The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-12-04
Mcleod Mill Burned
With 100000 Loss
Continued from page SKI

men to tn? Office when he saw aho |
FIRE was beyond control ard they
removed all the letter files, hooks
and desks, etc. to a place of safety. |
There were five cars ON Il sliding
running into the mill ana lie called
the railroad Office to notify them t.
get the ears out. At 3.25 y switching
engine arrived and after some de
lay until the various fines of hose
could be removed, pulled the car
to safety Four Of them were load
ed with grain.
AT SAB the main part CT the buil9
ing was mass of flames and there
was no doubt but that the plant was
doomed. The fremen had been UNI
able from the first to ge5 inside th;
building. They now took up position
TO combat the fire from the outside
and to save the surrounding IN opelty
AT 1855 the flames shot IN through
Elevator A towe and there follow
ed at frequent intervals hot AIR ex-
blossoms that sent showers of sparks
and burning embers hundreds #
feet into the air.
The fire was one of the most
spectacular that st. Johnsbury has
ever witnessed. Thousands Of people
| gathered along Railroad and Mil
street on Hooker Hill and on Boyn-
ton Hill The spectacle. from tht
north end of Main street was mag
nificent one. Here one could look
directly upon the f e scene.
Hundreds Of telephone calls came
from all parts of Northeastern Ver-
mont and the phone girls had very
busy session. They gave wonderful
service. The entire force of tele-
phone girls responded when the eX-
tent of the fire became known. Chief
Operator Miss Mary Delaney took
charge of the situation and her tive
supervisors, Mrs. Belanger and Miss
Elizabeth Bassett were on duty
Yielc were II girls who responded
to duty but there were no positions
fol them all TO work. Right up I'M
til midnight calls were handled with
wonderful speed and accuracy Ton
calls to Boston by newspaper men
were put through inside Of three
minutes.
Co. ID in charge OF Capt. Cheney
was drilling at the Armory when the
news came that McLeod's mill was
alTre. Capt. Cheney called for vol
unteers and every man responded
The company marched to the fire or
the double quick and did very clfcc
tive work in helping the fremen.
They laid three lines Of hose from
hydrants some distance from the fire
At 9.05 o'clock the flames had
reached the end OF the plant on the
\ east and the entire structure was a
4 roaring furnace. Here the firemen
4 made an excellent stand Three lines
Of hose were banked on the north
side of the plant facing the Q. V.
I Hooker & Son machine works. The
severe cold undoubtedly aided the
n fremen. The heat did not penetrate
across the so foot space to the Hook
Y en- plant as it would have on a warm
en- night The fact that there was
I no wind greatly aided the fire in saw
ing adjoining property.
At 915 o'clock the fremen had
taken up positions on Hooker Hill
: and were throwing a heavy stream
to the tenement house and Office
building of the Hooker Company.
The roof was showered with sparks
but the fact that the roof was cover
\ ed with snow and was wet aided the
\ firemen until such time as they Sc
cured positions to keep the fire iron,
spreading to this building.
Elevator Is had been watche !
carefully by the fremen. Chief
Marden had streams of water turned
\ onto the side of the building to keep
1 down the scorching heat which at
4 times reached a point where it was
believed the building could not es-
cape destruction. After hard work
\ stream was raised to the top of
this building by ladder a distance
of 60 feet. The pressure was small
but the fremen did effective work
in preventing fire starting in this
elevator which contained $65, GOO
worth of grain.
The Hooker factory caught fire al
$50 around a window on the second
floor The fircmen soon got a stream
y inside the building and two streams
on the outside and soon checked the
4 fire and prevented its doing but
slight damage to this structure.
Il There was a lot of fun around
the Hooker Office building shortly af-
a ter 0 o'clock when the owner of q
n dozen pigs which were quartercd in
h a pen in the rear Of the building de-
Il cided the flames were coming toe
q close for comfort. The pigs were
A driven out of the pen and about fifty
men and boys had a lively time in
q getting them to place of safety.
a Workmen at the Hooker plant
n where they had valuable tools re-
q moved them to a place Of. safety.
q The fire reached its height at 9.3(
"A o'clock when the outside walls be
n gan to fall in the old part of The
II building. From this time on the fire
q men had the upper hand. They
u had more than a dozen streams play,
q ing on the flames from all quarters