The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-05-24
FIERCE BlAzE
1T BINSNANCER's
Large Five-Story Glass
Plant Was Partially
Destroyed.
FLAMES CONFINED
TO UPPER FLOORS
Loss on Stock and Plant Esti-
mated at $4,000 and Covered
by Observation-Disclosures
Had a Stubborn
Fight Of -Four
Hours.

The great five-story brick building Of
Binswanger & Company uncorporated).
at the southwest corner Of Sixth and \
Byrd Streets, together with its enormous
stock OF sash, doors and blinds, window
glass. plate glass, paints and oils, was
partially destroyed by fire yesterday. the
roof and entire fourth and fifth floors
being burned. &
Tho fire began few moments before
6 P. NJ. It gave the ftrenlen q stubborn
and exciting battle until nearly 10 P. M. e.
before the fire was fully under control.
The flames were confined almost wholly
to the fourth and fifth floors, which,.
with their contents are total loss.
Great damage was necessarily inflicted U
also in the third floor, and considerable \
loss was caused also In the second and
first floors, where the most valuable 8
portion OF the stock was loca ted.
The building is q triangular. bounded 4
by the canal on tho north and by Sixth
Street on the south and with its baAe 1;
almost parallel to Sixth Street and ad
Joining the lumbcr plant OF Miller & Il
Miller. The structure was built in 1902 {
nt a cost Of about $4,000. and was very
substantially constructed, having walls Y
Of more than usual thickness and heavy
beams and Joists within. Mr.. M. S..
Blnswanger. the secretary OF the corr
porntion. stated that they had the 5larg-@
est stock on hand they had ever carried
and approximately estimated Its value
at about 100000. The plant employed
seventy-five or eighty men, who will be- 4
but temporarily unemployed, II ut all.f7
Mr. Binswanger stated that the plant will Z
be: rebuilt at once, and 5nll the present y
employees re-emplo loyed. The building I
ianas lat tock.j3 het stAted were fairly we'll
covered by Insurance placed through the
agency Of julius StraIss 4 n Sons. hi Thes
fire originated from defective wiring or
from the elecric motor. necessarily. there I
being on fire In the building. The steam
used by the plant was ,tpiped from the
Miller & Miller plant dtoning. ist
The Insurance. .33
Messrs. julius straus & Sons stated
last night that the entire insurance on
the stock aggregated s67.000 and that on z
the building SIS ,O00,s and that 1t was di-
vided among eighteen or twenty COM
panies. Mr.. Straus stated at IL p. M.
that he had not then compiled a detailed N
statement OF the insurance and that he
3
until to- day. Some OF the insurance on III
the building and stock was carried by, +,
Other companies than his own. Further
than the totals given, he declined ~ to
make any further statement until to-
day. The insurance will proba bly, fully
cover the loss sustained. as the most y
valuable, portion Of the stock Is be-
.lieved to be uninjured or certainly but y
slightly damaged. 81
Thousands of people witnessed the fire.
viewing it from every side Up Sixth n
Street to Canal and up Fifth Street from
the Canal almost to Cary. Street the Y
spectators gathered in throngs. but the
great bulk OF the crowd was along the h
canal bank from Sixth Street up to
Fourth and massed on the terraces In "
CANDLES Hill Park. 1t was a weird ~
sight about s o'clock. when the crowd
was densest, and was shown against the
grassy background by the glare from the
fire, then at Its height.
Dread "Three Sixes.
Tho first alarm was 'phoned in from
the plant about go, and In five minutes #
later an alarm OF fire was turned In from
box AIS, bringing out steamers 3.4 anc
z, and later on. second alarm, steamers z
3 and S. Still later general alarm was
sounded and steamer 6 responded and also (
stenmer o.. This left only Nos, ! and s88
the event of n fire elsewhere. TrucA
! and 3, with their entire com.
plement of regular and call men were
early on the scene and were kept Pusy
from the start.
Early arrivals on the scene found smoke
Issuing from the windows Of the fourth
story, near the centre OF the long tran-
guar structure. The engines quickly
took positions, five OF them being sta
toned on the hank OF the canal at the
foot OF Sixth Street, while another was
In Seventh Street. south Of Byrd and the
other at Sixth and Canal Streets
AS soon as the hose could be laid and
the engines had steamed up three fine
streams OF water We're playing on the
another vainly sought to break through
the wired window glasses on the north
or canal side For, fifteen minutes or
more this stream was directed from the
south bank OF tho canal against the win
dow, but accomplished absolutely nothing.
Meanwhile a ladder had been hoistet
from the rear between Blnswanger's 8 and
Miller & NIiller's building material manu-
factory but this too was Ineffective, the
dense smoke preventing the tiremen from 3
tho floor so as to reach tina
flame, while great piles OF sash, doorh
and blinds obstructed the stream oi
water and made It futile, The ire mean
while was growing and raging hercely
within about the centre OF the fourth
floor and soon smoke began issuing also
from the nth floor windows
Did Fine Work.
fourth stream OF water was played
Into the building from the Sixth Street
side about 20. and few minutes late,
an extension with Il good stream anixed
was ho!sted To the fifth floor window o.
the building, the apex OF the Lery tri.
angle. For more than three hours this
ladder stream sent volumes cf water az,
rectly into the building as iaf az " eouse !i5s
penetrate and did splendid service.
While the volume OF the smoke con-
stantly grew until 1t poured from every 4
window in the upper floors, IT was NOT