The Savannah morning news., 1902-08-28
Pile OF OLD PAPERS
STARTED FIRE IN CENTRAL sT0R-
AGE WAREHOUSE.
DAMAGE MOSTLY TO FREIGHT.
WILL FALL ON CONsIGNEEs OH
INSURANCE COMPANIES.

O'Clock and Lasted About an Hour
Despite Hard Work of Fire De-
partment-Its Cause Unknown-But
May Have Been a Lighted Ciga-
rette or Cfgar-Warehouse Large
ly Stocked with Miscellaneous
Goods Much of which May BE
Damaged by Smoke-No Estimate
of Loss ObtainabIe.
A fire that burned fiercely for an
hour and which at one time threatened
to destroy thousands of dollars worth
of property, broke out in the freight
warehouse of the Central of Georgia,
west of the new general offices, last
night about $40 o'clock. By hard
work the iremen prevented a general
spread of the flames and extinguished
the fire after some of the hottest work
that they have had in a long time.
The freight destroyed consisted
chiefly of grain, the greater part oats,
-four meal and lot of furniture. The
warehouse being for storage the goods
were held subject to the order of con-
signees upon whom, or the insurance
companies, the loss will fall. The
Appropriated. Indeed, it may be some
time before exact figures can be given
for there was large amount of mis-
cellaneous goods stored in the ware
house and much of these though not
reached by the fire might easily be
damaged by smoke, with which the en-
tire building was filled.
Threatened other Buildings.
The warehouse is directly in the rear
of the new general offices, one end,
in fact, AUDITING the office building,
and extends about 618 feet. Its width
is IS feet. Several railroad tracks di-
vide it from the Savannah Grocery
Company building on one side, and
A. B. Hull & Co. and George w. Tiede-
man & Co. on the other. These build
ings are close enough to have been
in considerable danger had the flames
once eaten their way through the roof
of the warehouse. The Savannah Gro
Gerry Company was in the greatest
danger, as it is south of the ware
house, and the wind was blowing
strongly in that direction.
The fire, of which the cause is I'M
known, originated in the eastern end
of the building among a lot of waste
papers stored there until gathered in
sufficient quantity for shipment. Pa
trolman Knox of the CentraPs force
and Waterman J. E. Hussey, both of
whom were on duty in the vicinity of
the warehouse, discovered the fire
about the same time, their attention
being attracted to the building by the
smoke, which found it's way through
the crevices between the roof and
walls.
Entire Department Called Out.
An alarm was turned in from Box
No. "a, at Liberty and West Broad
streets, and the western division of
the fire department responded. but
within a few minutes, so soon as the
exact location of the blaze was dis
covered a general alarm was sounded
and the remainder of the engines and
fire companies turned out and made
the run in remarkably good time.
In a very short time, indeed, streams
were turned on from every point of
vantage, and as the waterworks had
been notified OF the extent of the fire
full pressure was put on. and there
was a strong supply of water. In adj
dition to the streams from the engines
a hose was connected with the air
pump used for charging air brakes of
the cars and this, too, was soon play
ing on the flame.
The fire. which had gained pretty
good Roadway when it was discovered,
ate it's way for $50 feet or more before
it was finally got under control.
Though tho firemen after the first few
minutes had easy access to the build
ing through the large doors on both
Sides yet the nature of the burning
~ q N
to handle, and the men were further
handicapped by darkness, for the arc
light wires had been cut to obviate
danger from burned wires, and the
only light to be had was that of the
fire itself and the rays from a few
lanterns.
Struck by Live Wire.
The cutting of the arc light wires
came very near causing exactly the
kind of accident that was sought to
avoid, for Electrician J. E, Roundtree
in the act of cutting one of the wires
was at the same time struck by a
stream from one CT the hose and re-
ceived a pretty severe shock. He was
at first thought to be seriously hurt
but after he had been brought out OF
harms way and a few common rene
dies applied, he recovered enough to
extinguished.
Nearly all of the Centrars officials
were on the scene from a few minutes
after the alarm had been sounded until
the trouble was all over. President
John M. Egan. Superintendent T. S.
Noise, General Superintendent T. D.
Kline and Superintendent F. S. Jette
were near the building all the time,
inspecting as often as possible, the
progress of the fire. Police We're sta
toned at the gates of the yard to
keep the public out. but many persons
got in anyway, though they didn't stay
very long, as the dense volumes of
smoke were almost suffocating.
Wholesale Grocers in Danger.
The proprietors of the wholesale
houses near the warehouse were also
on hand with some of their employees,
prepared to take such measures as
seemed advisable should their build
iEgs be seriously Threatened. but af-
ter it was seen that the fire could be
kept within the warehouse there was
no uneasiness as to any danger to the
other buildings.
Probably the only loss to the Central
Railway will be the damage to the
building, and this is not great as the
walls are of brick. The doors and the
roof will have to be repaired and that
is about all. None of the officers of
the road were prepared to say wheth-
er the building is insured.
The fire had practically been ex-
tinguished by 9:15 o'clock but two
companies, Nos. and remained on
the scene ALI night with streams Of
water on the smouldering goods. Hose
was also connected with the different
plugs In the yard and kept in readiness