The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-08
FIREMEN WORN AND WEARY.
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS HARD WORK
DID THEM Up.

All the Exposed Buildings Burned
Out or Badly Damnged-MiGht
Have Been Worse But for the
Fight of the Firemen, However.
Water Still Being Poured on.
In spite of all the hard work of the fire.
men, there is nothing much left of the
range of large brick buildings on William
son and River streets, but damaged brick
walls and charred timbers. In the Conk-
lin building there is a large amount of
damaged hardware on the lower floors. on
the upper floor the fire swept everything.
In the other buildings, the Flannery build
ing and that occupied by the Savannah
Grocery Company's stables there was prac-
tically nothing left.
The firemen poured water on the ruins all
of yesterday, and last night it was still
being poured on. The cotton in Jacksons
pickery in the Flannery building burned
very persistently during the day, and in
the Conklin building the fire blazed up
once or twice, but was easily checked.
The firemen were a worn and weary
looking lot They had been at work with
out relief since o'clock the night before,
and their worn condition was easily evil
dent. They did not have anything to eat
from dinner time Sunday until . o'clock
the next morning.. when they were allow
ed to get breakfast There was no relief
from work, however, until late in the at
ternoon when one crew was allowed to go
to quarters. Towards night, Chief Mcguire
began putting on substitutes to take the
places of the men who had been steadily
at work for nearly twenty-four hours. Only
few men being kept on duty at the ruins
last night, the majority of The force OBJ
tained the rest of which they stood much
in need. The men showed very plainly the
effects of the hardship which they had
undergone. Their eyes were
red and nflamed, and their
cheeks blistered and swollen. Chief Ma
guire himself took no rest until night.
There was too much fire for one de-
partment to handle" said Mayor Mel
drim, in speaking of the matter. Il do not
think the department can be held in any
way responsible for the loss of the Ca
thedraL 1t had work enough to do on
River street at the time and it was out
of the question to get to the Cathedral
promptly. / do not believe the fire in the
Cathedral could have been extinguished
anyway unless the entire department
could have been landed there promptly on
the striking of the alarm and that was
out of the question. The River street fire
was a very difficult one to handle. The
fremen worked hard, but fate seemed to
be against them"
Mayor Meldrim spent the greater part CT
the night between the two fires. lie con
suited with Chief Mcguire at the Cathedral
fire, and encouraged him to make the best
fight possible under the circumstances. AT
the Chiefs request he telegraphed Bruins
wick for an engine and 1900 feet of hose,
which were dispatched as promptly as
possible.
Mayor MeIdrim does not take much
stock in the incendiarism theory. Il 40
not think there is any reason to believe
that the Cathedral fire was due to an in
cendiary," said he. ut is doubtful If any
of the other fires can be charged To this
source. | have known number of fires
to occur in Savannah in rapid succession
in previous years, and then, on the other
hand, we have gone weeks at a time with
out a single fire i is possible that some
of the fires may be due to this cause, but
hardly think So"
Chairman James NJ. Dixon of the Water
Commission and Supt. II. NJ. Lotion were
both cut of their beds until after O'Clock
in the morning.
The water supply held up wonderfully
WELL" said Supt. Lotion. Although We
pumped during the greater part of the
night at the rate of 100000 gallons a day.
out reserve supply was not exhausted. The
pressure maintained al the works during
the night was sXty-five pounds. The ex-
PLANTATION OF the failure to get wafer from
the hydrant streams al the Cathedral fire
is very simple. With five engines taking
water as fast as they could pump in the
northern section of the city all the benefit
of the extra pressure was received there
Chairman Dixon said: '"rhe mains on
Liberty and Harris streets are only 6-inch
each. With five engines drawing water
| from the 16-inch mains on Bay and River
| streets, it was hardly 10 be expected that
there would be sufficient pressure in the
smaller mains to throw a good hydrant
| stream. The water was there but without
| the pressure to force it out. The engines
| had no trouble in getting water when they
| arrived in the Cathedral fire"
| The origin of the River street fire is still
a mystery, and is likely to remain So The
| Georgia and Alabama Railway warehouse,
| in which the fire began, is leased by the
company from Mr.. John A. Calhoun. who
has the lease upon the Savannah Cotton
| Press Association wharves. Mr. Calhoun is
| of the opinion that the fire was incsndiary
| The night Waterman had just come on
and he and the day Waterman had made
| their rounds and found everything all
right, apparently said Mr.. Calhoun.
| About twenty minutes after the watch
| man on Dixon's lumber wharf rushed in
and said that the warehouse was on fire.
| One of our men, Mr.. Washington. ran oser
| there and entered the warehouse The fire
| spread so rapidly that he barely had time
| TO set out. at once telephoned fire head
| quarters and the fremen there responded
| promptly. | did not hear the alarm 20 in
| The fire spread with great rapidity."
| Mr. Calhoun used the wharf in front
| of the warehouse in his lumber business.
| and sustained a loss of about 81 1000 on
lumber there. The schooner Aaron Rep
| pard, which was loading at the wharf.
was moved away by The tug Bachelor
| Mr. Calhoun has five schooners at Tybee
| waiting to be loaded with lumber, but
| they will be delayed somewhat on account
| of the interruption caused by the fire.
| The firemen were unfortunate with the
| Conkln building. This was the largest
| building of the row exposed to the ware
| house fire. While considerable damage
| had doubtless been done by water the
| building appeared TO be free from fire al
! o'clock AT about 10 o'clock the north
western end Of the building, which is a