The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-08
BOSTON & MAINE
A HEAVY LOSER
Freight Office and Valuable Rec
ordS Burned in a Fire That
Started in the Cashiers Office
Yesterday Morning
RAILROAD OFFICIALS
CRITICIZE FIREMEN

NegIeCting to Call Out the Fun
Department When His Com
pany Was Called
Roughly estimated by insurance men
and employees Of the road, $25, 900 worth
of property owned by the Boston &
Maine Railroad was destroyed in a
confagration yesterday morning, in the
Lincoln Square freight houses and
offices of the company.
The fire was confined almost wholly
to the section of the big freight houses
which are used as offices by the COM
pany, and before the flremen got the
| blaze under control, records that can
not be replaced with money were con-
sumed The fire leaves the road with
cut records of it's local business for 40
years, and this loss as much as any
one other item is hard for the COM
Ipany.
| The loss is difficult to estimate, and
while it is placed at $4,000 by some of
the employees, others say it will not
amount to half that. To the building
Itself and office furniture there is a
damage of about $4,000. The only rec
| ords saved from the fire are those of
Cashier Fred w. Hurlburt which were
slowed away in a safe in his office
and We're found to be intact The bust
ness of the road was in no way i'm
peded by the fire and not one cents
worth Of property not owned by the
road personally was lost. The fire did
not get into the freight, and through
1.-THE work of the Fire Patrol men In
spreading rubber blankets, any freight
| that might have been damaged by
water was saved.
Just how the fire originated is not
known. Some hold to the opinion that
it started around some sheathing in
the main office, which was boarded
close to a radiator.
Others believe 1t started in the boiler
room from a defective smokestack.
The blaze wherever it did start worked
its way up inside the walls Of the
office and was not discovered until
Night Operator James o. Alternately
saw the smoke issuing from the chinks
in the walls in thin curling streaks
Mr.. Alternately and Night Clerk Chas
| Vickers We're the only persons in the
freight house during the night and al
the time Of the fire Mr.. Alternately was
alone, Mr. Vickers having gone to the
Fitchburg roundhouse.
A half hour later Alternately started
To go into the boilerroOm and was
driven back by a dense cloud of smoke.
He tried to get back into his room
but the flames had broken through the
walls and without hat or coat he ran
to the Prescott Street House and noti-
fed the man on DUTY that the freight
! house was on fire. Capt. James J. La
vigne responded with Engine 8 and II
men and his company worked on the
/ blaze for fully half an hour with chem
icals before they discovered they
! could not cope with the fire.
! Capt. Lavigne gave up the contest
at 4.05 and sent in an alarm from Box
| 81, Lincoln Square. When the depart
/ ment arrived another problem pre-
scented itself. Hose was hooked to the
| MIGRANTS but no water came, as Il was
| frozen in the hydrants and it was
some time before lines could be laid to
| do effective work
The firemen had hard and unequal
| night on their hands and did some good
work in keeping the fire in the section
| where it started.
The fire when It struck into the Of
flee rooms burned fiercely and became
| a veritable holocaust when it struck
the piles Of records and other papers
piled in the top floor. Fifteen men
from the department in their anxiety
to get at the flames from an advanta-
geous position Ventured in on the sec
ond floor Of the building and We're only
out of the place a second under orders
from Chief p. i. Vaughn when the
roof and floor gave way and fell in A
heap Of ruins. Only one fireman was
hurt in the fight He is Edward o.
Comey Of Engine 3 and he has been
spare man on the engine only for the
past two weeks. He was working on
the ground floor when slightly over
laWT No.
out into the air walked off a platform
and fell to the tracks. a distance Of
five feet He struck heavily and suffer
ed severe straining of the side He
was excused from further duty by
Chief Vaughn and went to his home
81 John Street, where an examination
by physician showed him to be all
right
When the floor fell the work of fight
ing the blaze was easier and the com
bined streams Of water, on the tons Of
old records, soon had the fire under
control.
After the fire was out a thorough
investigation Of the cause by Chief
Vaughn led to the belief that the fire
started in the cashiers office and was
caused by heated steam pipe, which
was close to the pine sheathing
The railroad officials are inclined to
not sending in the alarm sooner. They
believe it was a blunder on the part of
the first officer at the fire and feel con-
fident that had the alarm been pulled
in earlier the loss would have been
much less.
w. G. Cummings, agent for the rail-
road company. was early on hand.
There were 20 roDtop desks in the office
and each was ruined. The force Of 81
clerks who are employed in the office
lost their private papers and, in some
instances. money which had been left
in the drawers. Mr.. Cummings said
that the loss Of the records was Sc
riOus to the company. as there were no
duplicates and no way I'm which they
could be replaced.
Several cars loaded with lumber and
merchandise We're in the freight house.
but the fire did not reach them, so the
merchants viii not be seriously handi-
capped by the failure 10 receive the
goods consigned to them. All the
freight in the house was sent to the
freight house on Blackstone Street yes
terday afternoon. and Will be delivered
from there.
NIL r.