The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-11-08
I<@---' i =.
DIAMOND
STEEL y
| COMPANY
I LOSES $4,000 BY FIRE
Big Spike Mill, With Its
Carpenter and Pattern
Mi Shop Quilted.
DRAyE FIREMEN.
They Keep the Flames( n
fined to t e Building
Of their (r ia. Fall
ing Bnildil G Ties
N Up TroIley
Road.
MILLS WILL NOT SHUT DOWN
MILLS WILL NOT SHUT DOWN

fire this morning. which totally de-
stroyed the spike mill, carpenter and
!. pattern shops, causing loss of
7 about SOS, 900. 1t was stubborn
blaze, perhaps the most obstinate
one the local FIRE department was
ever called upon to combat, but,
through the untiring efforts of the
h hremen. the fire was kept in the
Z building where it originated.
1t was 3. As o'clock when the fire
was discovered in the pattern shop.
This department was on the second
s@ftoor of the main building in the
..old Ferry" yard On the first
ffoor was the carpenter shop and
directly adjoining it was the spike
mill and the rolling mill, The en-
tire building was sol feet long by
y JOG feet wide. Of this structure.
but half stands to-day. The flames
completely licked up the pattern
and carpenter shops and the spike
mill, and so extensively damaged
the rolling mill that the mill cannot
beoperated for week. Meanwhile
I the Company will bring into requi-
sition other departments of the big
plant to get out the many orders
4 which have kept the plant working
to its utmost capacity for several
y months.
Il ORIGIN OF THE FIRE.
The origin of the fire is mys-
Y terry. When Fire Chief Sasse
reached the burning mill three min
utes after William Hancock had
sent in the alarm from box No ~,
Head and Lobdell streets. he found
the flames eating their way through
the root OF the pattern shop. See
= ing that the fire was surrounded by
inf1ammable material and fearing
that the entire plant would be con
sumed. he promptly sent in sec
Ond, then ageneral alarm. Within
few minutes, the entire fire de-
partment was on hand.
H. Sc lines were r>mptly adju
Ell and a. 4 o'clock the combined
energy OF the tiremen was at work
against the fire. 1t was indeed
stubborn.
Inan incredibly short space of time
it had eaten its way to the first
floor of the building, the carpenter
] shop and thence to the adjoining
spike mil,cauSing a reflection which
Illuminated the sky and attracted
thousands OF persons who had been
awakencd by the inccssant ringing
y OF the fire bells. The old building
burned like finder box. The
dozen streams of water which were
pouring in upon the structure, car
ried burning timbers to the ground
and sent up shower of sparks
which added weird beauty to the
scene
The fire burned with great ra-
pidity. for in half an hour one half
of the big building was envcloped
in flames. The tremen were at
every point Of vantage. but they
seemed to be making little headwav
in checking the progress of the fire.
But at ; o'clock the flames were UNI
der control. At that hour the north
end of the big building was fiery
furnace. The corrugated iron
which formed its side were sheets
of scething metal Fircmcn were
compelled t" fall back from their
positions OF vantage and no sooner
had they done so than the root and
sides, no longer supported by the
massive timber columns, fell with Il
deadening crash, They tell toward
Head street. carrying with them
the telegraph and electric wires
and the poles on which they were
strung. Congregated along Head
street were perhaps 500 people who
were surrounded on every side by
electric splitting wires. but who
strange To- say. were not injured
EMPLOYEES of the Wilmington CITY
Railway COMPANY and Wilmington
City Electric Company were soon on
hand and in short time the wires
were "dcad. "
When the building fell in it was
the signal for the Iircmcn to fight
the lire at close range. and So draw
ing the dozen lines Of hose to with
in twenty-five feet of the burning
and collapsed building they poured
volumes of water into the mill. trans
forming the yard into a miniature
creek On which rode emouldering
cmhcr>, kegs and tool chests,
the latter being saved by night
,y.trhmnn AZ tbn mill f., L.. ii