The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-12-20


this morning from fire which start
cd in the machine shop of the Ben
nington Garage, owned by E. w. VIII
liams, shortly after IL o'clock last
night.
The principal pieces of property des-
troyed were the brick building of the
garage includiiig the repair shop and
IS automobiles, the Cottage hotel;
Bennington Sanitary Laundry includ-
ing all machinery; the Craven building
on North street. the lower part of
which has just been leased by Ralph
F. Niles, local Ford agent The First
National bank was saved by its iron
shutters.
The fire started, without doubt, from
an overheated coal stove, or flue of
the same, on the lower floor of the
garage. The blaze had big start
when discovered and an alarm rung
in by Policeman Patrick Brazell at
1925.
DR.. F. ]. Hurley was the first on the
scene. His new Ford coupe was in
the garage and he was on his way
there but had stopped at Gokay's drug
store. Because OF his night calls, DR..
Hurley had a key to the garage.
He got the door open but the place
was so full of smoke and fire that
he could not even get to the electric
light switch. All he saved was the
lock on the door The lock was not
damaged.
The fire department was slow in
getting force enough to the fire TO
cope with so big blaze but did mag
nificient work when 1t once got to
work. The department was ably hand
led by Chief w E. Sears and his as.
sistants who were also splendidly aid
ed by ex-members of the fire depart
ment.
The show room and storage shed of
the garage were not burned but volun-
teers ran out all the 80 cars In the
building and transferred the tire and
other stock to places of safety
P. B. Gardner promptly offered the
use of his garage and shop to Mr. VIII
liams and the employees of the two gar
ages worked together to save every,
thing they could get out
The fire quickly spread to the Ben
nington Sanitary Laundry, owned by
j. H. Powers and the rear laundry
building and machinery are total
loss. The thin sheet iron covering on
the laundry proved nc protection what
ever. The building was owned by
George M Hawks.
The Cottage hotel Is a total loss.
While the firemen were busy in saw
ing the line OF buildings on North
street the fire crept across through
the t - story shed to the hotel and
worked its way all through the build
ing. The front Is still standing but
the fire there had not been completely
extinguished at 10 o'clock this fore
noon.
The First National Bang building
had narrow escape but was saved
by its iron shutters. Even when the
east wall of the hotel fell against the
bank the shutters kept the fire out of
the building, though there was some
damage.
The Winslow & Craven building on
North street was completely gutted.
The lower floor OF the building was re-
Gently occupied by John T. Carroll, but
had Just been rented by Ralph f. Niles,
Ford dealer, who moved in a few days
ago. Mr.. Niles stock is considerably
damaged by water and ice.
The Evans building and the Fillmore
& Luther buildings on North street
were threatened and damaged but not
seriously. The families living up
stairs moved some of their goods out
hut h., nc fha NO C
gotten under control.
The steamer was called out at two
o'clock but did not get into action UNI
til an hour later 1t was located on
the raceway in the rear of the Bur-
CESS property and proved of great help.
The burning garage made tre-
mendously hot fire. The repeated ex-
plosions were due to the gas tanks in
the II cars in the garage. Some of
these explosions were quite severe and
drove the crowd back.
No one was seriously hurt. j. Guy
Livingston was thrown from a ladder
in the rear of the hotel and was bad
ly Jared. Burton Powers slipped
from the roof of the laundry and twist
ed one leg but is out today. Many of
the firemen We're drenched by icy
water and II will be strange II Illness
does not result
The list of property destroyed and
the losses as estimated by reporter
OF The Banner follow;
Building occupied by r. W. Williams
and known as the Bennington Garage,
machinery, stock, tools. etc. exclusive
,Df automobiles destroyed $4,000