The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-07-06
ST. JOE PACKING
PLANT BURNED
Hammond Company Suffers Half
Million Dollar Fire.
TWO FATALITIES OCCUR
DESTRUCTION OF OTHER ESTAB-
LISHMENTS AVERTED.

O T. JOE. Mo. July 5.-The main
\ building of the Hammond packing
plant was DESTROYED by fire this
afternoon. The loss is estimated as
high as 100000. II is entirely covered
by insurance. Two men lost their
lives in the flames. One Of them is
reported to be Charles Miller. fire mar
shall at the plant. This could not be
verified. Three men were injured, one
of them seriously
For a time the entire stock yards
district was threatened. BY hard work
the Nelson Norris plant, 300 feet north
Of the Hammond plant. was saved, AMI
this saved the Swift plant. which is to
the north Of the Nelson Morris build
ing.
The fire started a little after
o'clock. By o'clock most of the
building was gone. The greatest dan
ger was at O'Clock, when part of the
north wall fell and the fierce flames
shot toward the Nelson Morris build
ing. Twenty lines of hose were out on
the Nelson Morris building. Though
, the dense smoke was blown against
the big buildings. the work of the fire
men saved the building. Many of the
firemen were volunteers. There were
three Of the city companies at the
fire.
The carcasses Of $500 hogs, 1 800 cattle
and l,So0 sheep were burned. Nearly 100.
900 pounds Of oleO were destroyed The
contents of the smokehouse were con-
sumed- The entire north building. meas
urlng l20x4oO feet and ranging in height
from five to seven stories, was Quilted. 1t
was with the greatest difficulty that the
south building was saved.
Origin Of Fire Unknown.
The origin of the fire is a mystery
There was no fire in the casing depart
ment in the eastern part of the building
where the fire started The flames were
discovered about 2:23 o'clock by the day
Waterman, who gave the alarm
Daniel Smalley, foreman of the car de-
partment, fell from the car sheds on the
north of the building and suffered seri-
Gus injury.
The fatalities occurred abOut ! O'clock
BY that time nearly all the building was
on fire. A man with hose, said to have
been Miller, was seen at one of the win
dows on the north side in the hog depart
ment- He walked back into the building
and a few seconds later those on the out
side heard terrible cries, which lasted per-
haps half a minute. The man did not
appear again and he is believed to have
been killed.
Two young men who were in the room
and left few minutes before said that
Two men failed TO escape, but they did
not give the names of the men, who were
said to be employees of the company.
The fire had penetrated to the oleo de-
partment, which is at the northeast cor
ner of the building, by 3 o'clock. The
fire then began to burn fiercely. The beef
DeuS, egg department. and other depart
ments in the eastern end of the building,
known as the beef house, were soon
ablaZe. The eastern part of the building
was Of wood, built to allow of an extern
sion of the building in that direction.
This eastern wall was soon a mass of
flames. 1t burned slowly at first. but by
$3.50 o'clock was beginning TO fan apart,
especially at the north end. where the
oleo department was located.
Fat Fed the Flames.
Within a very few minutes the flames
were in the hog department. and the car
casses of $500 animals, largely fat, were
added 70 the flames. 1t was in this build
ing that Miller was said to have lost his
life.
From the hog house it was but a short
time until the smoke house was ablaze.
thus making a fiery furnace 400 feet long
and $40 feet wide.
The walls began to fan about o'clock.
The eastern wooden wall had been grad
ually dropping away. Long iron strands
could be seen to curl up and to fall from
the building soon the center of interest
was directed TO the northeast corner of
the building, where nearly 100000 pounds
Of cleo, in tierces Of 4S0 pounds each
were adding fuel to the fire. At s
O'Clock large part of the southern wall
fell with a crash. Several violent expIo-
siOns had been heard just before, as
some oil tank burst within the building.
The buildings and machinery were COW
cred by insurance to the amount of $780,
100000. Insurance was written by for
eign companies in France and Germany
and even in Japan. The policies range
from $50 444 down to as low as 81 500