, 1905-03-01

other structure which succumbed to the
fury of the flames during the night.
The only remaining building be-
tween the Smith residence and the
Baptist church was the Patterson
House, occupied by lawyer Joseph
douglass, Jr., and to this the firemen
directed their efforts with double vigor,
forming three lines Of buckets to the
roof and keeping the roofs and sides of
the house well soaked with water.
Time after time it seemed as if their eff
forts would e u~navailing, but the men
who were fighting that particular fire
were not easily daunted, and when the
Smith residence fell there was a sigh
of relief, not only from the men on the
root, but the hundreds of people gath
cred in the roadway watching the bat
tie that was waged for half an hour be-
tween muscle and an indomitable will
on one side, aud the fiery. element on
the other.
While this was going on another
battle of almost equal resistance on
both sides was taking place at the
northeast limit of the fire, where a
large force of men were laboring to
save the old Union Hotel property,
knowing that if they failed in this the
handsome residence of H. 2. Bennett,
the county Jail, court house, surrogate's
and clerks office, with the Methodist
church, would in all probability sue
cumb to the flames.
The last building to burn in this Sec
ton was the law office of Douglass q
Douglass. the second door above Me-
chanic street, and as a last resort the
firemen with their axes actually
chopped the building to pieces long be-
fore the fire had consumed it, in order
to makea ''breakn in the con~fiagration.
The westerly limit of the fire would
have been God only knows where, had
it not heen for the concrete brick resi-
dence of DIR. Lummis previously re-
ferred to. The wooden caves on this
building being but a few feet from the
Turner house, which was burned, were
kept from igniting by several thick
nesses OF heavy carpet hung down
from them and kept saturated with
water. .l04 =. 4-H#f.
In all, eight families were driven in
to the streets by the flames which des-
troyed their homes, many of them saw
ing nothing of any value. Kind friends
In different parts of the town were of
course ready to take them in and all
were cared for as comfortably as posi-
BILE under the circumstances. The Odd
Fellows Lodge opened their hall on
Poplar Street and several of the home
less were quartered there until other
arrangements could be made.
The writer having lived in Millville
for many years was well acquainted
with the fact that glass-blowers could
not lie excelled as fire fighters by any
class of men in the world; their daily
proximity to the intensely heated fur
naces and glass tanks rendering them
able to face a fire which less seasoned
men could not bear; but the ann in
which some of the employees of the
Taylor-Stites Glass Co., fought the
flames in this fire for four hours yester-
day morning was a revelation to every-
body. As is usually the the case al
most everybody did what he could, and
during the progress of the fire the spec
tators witnessed instances of bravery
aud courage which are worthy of more
than passing comment.
One of the fortunate features of the
terrible fire is the fact that no lives
were lost and so far as we have been
able to ascertain no serious injuries
were sustained by any person.
The cause of the fire will probably
forever remain a mystery. There are
many who hold the opinion that a
thief or thieves had broken into the
store for the purpose of robbery. and
while there had accidentally dropped a
lighted match.
The Bell Telephone Co. ID. d Al is
a heavy loser by the fire, their ''Cen-
rap here having been located in Rich
ardson's store.