Norwich bulletin., 1910-03-14

I of the men in the big crowd watching | the fire from that point happened to l be between two cars when the engine backed into the empties. and the jolt 1 threw him off his feet and his leg went beneath a car wheel. He gave shout | for help and the bystanders had just
 pulled him out of his precarious posi-
 tion when the cars began to roll out | Max Gordon's Building. l At 3.O5 o'clock the companies having | been back in the stations but a short | time, an alarm was sent in from box | IA for another well started fire in the l storage building of the Max Gordon & | Son corporation. which was formerly | the Pequot foundry building, for years used by the Rogers Machine shop as a foundry, but which has not been
 used as such for many years. For the | past three years the present owners l have occupied it as a storage building for baled rags. George Mahoney, at i the Mahoney Brothers stable, was at tracted by the cries of fire and seeing the smoke come out of the building telephoned the fire department and inn mediately after an alarm was sent in. Flames were coming out of the peak of the two story and half building at that time and soon there were twelve streams of water on the building and contents. Not only the department but thousands of people were attracted by the blaze and every vantage point was filled, Falls avenue and the space in front of the Central Vermont station
 being entirely occupied
 Piled high in this building, which has one story brick wings and north
 wall. were bales of selected woolen rags, weighing about 400 pounds each, and some of which were worth S10O apiece. The fire had evidently started
 in the northeast end of the building,
 where some cotton rags were stored, but what started the fire is not known. The building was used simply for stor- age and no one worked there except in Tff fiy4ar fV1 falr TalIn AIT- Gordon stated, however, that it was possible to get into the building and tramps may have been in there. Elm ployes of the corporation were at work in a car on the spur track near the station but had not noticed any fire until they heard the cries from those near the barn. The cause is therefore unknown.
 The boys are not suspected in con- nection with this fire, as one of them was under arrest when this fire broke out.
 To get at the fire through the smoke and blaze it became necessary also to pull over many of the bales of rags, which required several men. The bales had to be torn open and they were of course soaked with water.
 In connection with the previous fire it was supposed that the recall had been sounded, but it had failed to sound, so that when the second alarm came in Chemical company No. 3, En- zine company NO. Z ana 1ruck com pany No. responded in addition to the other companies. While they were not expected, they were put to work, the engines drafting from the river.
 MT. Gordon figured his loss at from $12,000 to $15,000 and stated that his insurance was from sS,000 to S, 900. me rags, he stated, were badly damaged by the water and smoke, so much so that it would hardly pay to dry them out. As they were before the fire they were for use in wooIen mills, as first class rags for the best of shoddy but now they can be used only for the poorest Shoddy.
 It was not until about 5 o'clock that the companies picked up and left, a few men remaining to soak down the bales wherein there continued to show signs of fire.