New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1918-10-30
$4,000 BLAZE IN
CELLULOID VAULT
OF |. F. & c. SHOP
Explosion PreCedes Fire and Gen.
ter Of City is Brilliantly
Illuminated
ASST, FIRE CHIEF HURT;
OTHERS SHOCKED BY WIRE

Hanna Property Next Door Partly
Demolished-Heat Felt At Corner
of Main and Commercial Streets
Firemen Rescues Money From
Trunl1-Wdndows Broken in Sixth
Story of Office Building.
One of the most serious fires the
city has experienced in months broke
out at about 1 o'clock this morning
in 'celluloid storage vault of the
Landers, Frary & Clark Co. on Cen
ter street.
President Arthur c.. Kimbal stated
that the damage as near as could be
determined would approximate $25,-
600. The damage was principally to
stock kept in the building. Luckily
the entire factory was equipped with
automatic sprinklers and these, act
ing soon after the fire broke out. were.
instrumental in combining the flames
to ono of the three compartments of
the shop. In each of the two other
compartm ents, which were uninjured
by fire was celluloid stock to the
amount of about $4,000. Slight dam
ages resulted from the breaking of
automatic sprinklers in the un-
touched part Of the factory.
The celluloid department is direct
ly opposite the entrance to the main
factory, having been built apart from
the rest of the shop because of the
tnf1ammable nature of the material
1t is in this part of the shop that the
handles for knives and razors are
manufactured.
The home of Miss Jennie Hanna,
next door to the building. was dam
aged to a great extent and parts of
the main building across the street
took fire. Several windows in the
sixth floor of that building were
broken.
Cause of Fire Unknown.
The origin of the fire as yet re-
mains a mystery. Several causes
have been advanced but the one CIV
en- most credence is that of spontan-
eous combustion. A report that
lantern was found in the rear of the
building soon after the fire started is
being investigated as the lantern is
of type not used by the Watchman
of the factory and there Is a proba-
bility that someone might have been
prowling about and accidentally
caused the fire. The report that un-
friendly agents were responsible for
the damages is not given much con-
sideration as circumstances of the
fire seem to indicate otherwise.
Explosion Precedcs Fire.
At a few minutes after 1 o'clock
people on nearby streets heard loud
explosion coming from the direction
of Landers factory. Immediately aft
er the detonation a huge fame burst
out lighting the center of the city.
For short time the flames continued
to burn and the intense heat could be
felt at the corner of Main and Com
mercial streets. The heat was SO
great at the police headquarters that
Sergeant George Kelly was forced to
leave his desk. AS soon as the flames
broke out a call was sent in to the
fire department through box 321 and
all the companies responded. At the
same time the factory whistles were
blown and a large crowd gathered.
For some time it was impossible to
set near the building because of the
intense heat, but the firemen under
the direction of Chief Robert M.
Dame IouBhC Ihe ilIe e'C Clo90 lallSo
and saved the nearby buildings, ex-
cepting the Hanna house, from dam
age.
When the flames burst out the
wires connected with the factory
Nere burned and dropped to the
street. Walter Wheeler of the Con-
necticut Light and Power Co, was
nearby and was struck by n wire car
rying 1000 volts When the wire
hit him he fell to the sidewalk and
the wire slipped partly from his
body. Patrolman William Murphy
tried to pull Wheeler from the wire
and was shocked himself, being
knocked to the sidewalk Sergeant
Richard Anderson of Camp Deyens
Continued on Ninth Pagel