The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1912-01-04
HEAVY LOSS IS CAUSED BY
EARLY MORNING BLAZE
Plants of Four Business Firms
Destroyed When Building at
Fourth and Fort Burns.

A New Year fire hoOdoo, visiting the
! four-story brick building at Fourth
and florists. for the second time In
| five years, did thorough Job, early
Thursday morning. leaving only the
front and rear walls, and small por-
lions OF the side walls standing.
Tons Of machinery, and valuable
stock OF four firms. the Chamberlin
Metal Weather Strip Co., United
States Cap Co. Mohawk Overall Co..
and Crown Hat Co. lie in a tangled
mass in the basement of the ruined
building. None OF the firms would at
tempt TO make an estimate of the loss,
but II may be safely said to run we'll
over $l50.000.
The blaze, one OF the hottest that
the local department ever had TO
fight. spread across Fourth-ave., east
ward, 10 the four-story building occu-
pied by the American Auto Trimming
Co, but valiant work by the firemen
controlled the situation, and while
neS-ly all OF the side windows are
wrecked. and the interior is somewhat
scorched, the damage will not run
very heavy.
west wind that was blowing dur
ing the progress OF the fire, saved the
Detroit Sanitarium, which is separ-
ated from the destroyed building by q
5O-foot lot. The 26 patients were as
sured that there was no danger, and
while some were slightly excited by
the bright blaze, none suffered any
bad effects, a nurse stated. Several
OF the patients, who were able to do
SO. sat in the windows and watched
the fire, while firemen played con-
slant stream Of water on the side OF
the hospital to prevent II from catch
ing fire, from the intense heat.
EARLY Thursday morning, Mrs. Jen-
ME Collins, matron of the hospital,
prepared hot breakfasts for all OF the
fremen who had worked in the bitter
cold handling ice covered lines OF
hose, from 3 o'clock in the morning.
The ruined building has an odd his
tory. II was purchased from the
Cowie estate. at Christmas time, five
years ago. by the Bredin Realty CO.,
of which c. II. Bredin is president He
Is also president of the Chamberlin
Metal Weather Strip Co. On New
Years day, week after the sale was
closed, the building, then occupied by
the Seeley Mfg. Co., was partially de
stroyed by fire. The Cowie estate
agreed to rebuild 1t, putting 1t In the
same condition that 1t was in before
the fire, and the Bredin Realty Co.
agreed to keep to It's purchase bar
gain, under those circumstances.
Only a few weeks ago, that COM
pany, which owns the adjoining vacant
lot, decided to erect a duplicate OF
the building on this lot Mr.. Bredin
says that architects named a price
OF $4,000 for the building, which is
estimated as the loss on the destroy
ed building
The Weather Strip company made a
heavy shipment of finished product,
Wednesday, and is congratulating IT.
self accordingly. IL occupied the base
ment and ground floor. Everything
in the building Is a total loss, 1t ap-
pears.
The Crown Hat Co., which occupied
the fourth floor, was particularly hard
hit by the fire. as. In addition to q
big property loss, the fire means that
Ii will have TO practically shut down
It's adjoining four-story factory at
Lafayette-blvd and Fourth-ave.,
dCTOhS the diley W INC uoi III VI eiO
burned building The manager said
that so operators will be laid of for
week
It's like taking the heart out OF
man." he remarked. "All OF our
braids, to be made up into spring
hats, were in that fourth floor, which
we recently leased as an extension OF
our own factory All our sewing ma
L..
i'm our own building, everything is
waiting on the work which was to be
done In the other building. 1t simply
ties us up. We have already tele-
graphed for new machinery and stock,
and expect TO get started again In
week or SO.
All OF the machinery, stock, books
and fixtures of the United States Cap
Co., aud the Mohawk Overall Co..
both of which are said to have been
heavily stocked, lie in the monde
script mass OF wreckage at the bot
tom OF the building, the roof, all
floors, and everything except portions
OF the outer brick walls, having gone
down In a blazing heap. None OF the
firemen we're injured, as far as could
be learned, extra precautions being
taken Wnen the Dulluiu6 SbdllSu W ~
to pieces.
The first alarm was turned in by
Patrolman Pat O'Grady, from Fort
and First-sts., at 3 o'clock. Patrol
man Charles Reifstahl, who was on
the scene a few minutes later. said
the fire seemed to have originated in
the Offices Of the Chamberlin con-
Germ. in the southeast corner of the
building. Flames were pouring from
the windows there when Reifstahl ar
rived.
Mr.. Bredin Is at loss to explain
the fire. as he says the boilers were
in the rear, and there was no fire in
the front portion OF the building.
Second and third alarms were
turned in at short intervals by Fire
Chief Frederick, bringing every avail
able piece of apparatus into service,
and the firemen had the task OF their
careers TO prevent the blaze from
spreading. The warehouses and
sheds OF the Union depot are directly
across the street, but escaped damage.