The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1908-11-13
&50,OOO TIRE BURNS
ACNI WAREHOUSE i
MACHINERY TO vALI1E u :; OF sl25,-
600 AND BUnD1N TOTALLY ll.1'l[
CONSUMED By i tAzH.
Origin Of the Fire ane aEs Cause Is
Unknown Ten Mil : Is Before
Building Was in Flal Two EN-
ployes Of the Con by Went
Through the Building and Detect
ed No Signs Of Fire

Fire, which broke out in the Acme
Harvester company building at the
west end Of First avenue west yes
terday afternoon, completely destroy
cd the building and all its contents.
The building is valued at $4,000, and
is insured for O6,0OO. Mrs. Jessie
Logan of Chicago Is the owner Of the
building. The machinery loss is
s125,O00, partially covered by insur-
ance. AS the policies are at the home
Office of the company at Peoria, H.,
it is impossible to state the amount.
The cause of the fire and its origin
is mystery. Ten minutes before it
was discovered, E. E. Briggs of the
local force, and J. R. Griffith of the
Peoria Office, who was here to assist
in making an inventory Of the stock,
were in the large storeroom, and
they did not detect any signs of FIRE.
just after their return to the Office a
cloud of smoke was blown in from
the open window. Henry Turner, the
local agent, did not pay much atten-
tion to that, as smoke from the loco
motives was a common thing. Mr..
I Briggs, however, thought that there
was an odor of pine to the smoke.
\ They threw open the doors of the
uarerooms and were surprised to fin
that tie building was on fire.
- Z T. 4 t - l.
Mr.. Turner at once started to send
in the alarm. His telephone was
cut Of commission He sent a boy
to the Anheuser- Busch beer depot
close at hand to send in the alarm,
and that phone, too, was not work
8 ing. Finally the boy found phone
in commission in a private residence
q hundred yards away, and the
alarm was given.
All this neo oessitated delay, and
\ by the time the fire department ar
rived, the building was on fire all
oreyhte interior. The structure was
sheathed with sheet iron, and that
made it difficult for the firenen to
fight the flames inside. AS soon as
( the department arrived, however, 1t
was obvious that 1T could not extin-
guish the fre,and all that 1t could dc
was to save the beer depot and other
surrounding buildings.
The vast amount Of machinery OF
all kinds $125,O00 in all and ths
hemlock interior of the building af-
forded plenty Of food for the hungry
danes, and when once they broke
through the roof the fire was q
& pretty one to watch. The burning
building, which was 120 feet long
and go feet wide, was one mass ol
& roaring flames, which burned fol
more than an hour before the roo
and walls of the structure fell. The
Y f1remen never had a chance to stol
4 the fire after their arrival, and moth.
inogculd be done to save the build
Eng o it's contents.
Mr. Turner and the Office force
made use Of the few minutes the.
had by packing the books and paper
5s IN the safety vault, and all tfos'
yaluables are probably safe.
The building had an unus1la
Y heavy supply Of machines on hand
It carried more than the home plan
at Peoria or the Minneapolis ware
rooms, 1t being the intent tion Of tn
company to store them IN Aberdeel
an winter. Is