said: cit
| appeared to me as if sonnet hing caught
| fire in the paintshop and some of the
burning oil dropped down on the schooner
Katie Nc. In a few minutes she was in
| flames and the mooring lines burned
| through. The eddy caught the scow and
she dritted slowly along the side of the
wharf toward the open bay. Every time
she touched the structure a tongue of
! flame and a dense black smoke sprang up
| and in shorter time than IL takes me 10
tell it the whole structure was one mass
of flame. The Katie Mes anchor caught
| in one of the piles and held her there. Ny
boys went to the assistance of the crew
and with some difficulty rescued them
ALL"
Folsom-street pier was only just com
pleted and the Oceanic Steamship Com
pany took possession yesterday. Captain
Howard, superintendent of the big con-
Germ, had already sent from Paci6c-street
wharf all the gangplanks, purchase-blocks
and gear, cargo planks and cargo shoots,
and in fact all the paraphernalia con-
nected with the landing and shipping of
passengers and cargo on an ocean liner.
The loss to the company comes at
very bad time, as the biz AG tralian liner
| Moana, which was due to- morrow, arrived
last night. All the burned gear will have
! to be replaced before she can be doc&ed at
| that pier. Captain Howard said last night:
What the Oceanic Company's loss will
be l cannot tell until l know just what is
| lost. Whatever it is, however, l suppose
we will have to stand it, as none of our
gear was insured. Everything had been
moved from Pacific street wharf down
here with the exception of few pers onaI
effects, the company's safe and books and
Bum. (Bum is the office watchdog, and a
more faithful brute never Guarded a
wharf.) Well, now, suppose we will have
to continue in our old quarters and the
opening OF free market on Pacifc-s street
wharf will have to be postponed"
! When the fire was raging at its fercest
the scene was an awe-inspiring one. The
| flames rose from the entire surface of the
building and the heat from the burning
Jar, creosote, oil and turpentine was bills.
tering. Time and again the tiremen at
tempted TO approach, but were driven
| back oy the intense heat. One of them
remarked as he poured q bucket of water
over him elf 1--WE should have Shadrach.
| Meshak and Abednego-those fellows
| whom NebuchadneZZer threw into q seven
times heated furnace and who walked
through the white heat, here, and then
we might hope for success" But the