El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-07-03
PRINTING PLANT
Loss IS HEAVY
Fire Wrecks FL Paso Print
ing Company Office and
Threatens The Herald.

Fire Of unknown origin. at 1915
o'clock. Tuesday night, almost totally
destroyed or rendered useless the
plant OF the FL Paso Printing COM
pany, al los to 116 West Main street,
and for a time threatened 20 spread
10 The Herald press room and typo
graphical plant. which adjoins the
burned building on the south. The
printing plant is located Immediately
west Of the Zeiger hotel building.
In thu opinion Of W. II. Williams.
the fire marshal, who visited the
burned building early Wednesday
morning, the fire started I'm the north
END OF the building in the ceiling,
over gallery used for the storing Of
records Of job work completed. Be
cause Of the charred condition OF the
ceiling IL was impossible 70 deter
mine the cause OF the fire, though
Mr. Williams said IL may have been
caused from detective electric wiring.
There were a number Of electric wires.
and drop at the place where the fire
evidently started.
Loses OffIce Records.
Leo Ferlet, secretary Of the print
ing company. said Wednesday the loss
Of records Of the firm was an eX-
q emely heavy blow The records were
totally destroyed and cannot be re-
placed.
Nearly all Of the paper stock OF the
printing company. valued at about
$1,000, was destroyed, and serious dam /
age was done TO the outfit Of presses. I
type setting machines and other ma
chinery. The office and show room OF
the company was not damaged, except
by water and broken glass.
The building is owned by The Her
aid News company. and is fully COW
cred by insurance. The roof Of the
building was almost totally destroyed. I
the floor was badly burned. The walls
Of the building are Of brick and es- :
capped serious injury
Important Jobs Lost.
Several important printing Jobs
were in progress, one being a mining I
review. The copy for this job was
completely destroyed. as was, also. the I
finished portion Of the work. tt will Z
be impossible TO replace IL because Z
the data cannot be compiled again as 4
the original was destroyed
Another important job that was be- ]
ing printed and viii be total loss, ]
was the cataloE OF Henry Beach's .
art shop The copy for this catalog Z
and hundreds Of small enEravings 7
used to describe the articles listed 4
have been consumed in gathering the /
data for this catalOE, and Mr.. Beach 4
stated Wednesday morning it would 4
be impossible 10 recOmpLe the data /
before next winter.
Machinery Il seorched-
Most of the fire was In the center ]
or the building and while several OF /
the presses were badly burned. IL was 4
believed the machinery can be sal /
vaged- Two linotype machines, stu
ated in the southeastern corner Of the ]
room were not badly damaged The /
steel enclosing, copper plate and /!
bindery machines suffered consider
able damage.
Herald MnIIers Fight Flames.
Employees Of The Herald. attracted I
to the building by the. fire, did ex-
ccuenL work with small fire eEtin- u
guishers and hose H. L Kilt. fore
man Of The Herald mailing room. with I
his associates, probably saved the eX-
ira files and mailing list Of The Her
aid
Immediately behind the building is I
located the press room Of The Herald, /
where the two big Goss perfecting
presses are situated, and but for the I
prompt and efficient work Of the fire
department ic Is probable that this
building would also have been de-
Herald Paper Gets Wet.
In the basement Of the burned i
building is located The Herald
mailing room, extra file rooms. and
store room for paper stock A carload
OF paper for this newspaper had been
delivered late Tuesday afternoon, and
for a while this was threatened by the
flames Herald employees and firemen
succeeded in moving this paper from
the store room into the press room.
Before this had been accomplished.
however, considerable Of the paper
had been damaged by water leaking
through the floor above.
Almost Immediately after the first
alarm was turned in. crowds started
10 gather around the building, but
these were kept back by Capt. Harry
large number Of people climbed 20 the
roof Of the Zeiger hotel. and The Her
aid carrier boys believing The Herald
building was on fire, rushed TO the
main entrance OF The Herald. where
they were equipped with fire extin-
guishers by Claude Nichols. assistant
auditor, and sent up on the roof TO
protect The Herald plant.
Firemen Are Praised
Much credit was given 20 chief John
". Wray and the citys fire fighters
for the work they did. The chief. in
person stayed on the roof Of the dam
aged building directing the streams on
Its interior. and in the opinion Of
many eve witnesses this action un-
doubtedly saved The Herald and the
adjoining buildings.
Several guests at Hotel Zeiger were
panic sticlIen when they saw the fire
30 close to their rooms and started
10 leave. Through the prompt and cool
action OF the clerk on duty, Guy Bird
song, the guests we're Gained. Some
)f them returning to their rooms TO
watch the fire.
Owners VIII Resume.
me Fl Paso Printing company is I p,