Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1906-04-24

Fire accomplished a quick work o
destruction at South Paris Friday morn
ing, and where at 5 o'clock there hat
been two woodworking establishments,
grist mill and two residences. one o.
them a double tenement, at o'clocl
there were heaps of burning ruins ano
twisted machinery, and the charred re
mains of a portion of the walls OF the
two houses. And even at that, the de
struction was not so great as at one time
il loudly threatened to be.
The buildings entirely destroyed were
the grist mill building, so called. or
Main Street on the bank of the Little
Androscoggin River, and the sash and
blind factory of S. P. Maxim & Son, on
the same side of the street but on the
other side of the stream. The grist mill
building was occupied in front by A. E.
Shurtleff with his grain mill, and the
rest of it was occupied by the Mason
Manufacturing Co., manufacturers OF
toys. The houses ruined were the home
of Walter P. Maxim, which stood only a
short distance from the Maxim mill, and
the house which stood across the
mill yard from the grist mill, owned by
the True estate and occupied by Miss
Jennie Skillings and George NJ. Elder.
The origin of the fire was evidently in
the lower part of the Mason Manufactur-
ing Co.'s plant in the grist mill building,
and the only known explanation of it is
that it caught around the boiler or
chimney. A Waterman had been regu-
larry employed by the company until two
nights before the fire, when the regular
Waterman was taken sick and unable to
work, and as there was supposed to be
no fire left in the building over night at
this season, and the insurance company
did not require the employment OF
Waterman, a substitute was not put on.
Wherever the fire started, or however
long it had been smouldering before il
was discovered, it burst into tremendous
activity as soon as it became manifest.
Chief Engineer Charles W. Bowker of
the South Paris fire department had the
fortune to be in at the beginning of this
fire. He is also one of the selectmen Of
the town, and that morning got up about
) o'clock and went over across the river
to see about some road work. When he
went over the bridge by the mills he
noticed nothing wrong, and he thinks
this was not more than ten minutes be-
fore the flame was pouring out OF all the
of the toy factory. He went to
the house of Z. W. Mason opposite Ken
ney's mill, and finding that he was not
It home, went back Immediately and
went down Oxford Street short dis |
.ance. About the same time Mrs. Ro-
lello Edwards, at her home on Oxford |
Street, thought there was too much |
smoke showing over the buildings in the
direction Of the toy factory, and she
,alled her husband who was milking. He
poke to Mr.. Bowker, and they went to-
,ether the short distance to the factory, |
o find smoke and flame bursting out OF
III the windows. L. y. Haskell, who
ives next the Congregational church,
vas about the same time coming out TO
he street To investigate the smoke, and
he men shouted the alarm to him. He
vent into the church and rang the bell,
md the village began 10 wake up. The
,ell struck at 5:20 A. NJ.
The response was prompt, and In a
Iery short time at least half the popula-
ion Of the village and all the fire appa-
atus was at hand. The fire started in
he middle Of the building, which was
90 feet long and three stories high. The
ront end, occupied by A. Z. Shurtleff's
,rain mill, was divided by solid parti-
ion from the other part, and in the grain
mill there was only some smoke, so that
{ was possible to get out practically all
he grain from the ground floor, as well
IS the Office fittings, even including the
,afe The interior of the toy factory |
vas raging furnace, and all that could
be got out was few little things in the
,ffice.