Omaha daily bee., 1902-02-11
HALF MILLION LOSS IN OHIO
Chsmpisn Chemical Plant and ShSTs Are
Wiped 0ut by Fire.
AREA OF TWENTY-FIVE ACRES DEVASTATED
Three Thousand Men Employed I'm
Plants, whose value is Estimated
One and Two Mil
lion Dollars.

fire in the history Of Springfield broke out
in the Champion Chemical plant OF the
East Street shops today and in an hour and
a half twelve manufacturing plants we're in
total ruin. The FIRE started from the ex-
plosion Of some chemicals In the Champion
Chemical plant.
The fire companies were greatly handi-
capped by the light pressure of water. Ten
hremen we're caught in the office Of the
Krell- French company and to get out
rolled down the steps and jumped out Of a
window.
A company Of the National Guard is now
on duty to keep away the dense crowds
and marauders. Four freight cars of the
Detroit G. Southern railway were totally
destroyed and many others ruined.
Property of senator Fairbanks.
The shops belong. to United States Senator
Fairbanks Fifteen factories, employing
5000 people, are located in the buildings,
which cover twenty-five acres. The shops
cost 81, 900. 900. The shops were occupied by
the Springfield Foundry company, Progress
Stove and Furnace company, indianapolis
Frog and Switch company, Kyle Art Glass
company, K~rell-French Piano company.
Miller Gas Engine company, Champion
Chemical company and Owens Machine Tool
company. The building was bought by
Senator Fairbanks of Indiana ten years
ago.
Hundreds of buildings in the vicinity were
In imminent danger. Residents were dash
ing water against them and soaking the
contents. Willard Brain, whose office Is
close to the great plant, stated that when
he and those in the neighborhood first cav
the flames they were shooting out from
under the caves Of the central part of the
front Of the plant which faces on East
street.
The fremen, owing to the high wind.
were unable to check the spread of the
flames. Soon the whole front Of the build
ing, which is five stories high, was ablaze.
Half an hour later the walls began to tumble
in. The top Of the Krell- French Piano
companyis part Of the building was the last
CT the front to catch fire. The first started
in the attic. Instead of going up, 1t burned
downward, shooting down an elevator shaft.
1t next spread to the part of the building
occupied by the owen Tool company.
Employees and Losses.
The number of men employed by the diff
ferent concerns located in the building
was as follows:
Springfield Foundry company, 200; Pro-
Machine company, %; indianapolis Frog
and Switch company, 70; Miller Gas Engine
S SomP , s.; STSas H TiTe Company SGapinE A iSS;
Champion Chemical company, 10; Green
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ana comTsv cqpE%0 T %; k%GTsiil:FTensh
pany, 30; Plano String company, 30.
The company losses are estimated as fol-
lows:
Owen Machine Tool company, $50. 900;
Champion Chemical company, $50, 900;
Springfield Foundry company, 500, OO0: Pro-
gress Stove and Furnace company, $4,000;
iIEgCdni9sun LA, Frog and Switch company,
Green Manufacturing company, $1,000
K~rell-French Plano company, $4,000.
The insurance is $3.50, 900 on the contents
and for senator Fairbanks buildings s11O,.
900, a total of $240, 900.
Dayton was asked to send help. The
Ward, Bushnell & Glessner company's fire
department assisted. The great East Street
shops were built nearly thirty-hvs years
ago by Whitley, Fassler & Kelly, Of which
company William N. Whitley was the dom.
mating factor. The shops at the time Of
their completion was the second largest
in the world, being rivaled only by the
great Krupp Gun works at Essen, Ger
many.
The whitley shops which were de-
stroyed today were built in 1882 by william
whitley, for the manufacture Of harvest.
ing machinery at a cost Of SIS, 900, and al
that time the shops were the largest undel
one roof in the world and had only one
rival in later years, the Krupp gun works
in Germany. The equipment Of the shop
cost about $4,000, 900, but after the failur,
of Whiteley a few years later. the shops
were left idle for nearly ten years, wheI
they were sold at a receivers sale, ant
Senator Fairbanks and several other cap
~italists bought them for 5000, 900. In tn,
last fauy uaara fhroroh the oAorta ~ th,
Board of Trade Of Springfield and the Com
4 mercial club, fifteen concerns were place,
? in the old shops. The machinery, materia
0 and unfinished product Of these concern
is a total loss. The insurance is approx
mately $500, 900.
Revised estimates Of the loss on the prop
erty destroyed at the East Street shop
t place it at between $500, 900 and $3.50, 900, o
which $S2o,0 o is covered by insurance.