The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-04
FIRE AT BIRMINGHAM
DAMAGE OF S13S,O0o AND TWO
 LIVES LOST.
Men Fighting the Blaze Caught hy Failing Wall and CrusheA-Lit- tie Maybelle Cox Identifies
 Her Negro Assailant.

Birmingham, July S.-(Special.)--A fire which was discovered at 2 o'clock this morning in the establishment or the Birmingham Paper Company. in the four-story building on Morris Ave- nue. between Twenty first and Twenty |Seco1d Streets. burned hercely for four hours and a half. did damage to property, buildings and stocks to the amount of from 3125.00o to $i60.o00 at least and caused the death of two firemen and the injury of four others.
 The dead arc c. B. spruill. truckman of No. l station; E. B. Huffman, elec- trician for the ire department. sta tioned at the northside hall.
 The injured are Chief J. T. Mullin. slight bruises and cuts on the back; Joe Hodges. knee badly injured: A. Brown, ankle hurt and arm cut; l. M. Stanfield, legs seriously injured.
 The men were killed and hurt by the front wall above the third story of the building occupied by the Taper Company falling out.
 When the alarm was turned in from First Avenue and Twenty-f1rst Street. the fire had had Q start of couple Of hours and longer. The walls or the four-story building had fallen in. A second alarm called out tevery piece of fire apparatus in the city and i've en. zines were soon pumping at different corners in the vicinity of the blaze. The Birmingham Paper Company had big stock of goods. Adjacent on the west side was the four-story building occupied by Collins & Co.,, wholesale groceries. who carried a stock valued at $10O.0o0 and had insurance to the, amount of $S0,000. On the east side was the five-story building occupied by the Tyler Grocery Company with another $l00,oo0 stock.
 Chief Mullin directed his men imme- diately on arriving at the scene of con- f1agration. Five streams of hose with two men at each nozzle played on the front part of the building. single man also played a line from the top of a ladder on the aerial truck. Six lines played water from the rear. Chief Mullin warned all the men to watch
 the front walls, which gave Indications of giving way at the bottom. Spruill and Huffman were directing stream of water into the lower floor while all the rest were looking upwards throw ing the water into the second. third and fourth floors.
 Of sudden the top part of the walls began to crumble. Hundreds of people
 who were on the Twenty-first Street bridge watching the fire gave loud cries and the most of the firemen man. aged to get from underneath the fall
 ing debris. Spruill and Huffman were
 caught Shortly after the brick fell, willing hands went to work and got the men out and carried them to the opposite sidewalk. Spruill died in ten or twelve minutes. Huffman was car-
 ried quickly to the Hillman Hospital
 and died at 5:30 o'clock, two and half hours after being hurt
 Spruill leaves a family of widow and five children. His remains were sent
 to Vandiver, Shelby County. this after
 noon for interment. Huffman leaves a widow. father and mother.
 The fire department worked hard de- spite their awful feeling over the accl-
 dent and at 6:30 o'clock the greater portion of the department had been sent to their respective stations. the fire being entirely subdued.
 The loss at the Birmingham Paper Company is estimated at $30, 900 and the building at $20.O00. The loss at the grocery establishment of Collins X Co. Is estimated at $60,000; John ston & Parks, wholesalers agency, es- innate their loss at $10.000; the Tyler
 Grocery Company loss will go to $25,- 900. Other losses will reach about $10,00O.
 The two frei1en who lost their lives were not members of the department a very long while. Both were of meagre means. subscription was started to- day at the suggestion of Captain Frank S. White for the families of the de- ceased and quite a neat sum has al- ready been gotten together. Adjusters will begin work in the next few days
 on the stocks of Collins & Co. and the Tyler Grocery Company to estimate the logs. This Is the first time that | any lives have iseen lost in fire here. Hundreds of people gathered despite the early hours of the blaze and
 watched the firemen at work. When the wall fell, carrying death and in-
 jruy to the brave men, there was shout of horror raised.