The Portland daily press., 1897-09-11
DEERING RESIDENCE BURNED.
Mr. III. p. Hutchins' House and Stable
Destroyed.

Hose Was Leaky and Hydrant 400 Feet
Away-slsufficient Apparatus Re-
sponsibIe for Loss-Overturned Ian
tern the Cause,
The house an stable of H. P. Hutch
ms, situated on Main street in Deering,
not far above Aliens corner, was burned
to the ground shortly after half past nine
O'Clock last night. The house might have
been saved had the firemen had any
facilities for extinguishing the blaze, but
the nearest hydrant was over 1870 feet
away, the hose company which first ar
rived on the spot with only 500 feet of
hose and that in such poor condition that
1T could not hold water and with the
time which necessarily elapsed between
the sounding of the alarm and the arri-
vel of the Morrill'S corner hose company
with hose enough to reach from the hy-
drant to the burning house, the building
was doomed to destruction from the start.
Mr.. Charles Hutchins, the son of the
owner of the buildings was i'll the stable
last evening at work building crib. He
was In the hay loft in which was stored
about two tons of hay. About half past
nine o'clock Mr.. Hutchins lifted board
and accidentally tipped over the lantern.
In all instant the oil had run on to the
uay ana SET ufe 10 IL, anu OcIore MI.
HutchlnS realized it he was enveloped in
flames. The man had narrow escape
from being roasted before he could get
out of the hay loft. There was only a
small hole through the floor and in less
time than it takes to write it, Mr.. Hutch
inson found that this means of escape
was almost closed to him by a small wall
of fire. He dove through the smoke and
fire and managed to reach the main floor
of the stable in safety, but he was not
an instant too soon for the entire hay loft
was on fire in few minutes.
The stable was connected with the
house and the inmates at once realized
that with the means for fighting fire at
hand the place was doomed to deStruc-
ton. The buildings had not been erected
more than two years and were two stories
in height and very we'll constructed.
With the assistance of his neighbors who
arrived at the scene in remarkably
short space of time, Mr.. Huchins, aided
by his son, succeeded in getting out from
the house nearly all of the furniture in
the front rooms on the ground floor,
but the goods in the rooms nearest the
stable and in the upper stories, were de-
stroyed. The wind was in just the right
direction to spread the fire through the
buildings and in less than half an hour
Only the charred thinkers and glowing
Goals remained of what was once is nice
a set of buildings as there was in North
Deering
The Deering fremen did all that could
be done under the circumstances The
water pressure through l400 feet of leaky
hose, was not sufficient to send the stream
Of water over an ordinary sized shed.
By order of the city of Deering the wat
err company has just laid u two inch pipe
through this street, but no provision has
been made for hydrants and even if there
had been a hydrant at the spot where
the fire occurred the firemen would not
have been able to fight effectually with
one stream of water; If ever the neces-
sity of having good fire engine for use
IN just such cases as this has ever been
brought before the eyes of the people who
reside in this part of Deering, it certain
~ must have forcibly impressed itself up
on them last night.
Mr.. Hutchins told PRESS reporter
that he valued his buildings at about
$1,000, and carried only about $500 insur-
ance, which amount is placed through
the agency of Prentiss Loring & Co. The
neighbors of Mr.. Hutchins expressed
their sympathy for him and did all in
their power to aid him in his trouble.
Fred Crook of the Preble house, who lives
on Main street, shortly above Mr.. Hutch
ms, invited Mrs. Hutchins and her daugh-
ter to make his home their home as long
as they wished to do SO and the other
neighpors were not behind Mr.. Crook in
this regard. Said e. f. ellison of Wind
ham,, carpenter and builder, to Mr..
Hutchns: "You start in tomorrow morn
ing to rebuild your house, Mr.. Hutch
ms, and will give you two whole days
OF work with my crew, and it shan't cost
you cent" Another man, also evident
~ carpenter, said to Mr.. Hutehins
Il will see that every carpenter in North
Deering gives you two days work free
of charge to YOU
Mr.. Hutehins is evidently very much
liked by his neighbors and they sym
pathize with him greatly in his loss.
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