The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-03-27
Fire Started in Fourth Story Of
Building Shortly After
6 O'CLOCK Last
Night.
THINK WIRING WAS CAUSE
Firemen on Job All Night
Used Six Lines Of Hose to
Combat Flames Threat
ening Other Buildings.

The process butter plant OF Swift
& company here was completely de-
! strCyed by fire last night, with total
| loss of about $3.50
The fire started from an unknown
cause, possibly from defective wiring,
on the fourth floor of the structure III
| the melting room, shortly after the
employees Of the plant had quit work
at 6 O'Clock.
| Today the building is complete
wreck. the whole structure having
collapsed shortly after 500 O'CLOCK
this morning.
The fire was discovered about CLIO
o'clock last evening by John E. Solo
mon, night engineer, who was mahlhs
his rounds. He had gone to the
fourth floor of the butter plant on
the elevator and found that apartment
| filled with smoke.
He Immediately blew the emergency
whistle that turned in the alarm
When tie fire department arrived the
| flames had made great headway III
the top OF the building. There wer'
twelve thousand pounds of oil IN the
melting room and this was fuel Tor the
| fire.
Was Beyond Control.
Soon the whole upper half OF the
structure was a, mass or names "Aich
fed BY the oil, gained such headWay
| that the efforts of the firemen to gain
control was almost futile.
By 900 O'Clock the fire was fairly
under control and danger to adjacent
buildings was over, but the nreinen
had to remain on the job all nlSnt
and were throwing water On the smol-
dering ruins at s:oo O'CLOCK tlis
morning. At that time they were re-
lieved by employees of the company
who continued to wet the building
down while the department cleared
the streets for traffic and took up sec
lions of their hose.
Loss to building, equipment and
stock will run between $6o,Ooo anu
s65. 900, l.. Gabe. manager OF the 10
cal nlant states Three car loads OF
raw material had just been received
during the afternoon and had peen
stored in the basement and on inc
first floor About forty7hve casks OF
this packing stock, as it IS calieu,
was gotten out of the building, out
the greater part Of the stock EVIDENT
ly is destroyed.
Nav Not Rebuild.
| Manager Gabe is doubtful II the
nlant will be reconstructed. The
matter will rest entirely with the dl-
rectors at Chicago, he stated lhis
morning. Swift & Company has only
three process butter plants in its sys-
! tom one at Chicago, one at Kansas
! CITY and the one here. Manager Gaoe
stated that the Chicago plant could
take care of the work formerly done
here If the directors decided not TO re-
build.
process butter only is made at the
place. The trade name is Colo MOCK:
The hacking stock is butter snlpped
| in here to be made over into the
product. Three car loads mad just
been received.
The basement is used for storage;
the first floor is the churn room anu .,iu
| the butter cooler: the second the
| crvstallizer: the third is used as
I s1rnply room and on the fourth floor
"a the melting room. There were ~
! 600 rounds of oil in the top tloor
where the fire started.
| Used six Lines Of Hose.
The fire department had six lines or
hose out last night. TWO lines were
attached at the plug at Fourth anu
Exchange streets; two lines at F1tth
and exchange: one at Fourth and
Rank and the sixth at Fifth and Timea
The pump was used at the latter
place. Pressure was excellent rie
Chief Anderson reports.
| The firemen cleared Flfth suee
! this morning so that trafnc rnlshI ~
he held I'D any longer. During the
morning a Chicago. Burlington q
Quincy railroad wrecker was sent 70
tho MACE to pull down the shell OF
walI that remained. Swift employees
I,ar+ stream OF water on the ruins
all morning.
! Another building in the block caught
fro from sparks last night, but tne
haze was extinguished before II diu
anv damage. All three departments
were on duty last night and the hfe,
men we're assisted by NUMBER Oh
volunteers.
While the fire was at its height an
other alarm was turned IN 1t came
fro,n the near neighborhood. but II
vas a false alarm. Some one hau
seen the blaze through crack III
harm and believed the barn was on
fire. 1T p.<
pv ZOO o'clock the fire was near
;.s greatest extent. Yae fulldlnS
from the second story up, although
stiu intact, appeared to be a roaring
inferno inside and the flames were
leaning hungrily up into the SKY and
sending shower after shower OF
snarks riverward. Now the most dan
ecrous time had come, and with the
bieh wind blowing the fire might
have started a general conflagratior
That would have destroyed thousandf