The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-12-08
From Mondays Daily.

From Mondays Daily.
Flames destroyed the cold storage
plant of the James Lynard Produce
company at 709 South Front street,
Saturday night Four firemen, in
Guiding Chief John Lulsdorff and AS
sistant Benjamin Bangerter, Jr., were
overcome by smoke, and another fire
fighter, Al Klugherz, was seriously
cut in the lower part of the right arm.
The department fought hard to sub
due the fire. 1t was one of the fiercest
battles it has had to contend with
for some time. What was once a
large refrigeration plant is now
mass of ruins and gaping walls. The
building was owned by Fowler e
Pay. All the contents, including a
great amount of dry lumber and
filler" for egg cases were consum-
ed, the building itself being a total
loss
The alarm was sent in from box
forty-four at $50 Saturday night.
Upon arrival of the fire department,
the building was found to be
smoking oven, with dense clouds OF
smoke issuing from every window
and door. Two streams of water
were turned on at once, and men
began scaling the wall, chopping
holes in the building here and there.
Volunteers were also there to help
the men in their fight against the
flames.
General Alarm Sent In.
However, after battling for three
hours, a general alarm was sent in
which brought all the companies in
the city including the North Man
kato fire department After their
arrival, three streams were turned
on, but the high wind from the
southeast famed the flames to fury,
and another hour of work showed
that little could be done to save the
building and contents. Accordingly
one stream was turned on the sur
rounding buildings. All the furniture
and household fixtures of Edgar
Trainer and E. Gould, who live in
the house next to the produce build
ing were taken out and placed in the
yard, while the house was deluged
with water every minute. The old
sheds and buildings as well as the
wood piles to the rear of the burned
building were also wetted often, to
prevent the flames from gaining a
hold and from spreading
Flames Shot Into the Air.
The flames leaped up scorching
everything around them. The contents
of the building were such as to burn
like finder. A carload of fine egg
case lumber had just been received
and another carload of filler" or in
side packing had been unlOaded into
the building.
The firemen were up against one
OF the hardest fire-fghting PROPOSE
lions ever experienced as the walls
were filled with sawdust, with parti-
tons every two feet. 1t was frame
building with one tier of brick
veneer, and hence burned very easily.
The fire-fighters had to chop their
way through these walls, and then
the streams of water turned in, but
these seemed of no use, as the
water could not sink into the burn
ing sawdust more than few inches,
while the root of the fire was a
number OF inches deep in the saw
dust.
AS the flames leaped up, a tele-
phone post nearby and the brace for
the guy wire to the street car line
was menaced but few short streams
of water soon put these out of danger
of being burned, although at a time
1t appeared as though live wire
would fall upon the large crowd of
spectators that had gathered.
Battled All Night.
All night the firemen battled with
the flames and when the dreary light
of dawn came, the streams were kept
playing and kept it up all day Sun
day and Sunday night.
Four men were overcome with
smoke and had to be taken to doctors