Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1901-10-25
loss BY FIRE SY50,oO0.
Packing Plant at Hammond, Ind,
Partially Destroyed.
THE BLAZE SPREADS RAPIDLY.
Department., Unable to Cope with Flames.
Calls Upon Chicago for Help--Enginss
Sent Over the Line-Four Buildings
Burn Down.

Chicago, Oct. 24.-Three-quarters OF
million dollars worth of buildings
and slaughtered cattle We're destroyed
by fire which broke out in the extern
sive plant of the G. H. Hammond
Packing Company at Hammond, just
across the state line from Illinois. The
flames were discovered few minutes
before o'clock p. m, almost immedi-
ately after the big gates OF the slauh-
ter-houses had swung back to let the
flood Of employees sweep out toward
their homes, and at midnight four
great buildings had toppled over in
ruins and the flames were roaring high
above the dismantled walls and threat
ening to destroy the ten structures
that remained standing. Hammond's
fire department found itself utterly
vance of the flames, and a message
was sent to Chicago shortly before Z
o'clock imploring that assistance be
sent Immediately.
Chicago Sends Help.
Chief Musham at once ordered four
engine companies to proceed to the
assistance of Hammond, and before 10
o'clock Chief Campon was on the
ground ready to give battle to the
conhagrat:on. At midnight the follow
ing buildings had been RACED by the
flames: Export beef cooler, four-story
brick and frame, $50 by 100 feet, con-
tanning thousands of head of slaugh-
tered cattle. Cold storage warehouse
for cattle, considerably smaller than
first building. Beef slaughter-house
Sheep slaughter-house. Several per-
sons were injured by falling walls and
stampede of cattle. They We're:
John Mahoney, Hammond fireman;
arm broken by falling bricks; taken
to hospital; Albert Buckner Ham
mond, fireman; right wrist fractured
by falling bricks; taken to hospital;
James Stafford, stockman, Elgin, Ill;
trampled on by cattle; nip injured;
Burt Williams. 16 years DID, trampled
on by cattle; Stanislaus Metzki, gored
by steer IN trying to stop stampede;
shoulder bruised and cut; Herman
Franks, 20 years DID, trampled on by
cattle. The Hammond company's va
rious buildings are grouped close to-
gether not far from the Calumet river
Beside the slaughter-houses and ware
houses, there are half dozen frame
buildings occupied as residences by Of
ficials ef the company, a brick struc-
ture for the general offices. There was
also shed used for housing the pri-
vate fire department connected with
the establishment, but this was de-
stroyed by the fire before the appa-
ratus had fairly cleared the place
Fire Is Discovered.
Thirteen hundred men Or boys We're
employed about the plants, and the
regular hour for quitting is $50
o'clock. The whistle had blown for
them to leave their posts, and the
yards and exits were packed with the
human mass turning their steps home
ward. A boy leaving the office build
ing a few yards distant from the
slaughter houses caught the smell Of
burning wood, and looked toward the
wooden cupola that surmounts the
big export beef cooler building. He
saw tiny jet Of flame floating from
one of the small apertures that serve
to admit light to the storerooms and
OWNED that the place was on fire.
His shrill cry was taken up by the
hordes Of men leaving the grounds.
and in few moments the alarm had
spread throughout the length and
breadth of the town of Hammond.
Chief Hahn realized his helplessness,
and at $50 o'clock he sent an appeal
to Chicago. When the Chicago forces
arrived they found the four buildings
in flames. The sheep and cattle slaugh-
ter-houses had been entirely destroyed,
but the last portions of the walls tum-
bled down as Chief Campion and his
men were DISSEMINATING. The cattle
warehouse was already RACED by the
flames, but the export beef cooler, the
largest building in the plant, and the
place where the fire had its origin, was
still standing.
Til1man Criticises Roosevelt.
Guthrie, Ok, Oct. Ex-senator Till