The age-herald., 1899-09-24
LOSS WILL REACH S85,0OO
Flames are Supposed to Have Originated
 in the Tin Shop.
TRAFFIC NOT INTERFERRED WlfH
The Company Will Transfer Cars From Other Lines to the Ensley Route Insurance Nearly Covers the
 Damage Done.

At o'clock this morning the round- house. railroad shops and car-shed of the Birmingham Railway and Electric com pany situated at Thirteenth street and Tenth avenue, were totally destroyed by fire
 The damage will amount to about SS5,OOo, a large part of which is covered by m- surance. Eight engines, six trolley cars and eleven of the large Bessemer cars were destroyed. Among the trolley cars were the five beautiful golden rod" ears of the Ensiey line.
 Only Two Engines Say ed
 The blaze had considerable headway be- fore an alarm was turned in to the hre denartment, but the firemen reached the shed in time to save many of the Bessemer ears One of the new Ensley cars was saved but the paint is badly scorched. and it will be several days before it can be put into service Only two of the engines were saved.
 The fire was first discovered by Emanuel Smothers, negro watchman. He said ne had left the shop to go out on the main line, when he saw flames shooting out or the crevices in the side of the tin shop This is next to the paint shop, and It IS supposed some of the infammable mate rial kept there must have started the blaze Before the watchman could turn in the alarm and get back to the shop the whole end of the roof was ablaze.
 MT. Brown. the hostler, Dan Rudford and Will Hood were also in the round-house, could be done to impede the progress of the fire. An alarm was then turned in from the box a block away, but before the fire de- partnsent could lay line of hose the roof had bs.sun to give way, and within few minatls it fell in with a crash.
 Impossible to Save Cars
 It was then impossible to save any of the cars or engines except those on the outer ends of the various tracks. A large crowd had assembled by this time, and everyone helped to run the burning cars out on to the main track In this way several thous- and dollars was saved the company.
 The buildings were isolated, being situa- ted in an open lot between the tracks Of the Kansas City, Memphis and Birming- ham railroad, the belt line and the Ems ley railroad There were no other struct- ures within several hundred yards, and while the flames were furious, there was no danger to other property, and the de- partment gave its entire attention to the sheds in an effor, to save the cars and en- zines which stood under them.
 When the fire was first discovered the employees ran some of the cars out on the spur track in Fourteenth street. This was done with the aid of a Bessemer dummy, which was still under steam, but before many cars could be moved the fire had spread over the entire plant, making it inn possible to approach the car-shed where the best cars were stalled.
 A number of cars of the Highland Ave- nue line, recently bought in by the electric company, were on the spur track and were uninjured.
 General Manager McClary was the first of the officials of the company to reach the fire He immediately directed his att tention to saving the cars that were near the entrance to the immense structure. The general manager took the lead, and the rolling stock was pushed out, propelled by good, hard muscle.
 Valued at g4,OOO Each
 MT. McClary said that the larger cars of the Ensfey style were valued at &,OO0. Five of them were destroyed and another badly damaged. The dummy engines were valued at $6,OOO each, that is, they cost that much when new. Other valuable property, in the way of tools and ap- piances were totally destroyed. He es- timated the entire loss at $S5,O0O.
 MT. McClary said that traffic on the Ems ley line will not be interfered with. There are enough cars on the other lines that can be transferred to give a reasonably good service. There may be some difficult ty in running the usual schedule on the Bessemer line and the Highland Avenue and Belt line.
 Vice President Jemison arrived soon af- ter Mir. McClary. He joined in helping to save property.
 of the fire had caught five minutes earlier" said MT. Jemison, "a majority of the cars could have been saved. The cur rent is usually cut off at 80 o'clock, but it is always few minutes later on Saturday night. It had been cut off hardly five minutes when the fire was discovered The want of current made it impossible to get the electric cars out.''
 Chief Mullen of the fire department, said that the building was in a solid blaze when the department got there. He had not had time to make investigations as to the origin.
 No satisfactory explanation is offered as to how it caught. Some one said that an explosion was first heard, when sheet of flame shot through the roof. The paint shop was nextsto the tin shop and when the flames reached this the entire struct- ure was doemed.,
 There were two streams playing on the ruins until daylight.