Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1909-11-19
TO REBUILD BIG PLANT:
THE LOSS is HEAVY
Crowds View the Burned
District.
.cNeilI's VIII Rebuild
the Plant Destroyed
Nine Buildings Burn

from the ashes OF the destroyed
plant Of the Americus Construction
Company the Messrs. McNeilI, who
largely owned the property, will prob
ably begin soon the work of rebuild
ing. A more modern and better equip
ped plant will occupy the site of the
one destroyed Wednesday night
Hundreds of people walked through
the burned district of six acres yes
terday, viewing the terrible destruc-
ton wrought there.
The total loss sustained by the Con-
struction Company is probably $4,000,
with only $4,000 insurance, as stated
in yesterdays Times-Recorder. The
insurance rate there is nearly ten per
cent. hence the small amount carried.
The machinery, which cost about
$4,000, is reduced to junk and other
wise worthless.
Immense Stock of Lumber.
Great loss was sustained by the
company in the destruction of more
than one million feet of lumber piled
in the yards. Not foot of this es-
capped the flames. A great deal of fin
ished work was stored away in other
departments, and all of this was burn
ed likewise.
A freight car loaded with brick was
hfyt- ,,H vrrl-f -N1A 4.
yard tracks were twisted like ribbons
by the heat.
The Messrs. Mcneil, it is said, own
ed several of the small dwellings in
the neighborhood, occupied by negroes
and upon which there was no insur-
ance. In all eight dwellings, besides
the plant and cold storage house,
burned
Few, if any, of the small dwellings
burned were insured.
Tile Works Were Burned.
The building occupied by the Amer
icus Tile Company and directly oppo-
site the big buildings Of the Americus
Construction Company was in the
path of the fire and burned rapidly.
Several hundred dollars worth of ce-
ment and other material was lost,
though probably covered by insurance.
The Postal Telegraph Company and
the Americus Light Company lost
probably 5000 each in burned poles
and lights and wires, the poles blazing
to their tops.
Every one of the five small cottages
on Bay street, between Lee street and
Jackson, we're lost. All these were
occupied by negroes, and the fact that
the fire was stopped ere it crossed
over Lee street saved that large col
ored residence section from complete
destruction.
Had the fire crossed Lee street
hundred other small dwellings would
have been swept away.
Splendid Work Of Firemen.
Never did the fire department do
better work than In this instance
When the first alarm came In the
building of the lumber company was
seething caldron, while the fire had
also spread to the tiling factory. The
wind was blowing fiercely, thus rem
dering the combat an unequal one.
1t was impossible to pour water
upon the plant or the lumber yards at
the time, because of the fierce heat
and inability to get within fighting
distance of 1t.
Chief Macarthur then concentrated
two lines of hose upon the small cot
tage of Ellen Martin, then burning,
and the last one to catch. The fire
was drowned out there and the prog
ress of the flames checked. Had fire
reached the large church on the cor
ner the entire city would have been
endangered.
Firebrands were carried mile
away by the high winds, many of them
falling as far out as Rees Park and
the Seaboard shops.
Losses VIII Be Fully $4,000.
The total losses are conservatively
placed at $4,000, while the insurance,
altogether, will scarcely exceed $4,000.
Several hundred dollars worth of fur
niture was lost by inmates Of the
houses along Bay and Jackson streets,
apd unor this fhare wac M insurance
it was stated yesterday.
1t was disastrous blaze; the worst
Americus has sustained in a long
while and breaks fine record made
this year by the local department.