The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1900-07-20

The most disastrous fire In Salems
history occurred Tuesday afternoon.
!. thousands Of dollars went upin flames
and two important industries, three
livery stables, three blacksmith Shops
3our dwellings and other minor build
inrs are charred mass Of ruins. The
loss Is conservatively estimated at
$4,000. mn,
A fifteen year old boy, Harry VII
Unison. son Of B. f. Wilkinson, shrek
ipg with pain and screaming for help,
came rushing from the Salem WOODEN
Mills at about 4 o'clock. He was en-
circled in flame, his appearance being
the first admonltion OF the yeritaole
confiagration following. A general
fire alarm was sounded, church bells
began to ring and steam whistles
sounded nightly. The people rushed
hither and thither In the widest COM
motion, until they learned the trouble
and In less time than it takes TO tell
it, the entire populace OF the town,
numbering one thousand, gathered
around the hottest blaze they ever
witnessed and stood appalled, at the
danger Threatening the entire town
The flames quickly leaped from one
building to another, in the absence OF
any adequate orformidable opposition,
lurldly looking defiance at the specta-
tors. The heart of the town was be-
ing RACED. On every side the town
was threatened. The winds drove the
flames, first this way, and. then that.
A cyclone twisted them here and
there, and carried sparks hundreds OF
yards distant, where the flames broke
out afresh, In those sections only to be
quickly extinguished by heroic men,
whose only inspiration was to save a
few houses at least. The lire raged
furiously for thirty minutes, before IL
could be gotten under control, and at
one time all hope Of saving a single
house in the town was abandoned.
Still, the people worked on and through
the kind hand OF providence succeeded
in corralling the flames. For hours
afterward men, women and children
stood aghast, beholding the burning
debris covering an acre and half OF
ground, speaking never a word except
to utter an occasional bitter curse
against the culpability Of the water
works management, censure well de-
served, II the claims of many be true,
and there is apparently no room for
doubt. The disastrous fire OF 1882, In
which Jesse f. Randolph's $4,000
planning mill was consumed, inaugu-
rated an agitation for water works,
which resulted in the establishment
of splendidly equipped plant costing
$4,000 or 81, 900. The tank is located
on a mountain top high above the
tesY effording the magnificent pres
SUI l22 pounds. 1t has capacity
OF 700 gallons, enough to inundate
the toYa entire. A well in the CEN
tral pJttion of town furnishes flow of
water always strong, pumped to the
tanks with the usual pumps for that
purpose. Here 1t seems is the seat OF
trouble. The pumps are defective and
it required too much diligence and ex-
ertion on the part Of the officials to
keep the tank filled. When the fire
started there was practically no water
in the tank,-one man said not enough
to make coffee for the town. The
pumps were hurriedly put in motion,
but we're scarcely In good operation be-
fore the natural gas pipes around the
burning sections and through which