The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-12-12

upward was taken through the ceilin!
into the printing shop and hall above
! Ice quickly formed on the hose, anC
| from time TO time ii was necessary Il
| dig the lines out of pools of ice anC
water which formed in the street. Thu
| firemen. eneased in iee-encrusted coats
\ found themselves badly hobbled in lad
| der work and in moving freely through
the lower story of the building. They
had to resort to the use of ladders with
great frequency; and the better to get
at the flames, which seemed to follow
the partitions, a good deal of chopping
was done. The smoke peril did not
abate until after noon, and while some
of the men were well equipped with
smoke helmets, the atmosphere within
the building was so dense that fire fight
ing conditions were frequently unbear.
able Much of the attack was directed
through the Easements of the ground
stores, and tons of water found their
way into the structure through the first
floor windows.
Despite the drawbacks attending the
attack within, the firemen at all times
made sure that surrounding property
was not endangered, and except for the
smoke and water leakage which affected
the Wood block none of the other struc-
lures in an unusually congested district,
where buildings fronting both Elm and
Main streets are situated. was damaged
in the least. Conditions in the rear OF
the grocery store permitted the work of
salvage to go on with little interruption
during the early hours of the forenoon,
and under the direction of the proprie
tors. many cases of canned goods, guam
titles of flour and other commodities
were removed to an Elm street building.
Very little on the first floor back was
saved, and so dense was the smoke in
The fruit store adjacent that nothing
anne of efforts to save some of the loose |
md portable articles there.
+. NJ. Laws, the proprietor of the New
England Fruit store, managed to make
lis way to the desk and safe, where pa
,ers of value to him were found intact.
lnder the direction of j. j. Lamb, mount
d to the second story and took away
looks, accounts and papers in the print
RS desk. Ensign Crawford of the Sal
alton Army corps was on the grounds
arly. but volumes of smoke in the see
nd floor, back, defied entry. \ few be
ongings of the painters union. stored in
heir hail on the same floor, fronting the
treet, were saved.
This afternoon the exterior walls and
he roof of the building were intact, but
he interior was thoroughly Quilted.
ractically everything of value that the
ames had left untouched had been re-
loved earlier in the dav, and the fire
len were combining their efforts to the
of incipient blazes which
urst out at frequent intervals in any
nd every corner of the ancient strue- ,
ire. Houghton q Robins are the heavi- /
e losers. The firm carried a fine as ?
,rtment of groceries and was heavily :
ocked. II is true that valuable com
ODDITIES were removed from the store :
,om, but much more was irreparably
lmaged. Next to nothing was saved
ON the meat department in the base
ent. fronting the street, and in that
apartment meat and produce to the
due of hundreds of dollars were stored.
he refrigerators were filled with meat.
ID salt meat had been accumulated in
lantties. on the first floor above,
Ielves were piled high with canned
ods aud delicatessen assortments. The
m is one of the younger grocery and
eat concerns in Barre, and since its
went into -he mercantile life Of the
" had established a lucrative business.
; loss, approximating $4,000, is COW
ed only in part by insurance.
Another heavy loser is J. J. Lamb &
J.. whose printing establishment occu-
ID very nearly half Of the second story.
J Of its machinery, fonts, etc. together
IA heavy stock Of paper, were lOcat-
in the mort beast corner 81 the build
2 Flames left part Of the room I'M
lched. but water aud smoke had their ]
" with the paper. and only later ex-
iinstion can determine how much the
Ichinery was damaged. The room IN
mt. formerly used by the Barre Citi-
IS bend, was occupied at times by q