The Paducah sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1898-1906, 1905-08-24

One OF the most destructive fires
to occur in Paducah in several years
was that last night which destroy
ed two Of to largest warehouses
and two of the largest rehandling
houses in this end of the state--the
warehouses of j. w. Farmer & Co.
and H. c. Graham & Co., 926 and
92S Broadway, and the rehandling
houses of r. II Herndon & Co. and
Tucker & Co, in the rear, entailing
loss estimated at anywhere from
$50, 200 to 100000 with partial in
surance.
The fire originated about 3 o clock
in the boiler room of the HernGon
rehandling house, in the southwest
and spread with remarkable rapidity
towards the other buildings, at the
same time seeming to race through
the vast barn-like structure in
which it started. with irrepressible
fury.
Central fire department was first
on the scene but other alarms soon
had Paducah's entire fire equipment
at the con1agration. Some of u ose
who first saw the blaze declare that
they never saw a fire spread so
quickly. and all the water in town
could not have saved the buildings.
The blaze evidently started in the
furnace room of the Herndon rehand-
ling house. The furnace and boiler
were used in steamng tobacco, and
yesterday there had been a fire in the
| furnace
The buildings were large struct-
ures with thousands of feet of dry
I lumber In them. They burned like
kerosene. and the blaze could be
seen for miles. Hundreds of people
rushed to the fire, but IL was impos-
sible to save any of the tobacco.
Many were compelled to return home
on account of the excessive heat, and
several colored men are reported to
have been Frustrated by the heat, in
addition to the one who died.
The fire was not only a hot one.
but a quick one as well, and in an
hour the only thing left of the two
big warehouses was the burning tim
bers around the edges. Practically
nothing was saved.
The office of Farmer & Company.
which is a separate building, was
damaged, but not destroyed, and the
big shed in the rear of the office,
which is unenclosed was also dam
aged. but very little.
A small frame house next to the
Graham warehouse on Broadway and
one just behind ii on the same side,
were burned, but the loss is slight.
In one of them resided Jack Hays,
the coored man who died from
heat prostration while fighting the
fire.
The greatest loss, however, was the
hundreds of hogsheads of tobacco in
the warehouses. 1t is not known ex-
actly how many there were, but there
were doubtless between 500 and 500
hogsheads. and the average value of
a hogshead of tobacco is $50. The
tobacco belonged to various persons,
including out-of-town buyers IL
was most all insured.
The building occupied by j. w
Farmer & Company was owned by
Mrs. T. II. Puryear and was valued
at $4,000 There was $4,000 insur-
ance on it. The building was erect
ed fifteen years ago for w. l.. Bur
nett & Company, and had always
been used as warehouse Whether
1t will be rebuilt or not has not been
decided. II 1t is. much smaller
building will be erected
The tobacco in the Farmer ware
house will be removed to the w. A.
Mart n stemmery at Tenth and Madi-
son and rehandled in an effort to
save some of It.
The firm of J, ". Farmer a. Com
pany is composed of John w Farmer,
OF Murray, KY, and Samuel T. Hub
bard, of Paducah II succeeded the
firm of Farmer, Graham & Allison.
The walls of Judge w, M. Reeds
residence. opposite the Farmer
warehouse got so warm on the in
side that they could not be touched.
The occupants OF all the dwellings
in the neighborhood brought their
garden hose into use and played
them on residences.
Capt. Thomas Herndon had be-
tween fifty and one hundred hogs
heads in his rehandling house, and