The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-01-01
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TOUGH BIG FIRE
FROM TINY BOA IS,
Flooded Storehouse Of Warner
Moore Was Destroyed.
WAS DUE TO- Stacked IME.
Firemcu Had tie Most Difficult Fire of Many
Years Yesterday, Owing to the Flood
T;de-Loss Was About $4,000,
Fully Covered BY Insurance.

tloodwater set fire to the Storehouse
OF the Warner Moore Company. at Sew
enteenth Street and the river, yesterday
afternoon. Stacked lime caused the ire,
and had it not been for g dead wall sep-
arat!ng the storehousc from the mill
proper, all would have been destroyed.
As it was, the fire loss will aggregate
$4,000 or sl2,eo Incidentally, two fire.
men, Steinburg and Whitlocl, of Steamer
Company No. 4, were nearly drowned.
and the Fire Department had to use
small boats, half submerged freight cars
and the Seaboard Air Line viaduct to put.
streams or the flames.
In the Warner Moore plant yesterday
morning there was water to the depth of
six or eight feet. AS it began to en-
croach on the plant orders were given
from the office to remove the lime in the
store-roon to the next floor above, and it
was thought all of this had been removed.
AS it later developed, however, there We're
a. hundred or more barrels of lime stored
behind thousand barrels of cement in
the storellonse, and when the water
reached these the Stacking caused the
fire. While it is impossible to state ex-
actly the amount of insurance, owing to
the fact that the insurance records are
now several feet Under water, it was said
by Mr.. Thomas Moore, member of the
firm, yesterday that the insurance would
probably cover the loss.
PICTURESQUE FIRE.
The Fire Department of this city has
never had a more picturesque or a more
difficult fire to fight. Owing to the fact
that Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth
Streets were under water, the engines
had their own troubles in getting within
striking distance. Finally, however,
line was put on the flames, being pulled
over on a small boat and then the queer
ness OF the fire developed The more wa
ter the department put en-, the faster the
fire burned, owing to the Stacking of the
lime.
Just as the second stream Of water
reached the flames there came the acct
dent 20 Firemen Steinburs and Whitlock.
Dragging the hose behind them. they had
struggled onto a small platform or We
randa on the north side Of the building
and from there they gave the signal for
the water. 1t came, and, as it came, the
force of it. through the nozzle. pushed
them straight backwards into the wa
ter, some Ten feet deep. They struggled
around for q minute and were then
dra gged into the boat and rowed to
land They We're brought back to a
realization of thu fire and resumed work on
the fire
LADIES WE'RE EXCITED.
Incidental tc the fire, t&ere was con-
siderable excitement in the office of the
Warner Moore Company for short while.
This was among four young lady ste
nographers, employed in the Office. When
Mr. Thomas Moore told them that the
building was on Are and they had bet
Ter prepare at once to leave the building,
there Followed an intense excitement.
g., &i.@,,t L.. +lnTN
element died away and they were takGi.
out without trouble i'll one of the swarm
Of boats which co!gregated around the
scene Two alarms were sent in.
Luckily there were standing on the side
track Of the Southern Railroad beslle
the mills several fat cars. The IoJd
tide had reached the floors OF these. but
an impronptu bridge to these aud
great deal OF wading the fremen we're
enabled after considerably trouble,
TO put three or four streams 81 the ne
The steamers were perched on an eN-
tremeiy sloppy spot, just north OF the
building, oil the western enG nt ths !nil;s.
and from there footed and puffed spas
medically.
HOSE ON vIADUCT.
In small boats some streams were car
red ried into the building, bat these
were of little avail Besides being
dangerous, and finally hose lines were
thrown over the Seaboard Airline via
duct which skirts the mills on the west
ern end. From this point of vantage
more water was poured into the fire.
When a reporter for The Times rowed
out and into the office o. the Moore Com
pany yesterday afternoon, -Ar. Thomas
Moore, speaking on behalf OF the firm,
said:
Our loss, / should think. will run be-
tween $4,000 and $4,000. We had a very
large stock in the store-house, and only
the dead wall saved the main building.
believe there was something between
] 900 and 1000 barrels of lime there, but
this morning, when the water began ris-
ing, we began to take it out, and the only
way | can account for tie fire is that
some of the barrels of lime were left
over behind barrels of cement and kalso-
mine and the fire started from this
The prompt and quick work OF the tire
men alone saved the main building.
COVERED BY insurance.
..As to the insurance. l would be glad
TO give it to you if we had the figures
but as a matter Of fact, ali those papers
are in what we call the lower vault, and
that is now under water. ] believe, now
ever, we are fully covered by insurance.
1t was alter 8 o'clock yesterday when
The signal of .'out" was given. by this
time the entire roof OF the stora-house
had fallen and a. portion or the eastern
wall. This was after one of the hardest
struggles Chief Pullers men have ever
had with fire. In a way they adopted
the old maxim of dogs hair will cure
the bite and running their suction
pines into the 1iood-water. turned It back
on the burning building through the hose.
They had enough water.
In many ways the fire of yesterday re-
sembled the 6. H. Halves fire OF 1889,
when the building occupied by that COM
panv caught fire through the stacking
of lime in the food-waters.
GREAT CROWD THERE.
Possibly no fire OF late years IN Rlch-
,nond has attracted n crowd as large as
that OF yesterday. Thousands OF people
who mad gone down to look at the Hood
In Main Street, beginning at tifteenth
Street, went Immediately over, as lar
as possible, toward the fire and cut on
the little peninsula, on which were
nerched five engines. Many Handsomely
~ov-ned women were in the crowd, ap-
yarentlv regardless OF the result, ana
trampled through the mud aud 2.ush