The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-23
Flames Beaten Back by
 Employes. $200, 100000 IN THE VAULTS For Seven Hours Building Stood in
 Sea of Fire.
Though Window 0lass Is Gone and walls Are Blackened, the Plant Is Intact and Could At once
 Resume Operation.

san franciSCO, Cal., Apru zz.--A lanu mark of San Francisco that escaped destruction. though every building sur rounding 1t was destroyed. is the Unit ed States mint.ra at the corner of Fifth and Mission Streets. Harold French, an employe of the mint. gave a graph ic account of how the flames were suc- cessfully fought. He said:
 Nearly two hundred million dollars in coin and bullion are stored in the vaults of the mint and for the preser- vation of this prize devoted band of employees. reinforced by regular soi- diers, fought until the baffled flames | fled to the conquest of stately blocks of so-called fire proof buildings. For seven hours a sea of fire hung | around the building attacking it on all sides Its little garrison was cut off from retreat for hours at time. "The mint was constructed in 1874 of granite and sandstone blocks, mas siye monoliths, we'll calculated to re- sist fire from without Within, how ever. were enough inflammabie mate risls to feed lively conflagration. Iron shutters shielded the lower floor. but the windows of the story on which are located the refinery and assay Of fees were exposed. Also a tarred roof over the refinery constituted a weak spot in the defense. Tanks of wood and other Inflammable material scat tered about the roofs and upper story were a serious menace.
 Cosnbustibles Thrown Ont.
 After the fire had swept past the Mission side. and the certainty of its returning from the north became ap- parent, Captain 4. Walsh Laws ordered everything on the roof that would burn thrown into the yard. Soldiers and mint employees worked with utmost | haste throwing great timbers and tanks l in the court. Here are located some 1 thirty tanks of blue vitroii. the sur faces of which soon were covered with debris Into which increasing showers of cinders fell Fortunately the mint possesses a good well and Engineer Brady at his post pumped water to the fire fighters assembled on the roof. Of these forty were mint employees and they were aided by company of coast artillery.
 As the fire swept up Fifth Street, the heat increased to a dangerous de- gree as one by one the Metropolitan hall and the historic Lincoln school burst Into flames. reinforced by the roaring furnace of the Emporium, on the west. The block bounded by Sixth and Market Streets on the north. gave the gravest concern, for from this quar- ter the fire was certain to rage in its fury. Famed by a roaring northerly wind the flames rioted through the structures. stretching from the Wind sor Hotel to the Emma Spreckles buifd- In aha tu af high licked up the intervening houses on Mint Avenue. Augmented by these finder boxes, the blast of fire burst on the northwest corner of the Mint like the breath of q second Pelee.
 "A few desperate fighters under ex- Chief Kennedy of Oakland were driven from between the tottering chimneys, under whose terrors they had struggled to the last. throwing buckets of water upon the blazing roof over the refinery. It is largely due to the experience of former Chief Kennedy that this tar covered roof was saturated with suffi- cient water to stay the flames.
 Solid Mass of Flames.
 When the fire leaped up Mint ave- nue in solid masses of flames, the re- finery men stuck to their windows as long as the glass remained. Sew enty-five feet of inch hose placed a
  dow sills, while the floor was awssh with diluted sulphuric acid. Ankle deep in this soldiers and employees stuck to the floor until the windows were shattered. With a roar the tongue of fire licked greedily the inner walls. Blindlng smoke necessitated the aban- donment of the hose and the fighters retreated to the floor above Down in the deeps. where untold wealth Is safe guarded. artillery men. fringed with blanket rolls and leaning on their ri- fles. coughed in the strangling smoke.
 Then came lull as the walls of the brick building across the street had fallen.
 There was yet a fighting chance. so back to the upper story the fire fighters returned. lead by Superinten- dent Leach, who by example and words. encouraged his men to extinguish the blazing inner wood work of the re- finery.
 The roof was next swept by a hose. cooling the copper sheathed surface un- til 1t became passable for wet and acid soaked feet An army officer. axe In hand, tore up sections of blazing tar roof beneath which a stream of water was directed.
 About 4 o'clock the mint was pro- nounced out of danger and a handful of exhausted but exultant employees stumbled out on the cobblestones to learn the fate of their homes.
 The mint presents scorched and glassless front on the north and west and the towering somestackes are to be torn down. but the building is intact and the plant is unharmed and ready for resumption of work.
 There were sensational rumors of an attack of thieves upon the mint in which fourteen were killed in the at tempt. but 1t is needless to say that the garrison of the mint is equal to any emergency that may arise"
 Governor Meade's Offer.
 Olympia, Wash, April Ex-Governor Meade last night telegraphed to Gov Grnor Pardee placing the entire mili- tary organization of the State of Wash in Eton at the disposal of the California