The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1899-05-19

For the third time within the past
four months, and the fourth time
within year, the fire demon has
visited Columbia in all its fury,
leaving ruin and disaster in its
wake. The last and the most de-
structive of these CONGREGATIONS
occurred last Wednesday night,
when the greater portion of the
mammoth lumber manufacturing
establishment of Messrs. Harris IL
Cole Bros, known as the Pump
Factory, was completely wiped out
of existence, entailing property
loss of many thousands of dollars.
Shortly before 10 o'clock small
blaze was discovered in the shed adj
joining the large planning mill. The
fire alarm was Immediately sounded,
aud the fire company responded
promptly. From the very outset,
however, the firemen were handi-
capped by totally insufficient wat
or supply, and it was soon seen that
nearly the whole of the plant was
doomed to destruction. The flames
quickly spread to the planning
mill, large three. story frame
building, and in moment, almost,
that part of the factory was seeth.
Ing cauldron of fire. The angry
flames leaped high into the air,
Illuminating the heavens with a
crimson glare and lighting up the
country for many miles around. A
steady wind was blowing from the
south, which greatly augmented the
| flames in their needless fury. With.
in few minutes the dry house i'm
mediately north of the planning mill
was ignited, and that, too, was soon
a mass of ruins. Continuing their
work of destruction,. and needless
of the feeble effort that was being
made by the firemen to check their
course, the flames leaped across the
track of tie n. G Il ST. Louis rail.
way, and soon the office, ware house
and stables were all in a blaze.
Immediately north and east of the
office and ware, house lay the tx
tensive lumber. yards, where thou
sands of feet of valuable lumber
were stacked, and for awhile it
seemed as though this entire prop
erty was doomed to inevitable de
structiOn. Fortunately, however,
the firemen succeeded in checking
the flames after they had devoured
only about half of the lumber in the
yard, and a small portion of the
ware house was also saved.
The saw mill and another large
ware house were situated east of the
planning MILL but from the fact that
the wind was blowing in an opposite
direction, these buildings were
saved, and the saw-mill was run
ming yesterday just as though moth
ing had occurred.
The Columbia Cotton mill, which
is situated just south of the Pump
Factory, escaped by being in the
opposite direction from which the
wind was blowing. There were sew.
eral freight cars standing on the
Louisville & Nashville track, but
an engine was hitched to these
and they were pulled out of the
way before the fire could reach
them. Two of the cars broke loose
and ran down the track, colliding
with an engine and partly derail
ing one of the cars. The damage
however, was slight, and the
derailed car was soon gotten back
on the rails. Traffic on the l.. d n
road was not delayed, but the track
of the n. G. & St. L. railway was
destroyed, and the trains coming
into Columbia yesterday had to stoI
east of the factory. The telegraph
wires were burned down, and fol
several hours all communication
was cut off.
The firemen did all they could t.
check the fire but, as stated above
they were practically helpless from
the beginning. That there was al
insufficient water supply, or pres