Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-03-30
WORKSHOPS BURN UP,
School Destroyed with Heavy
Loss to State.

Loss to State.
Waukesha, Wis, March 26.--[ Special
Between 6 and II O'Clock last night the
principal work buildings at the state III
dustrial school were entirely destroyed by
fire. The loss to the state is estimated
at $4,000. There is not a cents worth
of insurance on the buildings. The fire
was the largest and probably the most ex-
pensive that ever occurred in Waul1esha.
Shortly after 6 o'clock the officers III
the dining room were notified that there
was smoke in the tailoring department.
An alarm was Immediately spread al the
| school and the fire company of the in
| stitutiOn, composed mainly of inmates
went to work, However, there was trou-
| bic with the hose, and although the boys
| fought bravely, backing inch by inch, the
| fire finally became to much for them, and
! the remainder of the time, until the fire
| became too fierce, was spent in getting as
! many things out of the buildings as posi-
| BILE
The fire was discovered in the extreme
eastern end of the buildings and a stiff
southeast wind was blowing The men
could not fight against the wind and
! in the other direction the work did not
| count. At 6:2O o'clock the local depart
| ment was called out and at $50 the en-
| CINE was also called. The local men had
Il SIIedul VI TWO Oh the IRE, DuL cOulu 90
nothing to prevent its spreading. The fire
! swept from department to department, but
| by the time the last building on the west
| was burning, the extreme eastern pOr
| ton was practically out. A 10Ofoot
| brick chimney stood as grim sentinel at
the eastern end, and was not at all dam
aged. The walls fell during the hardest
fire ut the east end.
There were in the buildings the follow
ing departments, from east to west re-
spectively: Boiler rooms, engine rooms,
dynamo rooms, tailor shop, manual train
ing, laundry, knitting, shoe shop, and
I carpenter, bakery and officers dOrmito-
ries. The buildings extended about 300
feet east and west and 80 feet in width.
and were three and four stories in height.
AT O'Clock some trouble was expert
enced in reaching the fire engine house by
telephone, and then occurred a terrible
yelling among the inmates of the school.
For several minutes this was kept up,
and for time it looked as if there would
be trouble. The boys, though in no dan
ger, Stampeded, and in family No. l. six
teen boys broke the windows and walked
out into the yard. They were corraled,
however, and only about half a dozen
boys escaped during the night. For half
an hour pandemonium reigned, but finally
Supt. Merica managed to silence the in
mates and they were taken to their dor
mitOries, where they were allowed to
watch the progress of the fire.
Milwaukee was notified and nothing
could be learned until about s o'clock,
when It was stated engine company No.
had left on the North-W Western road. The
company arrived here shortly before 9
O'Clock but the apparatus was not I'M
loaded from the cars and the special
train which brought it out returned about
II o'clock TO Milwaukee.
At 80 o'clock steam pipe leading
from the boilers burst and shrieking, al
most like a human being, was kept up for
nearly an hour. 1t could be heard for
miles. The noise finally subsidized to a
deafening whistle and kept up until the
steam III the boilers was exhausted. The
safety plugs in the boilers were pulled and
the pumps forcing water into the stand
pipe turned on. The pumps worked up to
the time the steam pipe blew out.
Just west of the steam pipe that eX-
ploded an air barrel blew up, sending
showers of sparks hundreds of feet in the
air. Three or four other explosions took
place afterwards but none of them
caused wall TO fall. The first burned
extremely fast, and worked its way
through what were supposed to be fire
proof walls and roofs. Only a little more
than one hour after the first alarm was
given the whole building had been
reached by the flames.
Huge stocks of bread from the bakery
were thrown against adjoining buildings,
and all kinds of utensils and furniture
were scattered about the yards. The new
stOrerOOm had just been furnished and
the stores placed there yesterday. A car
load of soap made a terribly hot fire for
an hour, and the sound was like hum
dreds of punches of small firecrackerS
being discharged.
The heating plant. put in at a cost of
$4,000 last fall, is totally destroyed. The
pipe connections underground are also
I,,,, cf.N,
sure was felt in all parts Of the system.
The new dynamos will be total loss
and all the boilers will be useless hence
forth.
Supt Merica Will telegraph the Milwau-
kee Electric and Lighting company and
secure the use Of the old Beach railway
power house to furnish electricity to the
school beginning tonight. The question
of feeding the inmates, however, will be
a poser, for the kitchen and bakery Were
destroyed. The employment for the in
mates is gone and this may cause trou
ole among the boys, but Supt. Merica
said last night that they would all be kept
at work just the same
There is no doubt that the buildings will
be rebuilt on a far better scale than the
old ones The burned buildings were
erected in 1877 and appeared to be the
oldest on the grounds They were three
stories in height. All the cottages on the
grounds withstood a perfect storm of
burning sparks and firebrands of great
size, but not a blaze was found except
ing on the destroyed buildings.
Only two injuries were reported from
the scene of the fire and both of these
were trivial Matt. Kennedy, a fireman,
was injured in his foot and will be laid
I'D for some time. Officer Clifton was
overcome by smoke, but was able to be
around an hour afterwards.
A. large part of the north wall fell early
this morning and smoke still poured from
the ruins. A large force Of plumbers were
at work in the building sorting out pipes
and making water connections.
CTDYICH Nv TpAIM