Arizona republican., 1899-07-01
THE JEROME FIRE
Belief That Sister Thomas Was
 Speaking by inc Gard.

1 Correspondence of The Republican.)-
 Last night at 10 o'clock Jerome again
 was startled by the dreaded three
 sharp, quick blasts of ths great siren
 on the roof of the power house at the United Verde smelter So often dur ing the last two years has that shriek asseiled the tympanum Of Jerome that it's sound has become familiar, and each time it has presaged disas- ter; until now even the us1al blasts
 at the noon hour and the hours of ' in the morning and at n ght go
 straight to the heart and people give
 a sigh of relief as they lengthen out
 into one minute roars, and finally die
 away in reverberations among the rad
 rocks north of the Verde valley.
 Within five minutes after the alarm
 the broad and steep wagon road WAS
 black With people struggling up to-
 wards the glare at the smeiter. On
 turning the road just above Miller's
 store flames were seen emerging from
 the cupola og the foundry building, and
 at first the people thought the. shops of the plant were on fire. But this
 was not the case. A heat was on
 il the moulding department, and the fire was farther to the south Finally
 on turning at Bob MitcheI's house
 the crowd came in view of the eon-
 1agration. The extreme east end of
 the high railway trestles overhang-
 ing the coke bins, with 800 tons of
 coke in their maw, was on fire shining like a figure piece at a pyrotechnic Cis- ni2V Tho hinC do1.y No e
 ing sullenly, and the roof the reverbe-
 ratory building glear1ed in spots
 where the flames had gained foothold.
 The roar of the fire could be heard all over Jerome, a half mile distant
 The first apprehension was felt for the power house which contains all the engines and electrical machinery that furnishes the motive power for the smelter and mine It was seriously threatened. and if it should have gone the usual way Of Jerome buildings the effect would be incalcuhbly disas- trous. Three hundred men were run ning aibo!1C uncoiling hose, tapping water mains, and in an incredibly st9ft space of time dozen streams
 were playing on the seat Of danger
 from the smelter and two hose teams were at work from the depot end, the
 lO ONA-4S tOClNNOA lAC Pt-1OCo hd4AASh- For a time it looked as if the entire plant, the depot, the general offices,
 the big boarding house on the hill, the company lodging house and the thirty eight small hillside cottages were doomed, as well as the infinite mum Der of shacks in that vicinity, and Shea's place at the Bend"
 The clerical force at the general Of fees was soon at the scene. and in thirty minutes the offices had been stripped of verythiDg-papers, rec ords, desks, counters, typewriters chairs-in fact, everything but the floor covering and the wall paper Windows were kicked out and heavy furniture showed out in that way. It wss all piled Up on the dump and GOV cred by tarpaulins. and watchmen de- tailed to keep guard.
 J. L. GirouX, H. J. Al1sn, ". M. Adamson and Robert Mitchell were on the dump directing the efforts of the fire fighters When the long stairway that leads from the dump to the depot level caught, it looked as if the office building was not worth a penny whis- tie. However, Mike Bradley and aD assistant electrician mounted to the roof and a line formed on the ground passing buckets (the hose not having sufficient pressure for the purp0se), and they fought the fire like devils for an hour, finally saving the offices In the meantime the sweating grimy workmen had defeated the encroach- ments of the flames on the west and north and had cOrraled it within the original limits. All night lnng they kept at it, and as this letter leaves Jerome the immense piles o1 coke are burning fiercely and great clouds of smoke going upward from what was once the immense bins. A small abandoned tunnel under the fallen coke seems to act like a chim- ney and creates a draught under tie hot coke, flaming 1t into intermitt5 blaze. So far there has been little or no wind, and what the effect would be should storm suddenly arise can Cnly be cOnjectured. Everything possible Jn human energy and skill is being done to isolate the burning coke, and if the water holds out for tVenty-f3nr hours longer all danger vail have been passed. Water is the vital point. The mine and works are both shut down, the machinery is running and the new electric pump at the 30a- foot level is dong yeoman service. In i last nights fire 1t paid fir its7if twenty times over the first half hour.
 The loss is confined to the reverba- ratory building. the coke bins and | their contents, and seventy-five feet | of trestle of the railway, all of which | is fully covered by insurance, and the | intrinsic loss will not exceed S5,0OD. | But the result may be more far reach | ing. A delay to the plant, or an ln- definite shutdown would mean the less of tens of thousands of dollars to the | camp every week. In all the fires from which Jerome has suffered there | has been none that is So serious 2s -hisI While the former losses have )een closer to the ind vidual at the [ the heart of the community (the great nine and smelter) has for