The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1907-02-16
BIG BLAZE THURSDAY MORNING.
Variety Works and ieuck's Opera House
the Chief Sufferers.

sAss sSsJ UWs uS uisu hheush , VP~Au hVuSe
the Chief Sufferers.
A fire broke out in the variety
works of Mccormick & Thomp-
son Thursday morning about I
lo'clock. The fire was caused by a
gasoline stove used for melting
glue, which some of the workmen
had freshly filled with gasoline
land lit on starting to work to heat
some part Of the machinery. The
fire quickly spread all over the in
Iside Of the workshop. after the
manner of gasoline fires, and de-
fed immediate extinguishment,
1.-THE 0rkmen on the INSIDE having
barely time to get out themselves
without being scorched. Owing
to the infammable material of the
shop and the two story stock
building adjoining, the fire was
under full headway before gen.
eral alarm was sounded. By rea-
son Of the steam being low or
some misunderstanding at the
power house as to the emergency
of the situation, it was some time
after the hose carts and firemen
reached the scene, before there
was sufficient water pressure to do
real effective work, and by this
time, the two buildings of the
Variety works were not only gone
beyond redemption, but the flames
had spread to the rear of Heuck S
pera House and the small build
ings and sheds in the back lots IN
the rear of the Variety Works.
Meanwhile strong wind had sud-
denly sprung up from the West,
and for awhilo ~ iooked periIous-
ly like the whole block all the
way to Front street was goingt to
be swept by fire. Fortunately
the wind ceased almost as sudden
ly as it had arisen, the water pres
sure increased, and the heroic
volunteer fremen in a few min
utes thereafter had the fire under
control Owing to the tin cover
ing on the outside and the fact
that the fire after getting to the
Opera House took hold between
the ceiling.and the..tin roof where
it couldn't be reached easily, it
took a long and determined effort
for the firemen to overcome it
there, but they finally succeeded.
Fighting without the necessary
hooks and ladders needed in such
cases, nevertheless the city's
brave fire laddies, as is their way,
successfully overcame even this
serious handicap.
LOSSES.
The loss OF Mccormick &
Thompson amounted to about
$5, 900, covered by $1,000 insur-
|ance in companies represented by.
the Underwriters Agency. $1,000
of this was, on the machinery,
$500 on stock, $4O0 on the two
story corrugated iron building
built and used by the firm for
storing stock, and $50 on lndi-
vidual personal property belong
ing to Mr.. J. A. Thompson. Mr..
Eugene Mccormick lost about
$3.50 worth of individual personal
property ca which he carried no
insurance. The old building oc-
cupied as a work shop belonged to
the Heuck's and was uninsured.
Heuck's Opera House and its
furnishings we're damaged to the
amount of several thousand, which
is partly covered byinsurance with
companies of the Underwriters
Agency. The damage to the
stage, scenery, ETC., is such as to
etfectually end theatrical arrange
ments for the rest of the season,
that part of the building needing
thorough reconstruction.
The small buildings in rear of
the Variety Works and the stock
carried in one of them, belonging
to Parsons, May. Oberschmidt
Co., suffered a damage of about
$500, which was covered by insur-
ance in Dir. j. B. Daughtry' S
Agency.
A second fire alarm was caused
Thursday evening bya small fire
at McLaurin's seed house, but the
damage was very slight