Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-03-28

| came dashing down Long wharf the
| ., .,,, ,,,ora shooting out Of the win
dows and were already In complete
| control.
within a few minutes the entire
fighting force had been suinihoIieu ~
The scene but before an cifectiVe
stream had been turned on the Iiy-
month was doomed and the entire
plant was being threatened. fortu-
nately the dig ocean tug, I. w. Morse'
was at anchor outside the torpedo sta-
ticn with 2 tow of barges and her SKIP
per had her alongside the end oil the
dock within "a quarter of an hour a1ter
| the alarm was given.
At that time the City Of Lowell was
burning on her port side ana there
sec med very little hope of her being
saved. The Morse, however, ran up 70
| her stern and sent a line on boaro.
SO anxious was the captain of the lug
| to tow the burning vessef out OF the
dock that he started his vessel up 100
quick and the tow line parted.
| 3y the time q second had been TOSS
| ed ON board, the tug Solicitor appear
| Cd and also sent a line to the LoWeii.
| The two tugs then gradually hauleu
the vcss.l out into the harbor ana the
| Morse's crew manning two of their
own streams put out the fire and saved
| the frcightCr from destruction.
In the meantime the flames had en-
| volopcd TIE Plymouth from stem 10
| stern and as her upper works DlaZeu
up the fire jumped to the tall wooden
ltoisting shears overhanging the water
The fire ran up the shears to the top
land the great flaming torch, $50 feet
high, illuminated the entire lower por-
ton Of Narragansett bay and was
probably seen by the steamer Pilgrim
If the same line as she turned Point
Judith on he. regular trip here from
New York.
About the same time that the shears
lCaught fire. the flames burst through
Tic port side Of the Plymouth and at
tackled The pier shed only a few feet
Iaway. Tho shed itself WIS filled with
all sorts of repairing material which
prevented the firemen from carrying
lines of hose down the wharf. The
stiff breeze from the south which sent
the great mass Of flames onto the roof
of the shed also quickened its destruc-
ton and at this point the fremen
turned their attention TO saving other
property.
The spread of the flames was too
rapid for them to make an effective
stand and after driving back the men,
il attacked the paint shop and the old
railroad station.
| At twenty minutes of three the
largest fire ever seen at Newport was
lragng furiously. The Plymouth was
la mass of flames, the shears were on
fire and the pier shed roared and the
wind was sending a deluge of sparks
land burning embers onto the decks of
the $2.000000 steamers. Puritan ana
Priscilla. as well as the smaller craft
| On each boat two score OF men dash
ing water from buckets or using the
small stream from the donlseys, de-
Tended the boats against the fiery
IShower.
On shore the men We're being driven
back step by step from the machine
shops and it seemed as if the fire
lmight not stop there.
| Had the Puritan and Priscilla been
llcft in the dock such might have been
the case, but shortly before 5 o'clock
the Morse and the Solicitor steamed
bravely i'll to the smoke and burning
brands and began the work of towing
The helpless steamers to safety. The
tow big boats We're scorched as they
were drawn away from the dock but
except from smoke their inferior fit
tirgs were noI damaged. The Nduga-
tuck was also towed out into the har-
Dor and at o'clock all three boats
had been moored alongside dock
further UP the harbor.
Fortunately none of the buildings
We're more than so or 40 feet in height,
as the flames did not shoot far into the
air or leap any distance from the ma
chine shops.
| With the destruction of the paint
shop and the railroad station, and the
removal of The steamers. danger Of
further spread OF the fire was abated
land the men were able to make some
SORT Of a stand.
The Plymouth still burned furiously
and by 1 O'clock very little except the
ron hull remained. Shortly after that
time the shears toppled over and fell
with crash into the hull of the Ply
mouth shaking it throughout and
sending back another cloud of sparks.
About the time the fire was at its
height the steamer Pilgrim came in
from New York, but in obedience TO Il
wireless message sent from the tor
pedo station she did not enter the har-
hor but kept on to Fall River. Her
Passengers for this city came down by
The morning train.
The last thing destroyed by the fire
was freight car full of life preserv-
ers. which the firemen were unable to
reach.
At daylight Tuesday morning mus
ter OF the men who were on board the
plymouth when the fire broke out took
pace on the south wharf and all re-
sponded to their names Several of
L baI