The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-07-18
WILL REBUILD
LUMBER PLANT
Manager Palmer Makes
Statement.
DOUBTS ARSON THEORY
Details OF insurance Carried
ny COMPANY.
Alabama hift Flooring Company Sus-
taiasa aa Estimated Loss Of
100000 by the Fire in
West Montgomery.

Win the president OF the AIasaiiAsi
hift Flooring Company. viii p.sssea
exactly Us II the mill was hs.iia ~ ks
REBUILT. said Thomas r&lEI<I, 4es.ae.,t
manager OF the nasnlASsa, is..iss.
Mill, which was destroyed Ny aIs sat=
~ yesterday morning la N.s.~ sa.s.s=
soru"ry.
MIR. Palmer in an Interview iass
his Expressed DOUBT lis 30 ..is .Eseii-
diary origin of the FIRE. as siysl. sas Wy
employees o fthe plant. Ia s4.a s...ss
during his entire stay In MVats et.is.s
no md incurred no enmie!ss aua a.=
though as in every business, He5as
laDorers mad beef, repeatedly dise"alG=
cd, he did not think that any VI ths..l
bore enough malice agaius. NV esAa=
pany to commit sucn an act.
The FIRE 1t will be remembered, n.arta
Cd shortly after l o'clock yessefaay
morning. originating almost siIauiss.-
ncously in three different places, la a
few minutes, probably nalf NILS vi
buildings. dressed lumber und rsusA
lumber was solid LIuze. The iIs
lighting apparatus the c0ApAi.J
YVES resorltd To, nut il wls discovered
that the waive of the pump had been
cut off and the buildings were help
less until the arrival OF the Mv.tsom-
cry fire department., the engine house
being situated fully three miles from
the scene of the conflae ration.
the distance from the sned to the
planning mill is two hundred feet, from
- l.~nins mill to The 0ry kiIns is
one hundred and nifty feet. from --.e
dry kilns to the saw anil Is t~v hum
dred feet, and yet without u breat-i of
wind stirring, THIS entire space was
ablaZe in fifteen minutes after the first
spark kwas seen.
Manager Palmer Talks.
In an interview last night, Mr..
Palmer said, Before 1 make any state
ment as to the losses, l want you to
understand that at this moment, l cam
not even approximate. When l was at
the mill today everything was SO not
that we could not approach the build
ings near enough to see how much of
the machinery was ruined and ~ wnat
extent. Speaking conservatively our
loss will be about 100000.
In the entire plant. we had about
one million feet of lumber. About two
hundred thousand feet of this was saw
ed.
All today 1 was kept busy endeav-
orilng to reach the president of the
company by telegraph and finally sue
ceedlng in locating him. After repeat
ed messages from him, l will say.
that 1 will proceed ins exactly the
same manner as II ] was positive that
the company would rebund. OF course,
this cannot be definitely decided I'M
til meeting of the Board of Direct
ors Is held, but after my kilograms
from the president this afternoon.
will proceed just as il the Alabama
Rift Flooring Company was going to
stay in business in Montgomery.
Now as to the cause of the fire. Cir
cumstances certainly point out that II
was the work of incendiaries, but
am not able to say that l am positive
on this point l have been in Mont
gomery a year and have incurred no
enmities that l know of. We employ
fifty negro laborers at the plant and OF
course many changes have been made
in their number, Lut l do not know of
single one who would treasure up
enough enmity against the company to
commit such a deed.
Incendiary Origin Doubted.
LAS to the story of the night watch
man that he saw the men applying the
brands. Well, under the excitement of
the moment 1 suppose he did think he
saw someone and after he has cooled
off he is still sticking to his belief. We
keep two watchmen and the other one,
a negro, says that he saw no one.
There is nothing to lead me to be-
lieve that the watchmcn We're neglect
ing their duty The clock was punched
for his hourly round and he was GER
tainly awake at the time of the out
break of the fire.
I'VE had every reason to believe
that If any plant was protected against
fire ours was. over $4,000 was spent
by the company for fire protection. On
ly a few weeks ago, travelling insu-
rance agent visited the plant We had
insurance with his company. a small
amount, $4,000. Today. he accompanied
me to the scene of the fire. Palmer
he said, its your fault. I would have
insured you for $4,000 as quickly as 1
took the $4,000 policy. l considered 1t
the best risk in the state.
Now, whenever our steam connec-
ton is on, our hose are always ready
to draw from the larger of two tanks
at the mill. Last night. the conHec-
ton, of course. was off and our supply
was from a smaller tank. The valve
from this tank was closed. My fore
man believes that ,..4s was the work
of the incendiaries. That may be. but
1t may also have been the carelessness
of some employee"
Mr.. Palmer said today that he would
make a close inspection of the property
and would attempt 20 give an accurate
figure of his losses. Business. he said,
ever since the company had started
work in Montgomery had been prosper
Gus. At the time of the fire there were
enough orders on the books to keep
the plant running for four weeks,
without taking a fresh order.
The Detailed Insurance.
The company carried insurance with
the following companies in the follow
ing amounts:
Name of On ON
Company Plant STOCK Iotal
Aetna ... $4,000 $..,.. 10000
London &
Lancashire. 5000 ESQ 1920
Sun of London $500 2,oOO 1000
Palatine. .. 5,ooO ...... o,OOO
Pennsylvania. 3,loO .....' 3'lpO
Phoenix of London 5000 5000