New Britain herald., 1917-08-01
WATCHMAN SAVED
BY PLUCkY FIREMAN
Patrick Flood Found Unconscious
in Sm0ke-Ch0ked Room
LANTERN CAUSE OF FIRE
Blaze in Bristol Knitting Mill Does
Small Damage-Watchman Nearly
Suhocated When Found-Local
Concern May Make Bomb Throwers.

concern May Make Bomb ThroUerS,
| Timely Arrival of fremen un-
| doubtedly saved the life of Patrick
| Flood, Waterman in the local plant Of
| the Bristol Manufacturing COMPANY
| last evening when a lantern, which he
! was carrying, probably exploded.
starting a fire in the "boarding" room.
the flames communicating so quickly
TO rags stored IN the department that
ne was rendered unconscious and I'M
| able to protect himself His insensi BILE
choked room by one of the fire fighters
and he was later removed to Bying-
tons drug store where he was at
tended by DR.. L. H. Frost Although
suffering from painful burns his con-
dition is not regarded as serious
The fire was extinguished before it
had made progress but the damage
caused by water which fell in showers
from the autom otto sprinklers will
amount to considerable.
Definite information as to the origin
of the blaze was not obtainable today
but the theory generally accepted was
that the watchmans lantern exploded
as he was making his rounds through
the mill, his clothing catching fire.
Chief Norton and his men responded
to an alarm sent in from the factory
about $3.50 o'clock. As he CROPPED his
way through the "boarding" room in
which the blaze started, Edward Con-
lin, one of the f1remen, stumbled over
Flood, who was lying on the floor with
his clothing aflre.
The, unconscious man was carried
out and the f1remen attacked the blaze
which was beginning to eat it's way
through the ceiling. The considera BILE
amount of rags In the room to which
the fire had spread made the smoke
so dense that the blaze was fought
with difficulty. It was extinguished,
however, before it made very great
Roadway.
Flood was burned about the Shout
ders and chest His broken lantern
and it is believed that it had ex-
nloded The Waterman, after re-
Covering from the effects of the
smoke, was too dazed to give any ex
PLANTATION as to where the fire started.
He claimed he could not remember
seeing any fire and he thought he
might have been overcome by smoke,
his clothes catching fire from his
lantern.
May Make Bomb Throwers.
While no official admission has been
made Of the report that the Barlow
bomb dropping device will be manu-
featured in the local plant of the
Marlin company, the rumor that the
plant is to be utilized in munitions
making persists and the belief is
prevalent that the local factory may
play an important part in the fight for
democracy.
Officials of the company announced
yesterday that work on new buildings
is to be started in the near future and
over $4,000 feet Of floor space will be
added to the factory. doubling the
room now available for USE
When the new plant is finished the
officials state they expect to employ
nearly four hundred men, many of
whom will be skilled workers. They
have 10 on the payroll at present.
The company proposes to extend the
manufacture of double row ball bear
ings.
The Marlin company of which the
local CORPORATION is a subsidiary, Is
prepa ring to start the manufacture
of bombs and bomb throwing devices,
and although no announcement to
that effect has been made, it is gen.
orally believed LnaC at least certain
parts of the munitions machinery will
be made here.
The construction of the new build
ing will be done under the direction Of
H. j. Brault acting in conjunction
with c. c. Sibley. the Marlin COM
panys construction engineer.
If the revised plans of the company.
which until a few days ago, proposed
to move most of it's business to It's
philadelphia plant, do not miscarry
there will be big influx of skilled
workmen in Plainville and impetus to
the towns growth will result. The
Plainville Realty company is doing
considerable building in the hope of
helping to solve the housing problem
but the indications are that many
homes in addition will have to be
constructed If the Marlin company's
dence.
Plainville Man in Service.
That Plainville is doing her bit'
in the interests Of the nation, not
only by subscribing to Liberty Loans
and Red Cross funds but by con-
of the military forces is evidenced
from the fact that there are at present
over thirty young men from here in
the service. Should the town be ap-
portioned quota In proportion to
that required of cities for the new
army it is believed that it would be