The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1919-07-15
$4,000 COTTON FIRE
IN NEWBERRY SUNDAY.
Some Three Hundred Bales Burned
Over.-Cotton on Platform Ad-
joining the Standard Ware
house.-Very Little In
Surance.

All the cotton on the Friend street
side of the Standard Warehouse
platform was burned over on Sunday
afternoon about S o'clock. This plat
form was rented from the Standard
by Mr.. Hornsby the cotton weigher,
and many persons had the unfortun-
ate habit of throwing off their cot
ton and leaving it there with no in
surance. Mr.. Hornsby was accomo.
dating and made no charge for the
cotton, and as result several hundred
bales have been there since Septem'
Der and October Of last year, and
much of it belonging to farmers, ano
with no insurance. If the cotton hao
been left on the other platform al
the other side of the warehouse 1t
could have been covered by Standard
warehouse insurance.
Just how the fire started is not
known. 1t is said by people who live
lust across the street that they saw
two little boys 60 over the bales and
next to the far side from the street.
and soon after a blaze was seen, but
whether the boys had anything to do
with it or not is not known. They
may have struck a match to see If
the cotton would burn, and it may
! have cotton away from them, or they
may not have had anything to do with
the fire.
It is a very careless habit that many
of our farmers have of leaving their
cotton on the platform without in
surance. Of course it was the pur-
pose of some of them to put it in the
warehouse, but it wass full.
Mr.. J. D. Wheeler, the manager of
the warehouse, says that he thinks
there were some ESQ or 800 bales of
cotton on the platform, not includ-
ing some SO bales that Mr.. Robert
Holmes had, and about 40 bales that
belonged to Mr.. Nat Gist, and his
was long staple for which he paid
40 cents, but both these lots were
covered in part by insurance. But
the farmers who lost had no insur-
ance. And even Mr.. Wheeler and
Mr.. Hornsbv who are in charge Of
the warehouse and the platform had
six bales on the platform and no in
surance.
Mr.. Wheeler thinks that about 80
per cent of the cotton will be loss
and that the remainder may be
saved, taking the lot as whole. The
trouble will be to identify the cotton.
The tags were burned off and there
lis practically no way Of telling which
is which. Probably the only way to
make an equitable settlement for the
loss will be for those who had cotton
damaged in the fire to get together
and have all the damaged cotton
weighed up and sold and then find
out how much each one had and ap-
portion the loss. Of course, Mr..
Wheeler and Mr.. Hornsby are in no
wise responsible for the loss because
they were only permitting the cotton
to remain on the platform, as they
thought, as an accommodation to the
people who owned it.
Without undertaking to be abso-
lutely correct as to those who had
cotton on the platform, and the exact
amount, we are giving at least par
tial list with the approximate number
of bales each had, and it will be seen
that practically all Of them are farm
erS.
! H. L. Boulware 10; P. S. Livings-
ton 5; D. G. Livingston 4; J. w.
Suber 2; B. Y. Abrams 1; M. B. Cald-
well 3; w. L. Buzhardt 2; E. S.
Enlow 13; J. J. Langford 20; H. S,
Langford L; C. H. Cannon 4; J. W.
Kibler Z; John Cousin l; Henry Blu
ford /; N. T. Hogge 1; (Mr. Hogge
is the wathman); F. N. Martin Z;
Will Fellers 81; Wheeler and Horns,
by 6; A. P. Werts 7; Miss Sophie
Leonhirth 3; Mrs. Ida Boozer 2; G.
B. Summer 1; I. P. Cannon 4. This
list as stated does not pretend to be
absolutely full or correct.
The fire also got by one of the
doors to the warehouse and damaged
by fire about six bales on the inside
The automatic sprinkling system got
to work, however, and flooded the
hou--o and stopped any further fire
damage. The cotton in five. of the
sections was considerably damage
by water. But this of course is full
" covered by insurance. There are
IL