The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-30
DISASTROUS COMPRESS FIRE
 CAUSES LOSS OF $4OO,OOO

| there of about miIe the flames were | easily beyond control and the effort of
 the firemen were directed towards
 checking the flames. which were eat
 ing their way through the building | Through tho centre of the building, 'there was high brick parepet wall
 built with a view of checking fire and | was considered by insurance men as a l safe barrier against fire but the flames
 leaping thirty and forty feet in the
 air cleared the wall and ignited the
 immense amount of cotton stored in
 Massive Machinery Melted. !! The firemen worked heroically with l the flames in the face of the terrific heat, but the streams of water which
 wre played on the blaze were as of
 much avail as throwing d bucket of
 water on the fire. Sweeping every
 thing before 1t in manner that prov
 ed the doom of the entire plant. the, flames took in, gulp by gulp, the hun dreds. of bales of cotton stored In the | warehouse covering acres of ground. The fierce heat crumpled and twisted the massive compress machinery. an1 the heavy brick walls quivered and cracked under the effect of the heat. | Some idea of the intense heat may l be gained by the twisted railroad tracks running along the side of the compress. The trail of destruction of ' the flames could be traced in the ruins | by the red-hot cotton hoops and the tangle mass of machinery, which had fallen to pieces in the onslaught of the flames.
 At o'clock yesterday afternoon af- l ter the flames had razed everything in reach and had destroyed com l pletely the most expensive and and completely equipped plant of its kind in the entire South, the last hulk of smothering ruins was drenched and the trucks returned to their stations after an absence of about fourteen | hours. While the fremen would prob ably have been helpless with all the water they could use on the fire. they were hampered at the start by the low pressure of the water, and only two streams of hose could be used on the blaze advantageously. The water main which runs to that section of the city is six-inch main and has several con nectlons to it. Four or five streams were finally gotten on the fire. but the effect was not distinguishable on the leaping blaze.
 The plant was the property of the Alabama Compress and Storage Com pany, of which F. B. Fisk Is President but was leased for a term of five years to the Atlantic Compress Company. and was in the third year of the term. The building and machinery were insured for a total of $65, ,000, In the follow ing insurance companies: Hartford $12,500; Sun of New Orleans, $7,500; 1 Home of New York, $1o,000; Liverpool London and Globe. s7.50o: Fire Insur- anee Company of North America, $7,50O: Manchester of England, S5.000; Com mercial Union. S5,000: Phoenix of Brooklyn. s5,eo0; Norwiek Union of EngIahd. $5y000.
 l Details of the Losses.
 Correct accounts regarding the losses l sustained in the cotton destroyed by the fire were hard to obtain, but the following figures are approximately correct: The F. B. Fisk Cotton Com pany lost 1,500 bales, George H. Mc-
 Fadden & Brothers cotton agency lost 2.000 bales, and Marks & Gayle lost 575 l bales. About 500 other bales stored ,n the warehouse belonged to companies about town. among whom the Ala ! bama Cordage Company and Well
 Brothers were the heaviest losers. | All of the cotton Is believed to be 7 fully insured ir marine insurance and
 practically the only loss at present is
 the loss on the building and machin- | cry.
 | F. B. Fisk. Secretary and Treasurer
 of the F. B. Fisk Cotton Company. and President of the Alabama Compress and Storage Company said yesterday that
 he estimated the entire fire loss at about $40J.000.
 The building and machinery repre-
 sented an expenditure of about $S0, ,00D,
 of which 5000 Is covered by insur- anco. The fire seriously interfered
 with his business owing to the fact that he was to ship his cotton on an
 order June 1st. MT. Fisk said that the
 salvage might be between $1.O0O and
 $2.000. A good deal of the compress
 machinery was rendered absolutely
 useless, but the boilers are not believ-
 ed to have been entirely destroyed
 Nothing but the walls remain of the
 building, and 1t is probable that they will have to be rebuilt.
 The plant will be rebuilt" said Mir.
 Fisk "As soon as the adjustment is
 made on the losses. work will begin on the new building"
 The compress that was destroyed yesterday morning was substantially
 built. and on account of standard fire proof construction. obtained low insur-
 ance rates. Fire about three years ago
 destroyed a small section of the build
 ing, but was discovered and extin-
 guished before 1t had gone far.