The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1920-03-12
Fire Destroys Garage

WAS
completely destroyed by fire last Sat
urday afternoon, the brick building
adjoining corner Union and Elm
streets used by Lambert & Kerr for
storage and Office purposes was badly
damaged in the rear and on the third
floor, entailing loss in all of over
$4,000.
1t was about 3:15 when pan of
gasoline in which machine parts in the
garage were being cleaned, ignited.
| An alarm was sent in and the en-
| ployes made every effort to extinguish
the blaze, but the fire jumped so fast
among the infammable articles that
it could not be stopped and the men
turned their attention to the automo-
biles, getting out as many as possible
The work of the local fire compan-
les, the Union, Hibernia, Fleet Wing
| and Columbia, together with the Ea-
gle, of New Hope, has been highly
commended, especially their ability to
keep the surrounding houses, all of
which are frame, from being more
than blistered by the heat from the
roaring furnace of the garage fire.
1t was necessary for the Hibernia,
Union and Eagle Companies to pump
water from the canal, block away,
as the water mains in that section of
the city are not sufficiently large to
supply all the companies. The fire
hose was so stiff from ice that it
had to be dragged back to the houses
without rolling up, and had another
fire occurred later in the evening, it
would have been difficult to handle.
The firemen sent a word of thanks
for the kindness of neighbors and
Red Cross representatives in serv-
ing them with hot coffee and sand
witches. Miss Sparey, the public
health nurse, was at the scene, ready
to render any service required. Some
minor injuries to firemen, such as
cuts from broken glass and smoke
suffocation, were looked after by
other firemen, with the use of the
departments first aid outfits.
Following is a list of cars etc.
lost: Buick touring, Harry S. Petrie;
two Ford cars owned by Lambert &
Kerr; Buick touring car, Samuel W.
Kerr; Ford touring, Mr.. Strang of
Philadelphia; Ford car, Mr.. Lamont
of Philadelphia; Buick car, L. R.
Harris; of Delaware Township; New
4 Ford Truck, Joseph Finkle; Republic
Truck, Hunterdon County Board of
Freeholders; Buick touring car, Maur-
ice A. Marjarum; Maxwell car, Char
les Wood; Buick touring car, Clarence
Naylor; Ford car, w. Kise; Overland
car, F. A. Woodward; Chevrolet car,
Miss Mary Grifiths; Jackson car,
Howard Carter; Overland car, Lemuel
Erwine; Ford car, Percy Bush, of
Sandy Ridge; Motorcycle, Mr.. Bissey;
horse drawn funeral hearse of George
B. Horner; three Ford Tractors and
some plows and harrows, Lambert &
Kerr. So far as can be learned Mr..
F. A. Woodward is the only one who
had his car insured.
On the second floor of the brick
building there were number of new
automobiles stored but they were not
damaged.
Joseph German occupies the base
ment of the building as a pool room
and cnfectionery store and suffered
some loss from water.
The building burned was one of the
largest and heaviest wooden struc-
lures in the city, having for years
been a storage place for the sup
plies of the old Lambertville Spoke
Manufacturing Company, and in the
days that it held vast quantities of
highly infamable wood it was re-
garded as constant source of danger
but since that time little had been
thought of its danger as fire pos
sibility. Lambert & Kerr recently
purchased an additional piece of
ground, about 60 by 100 feet, 'front.'
ing on George street, to provide an
addition to the Reading garage and
their own storage house, the pair of
which had a frontage of 1876 feet on
Elm street.
One of the two or three large fires
in the city's history, this one is es-
pecially noted for the almost total
lack of insurance. Out of possible
5000 total loss the various insur-
ances will cover but a mere fraction.
Not only the owners of the cars were
almost entirely without insurance,
neither Lambert & Kerr nor Charles
E. Reading were covered on their me-
chanical losses.
AS a practical way of sympathiz-
ing with Mr.. Reading in his loss,
people of the city are making up a
purse to help him re-establish HIM
self.
Lambert & Kerr have decided to
rebuild at once for Mr.. Reading new
and modern repair shop. They are
garage as soon as the best type of
construction can be decided upon
either of brick, concrete or hollow
tile.
R,r anr,nintnnert of RiShOn InSenh