The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1910-07-28

The Monarch Iron Works, an
industry which has contributed
materially to the upbuilding o.
the City OF Plymouth for the
past four years and which was
bidding fair to become one OF the
leading institutions OF the com
munity, was totally destroyed by
fire Monday night. The loss is
estimated as being between $15,-
900 and $4,000 with almost nc
insurance. Owing to the eN-
treme high rating, the poor fire
protection and nature of the in
rdustry, the directors found it al
most impossible to secure inSur-
ance, and only $500 was car
ried, OF which $1,000 was on the
building and $500 on the ma
chinery. By the heroic efforts
OF the foreman, James Beatty,
and a number OF his men, who
arrived early on the scene OF
the fire, the more valuable pat
terms, and patents were saved.
The greatest financial losers by
the fire are Doctors. T. A. Bor-
ton and n. B. Aspinall, who
owned almost all OF the entire
stock. With the construction oi
the new Plymouth Hospital and
Sanitarium falling upon the ef-
forts and backing OF these two
men, the heavy loss encounter
ed by the fire last evening APP
proaches the tragicaa. A chap
ter could be written upon what
the crty of Plymouth owes to
these two physicians, Drs Bor-
ton and Aspinall.
Supposedly from Trains.
The fire which broke out in
the roof of the run, or narrow
superstructure of the Monarch
Iron Works, located just west oil
the west city limits, and on the
south side of Pennsylvania tracks
is supposed to have been start
ed by sparks from locomotives
passing the building. The Off
cials of the institution, as well
as the foreman and, his assist
ants are of the decided opinion
that the fire was not started from
any cause within the building.
Monday night, as is done at the
completion OF each working day,
the fire from the melting citpaao,
was dumped and "watered or
thoroughly extinguished and
cooled by water. That the fire
did not start from the smoke
stack OF the boiler is evidenced
by the fact that the fire did not
reach the boiler room until last,
and no smoke issued from the
stack until the fire reached that
part of the building.
Locomotives Give Alarm
The fire was started from some
external source, and the suppos-
ition is that locomotives gave
forth the sparks, which resulted
in the destruction of the fac
tory.
Residents of the city were
startled from their sleep, at
about II 40 Monday night by the
weird screaming of locomotive
whistles, from trains on the
Pennsylvania railroad. A double
header freight train, passing
from the west, started the alarm,
which was taken up by three idle
freight locomotives dying with
in a few hundred feet and con-
tinued by several other engines,
which were in the local track
Yards. The shrieking of the lo-
comotives was an uncanny and
friphtful sound. 1t succeeded
in raising the town, and was the
first alarm given the local water
works and fire department. The
Monarch Iron Works hes out
side OF the city limits. and the
nearest fire hydrant lies 1900 feet
from the site, but the volunteer
department mustered their men
and apparatus and was on the
scene as soon as possible. Their
arrival was too late, however, to
do more than throw water upon
three or four smaller buildings
on the premises OF the factory
grounds.
Heat Was Intense.
The first citizens to- reach the
scene of the fire witnessed a
brisk blaze, burning in the run,
over the building. Water pres
sure upon the blaze at its initial
could easily have
saved almost the entire building.
The distance from the city, and
the poor facilities for reaching
the factory with water, was the
cause which resulted in the
structure being reduced to the
ground. For about fifteen
the rubber roofing on
the main building confined the