The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-10

In the weeks immediately following the disaster at San Francisco there was neither time nor opportunity to tell or many of the cases of individual pluck and devotion to duty which are now finding their way into print. Natural ly the heroic struggles which were made to save the United States mint and postofice attracted attention at the time, but cases in which employees of business concerns carried on similar battles with the flames were overlook ed. Yet there Is a striking similarity in the battle waged for the preserva- tion of the mint and the efforts made by the employees of the California Elec- trical Works to save the plant of that concern. The electrical works, branch of the Western Electric Company,
 which manufactures much of the ap- paratus used by the Bell telephone sys- tenn, Is situated in Folsom street. In the heart of the business district of San Francisco.
 Fire reached the big building the morning after the earthquake. When the flames began breaking out in sur rounding structures the company's em- ployes we're already In the building prepared to do their days work regard less of the chaos and confusion about them. In this case the days work was that of the fireman instead of the cleo trician. The city flremen, after twen- tyfour hours of losing fight were nearly exhausted. but some of them were induced to drag an abandoned en- zine Into the yard of the works where there was a tank containing about 150.000 gallons of water. With this limited supply the tired fremen did what they could to stay the advancing
 wall of flame. but 1t would not have
 made any difference had the tank con | tained ten times 150.000 gallons One engine was little better than toy, with an ocean of flame beating up against building after building. Final ly the fire surged into the yard and the hremen retreated to take a stand elsewhere.
 | The workmen who had been helping I in the fight also retreated, but only in
 10 the building. They had determined
 to fight the fire for all they were worth. | Some of them hurried from floor to | floor removing combustible material; others formed a bucket brigade or got
 the chemical extinguishers and went to
 the roof to combat the showers of l sparks. Fortunately the water tank | remained accessible From two sides | the fire beat against the building. The
 walls and the wired glass In the win
 dows proved impenetrable barriers, but
 there were weak spots which were | soon reached by the flames. Tongues
 of fire crept around the warped edges
 of the Iron sheathed doors and ignited
 the wooden framework. The earth
 quake shock had torn away the cornice
 leaving exposed the woodwork behind
 It. and this, too. soon began to blaze | fercely,
 But the volunteers inside the build 1 ing stuck to their posts. As the burn | Ing wood from the doorways fell in-
 side 1t was promptly thrown out. Up
 on the roof the men with the buckets 1 and the fire eXtinguishers rushed from | point to point heading off each new
 outburst of the devouring element. In the yard four carloads of crossarms
 were piled against one side of the building, and catching fire they burned | fercely. the flames leaping high against | the brick walls. Yet the assault was
 beaten back as had been the others. | The men inside the building worked In
 a heat SO intense that desks were
 charred and blistered-- and the fight
 went op s.em o'clock in the morning