St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1900-05-30
A BIG FIRE.

Machine shop totally DestrOyed.-Th
Loss will Exceed Twenty 1hOusan
DOllars and the Insurance abou
thrce-fOurIhs of that Amount.
What proved to be the most destrut
tive contiagration since the burning {
the Avenue House occurred early las
Saturday morning when over $4,000
worth of property was destroyed. TIL
fire caught in some unexplainable manne
in the Hynes building adjoining Mcleod
mill and the alarm sounded just before
O'Clock. The fire was first noticed by
Engineer Sam Goss as the night express
south was passing through Paddock
village. He sounded the railroad alarm
for fire and the people in that vicinity
were quickly aroused. Before the fire.
men arrived the machine shop, known
as the old Buzzell shop, was ali in flames
and sparks spread to the two elevators
of A. H. Mcleod Milling Co. and these
buildings were totally destroyed with
all their contents. The Hynes building
was occupied by the Carpenter Lathe
& Tool Co. and Robert McCutcheon,
wagon maker, 1t happened to be a
still night which was OF great advantage
to the fremen as the Lyman S. Hooker
shop and the property of Griswold &
Mackinnon are just west of the burned
property, and on the other side is the
old building of the Mcleod company
and the large shops of O. " Hooker &
Son. Every effort was made to save the
surrounding buildings and once or twice
the Mcleod building caught fire from
flying sparks.
The machine shop quickly burned as
it contained so much inhammable
material in the line of oiled machinery,
etc. The big elevators got well ignited
before the fremen could stop the progress
of the flames and for two hours there
was very hot and fierce fire. The fire.
men devoted all their attention to keep. i
ing the fire in the Mcleod elevators,
and owing to the great heat OF the fire it
was impossible to save ANYTHING in the
building. When the walls fell there were I
several narrow escapes, but no one was I
injured throughout the progress of the
fire. The fire was not under full control
until O'Clock in the morning after six y
hours of hard work on the part of our S
fremen. 6
The department has again demon
strated its ability to successfully cope 7
with a big fire and they did all they 2
could to save property, The town c
points with pride to a force of men that
will risk their own lives and fight fire {
all night as was done last week and has a
been done so many times before. +
Most of the insurance was carried in +
the Crawford Ranney agency. On the >
Hynes building there was $25O0 insur =
ance, placed as follows: $1,000 with the ri
Aetna of Hartford, $500 with the Insur-
ance Co. of North America. $500 with CO
the Orient and $500 with the British eli
America. Mr. Hynes' loss will not "
greatly exceed the insurance, but it is RI
doubtful il he rebuds.
Robert McCutcheon had p14OO insur- "
lDce as follows: $500 with Mr.. Ranney
n the American, $500 with Moore & Co. A
n the Capital OF Concord and 5000 with
Moore & Co. in the Traders OF Chicago.
His insurance will go a good ways to ra
to cover his loss. in
The Carpenter Lathe & Tool Co. car in
RED policy of $500 in the Western with %
Charles S, Hastings. Their loss will o
exceed $1,000. g
George H. Cross had quite lot of pop &C
corn and over 100 barrels of -four stored y
in the Mcleod elevator. He thinks that 9,
his loss above insurance will not exceed a
$50 u,
OF course the Mcleod Milling Co. will D
be the heaviest losers. Mr.. Ranuey car VI
ried $4,000 worth Of insurance on the p
building in policies of $1,000 each in the Of
Phoenix of Hartford, the Insurance Co. ii
OF North America, the New York Under CT
writers and the Continental. On his tc
stock he carried $4,000 with Mr.. Ranney W
$4,000, Home $4,000 and $1,000 each V:
with the Springfield Aetna. Fire Asso. St
citation and British American. He also d,
had $4,000 in the Vermont Mutual on lie
his stock of which Mr.. Lewis is agent. a,
1t is probable that the policies will be
paid in full as it looks to all that total II
loss has occurred. Julius S. HicEok, an CT
independent aduster from Burlington, tc
and Elmore B. Bailey, special agent OF es
the Home, are here this week to adj ii
just the losses. IT
The Mcleod Milling Co. will lose about W
$1,000 above their insurance on the en-
building as the building cannot berebuilt
so cheaply now on account Of the higher tr
price of lumber. The company will start NJ
as soon as possible on a new building Vi
making it FIVE stories and basement ne
instead OF three as before The loss on tr
the stock in the elevators will be at least so
S2500 above the insurance. There was o.
a large stock of goods in the buildings fo
at the time of the fire including about Or
700 barrels OF -four, $4,000 worth OF so
grass seed, 100 tons of bran and quite a us
quantity OF other iced. tn
The villnge water system worked to la
great satisfaction and was given asevere w
test The private hydrant of Griswold Gu
q Mackinnon, which is a part of the OF