Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-12-29
$4,000, 600 FIRE WRECKS
Continued from page /

Oi0 fiiTRt~SfAAEN uNlAilAlk OAl htAfF ebf'' -
to he Rix-storv building at Second and
Grecnhnl avenue With this building
and the older building a roaring furnace,
thousands of sparks were famed to the
roofs of the frame dwellings cast Of the
plant. Although no one was reported in
iured az 4 result of tho fire, six families
were made homeless as stated above
They were the families of G CamnuIllon
400 Webb street Antonio Snna0ni, 3l0.
Webb street. John Wilson. colored 30n
Webb street, Herbert II Wallace, 25lo
West Second street LOUIS Ivory, 250b
West Second street. and a. r. Jenkins.
2506 West Second street
The Sansoni home was the first 70 fall
prev 10 the flames None Of those driven
from their homes had time 20 save much
~ their personal effects Chief Lutz NJ
once concentrated the work Of the cheml-
cal and smaller apparatus toward saving
other dwelling 10 the vicinity Many
men PLAYED streams from their garden
hose on their homes
PREPARING TO RESUME WORK.
In the buildings Of the leather COM
parv DESTROYED was stored large amount
of leather. both finished and unfinished,
which was awaiting resumption Of the leath-
or industry. AT a standstill here for the
I -past four months Valuable driving, sea
soninC and other machinery was also de-
stroved About 500 men had been laid OF
during the past Sin weeks The outlook for
a resumption Of business had begun to look
better. however. and a force of men had
been rc-employed in the plant TO prepare
for this contemplated resumption next
week. The men had aii left their work
about ; O'Clock. short time before the
FIRE was dis overed.
srx-sroRY WALL FALLs
At7.IO o'clock the lone sIx-ztory wall Of
4 the west wing 81 the old building, eX-
tending north on Grcenhlll avenue, ap-
1 prnximately 300 feet from Second street,
I crashed to the earth with q thunderous
/ roar Spreading IN its wake telegraph
/ poles. trolley and electric wires, the falling,
( charred beams and mass Of debris en-
I dangered the lives Of the hreHen who were
/ battling with the flames few feet dis
tart
Thousands Of spectators, including
women with small children, hravlng the
cold west winds, who had ventured 70 the
very limits Of the fire lines, were thrown IN
panic with the topping Of the wall
/ There was a scattering Of humanity p
every direction The large vacant lots and
/ fields west Of the burning building soon
became torrents Of small rushing rivers,
| with the water rising rapidly.
Bv 8 clock Greenhlil avenue from
/ Third to Second street was completely
submerged. the water playing hovac with
the fre1nen who were obliged TO stend IN
the cold waters knee deep. From the fire
plug in the center Of GreenhiIl avenue, and
directly in front Of the burning building
FIVE fremen, gripping the cold brass
nozzles Of the hose. stood brsvely by,
/ with their rubber coats and caps mass 81
ice
FINE NEW BUILDING WRECKED
The firemen, realizing the futility oi
saving the old building and with only one
wall left standing IN Second street, con
centrated their efforts on saving the new
six-story offiee and warehouse building at
Third and Greenhill avenue This build
ing which is 305 feet long and 80 feet III
! width and SIX stories III helghth, was OF
slow burning construction IL was de
signed bv John Kennedy q local archi-
tect and built in 1907 by Joyce and ker-
rigan This new building was erected at an
approximate cost Of 500 600,
As the flames leaped against the new
building, the fremen concentrated their
hose on the windows Of the Greenhill
avenue front Ten strong streams con-
iinuallv playing on the third floors and
the roof failed to check the flames, which
Shot through an open door Within half
an hour practically the entire southern
half Of thes structure from the second floor
to the roof was roaring furnace. At 7.30
O'Clock the roof burst into flames once
more lighting the heavens with a scarlet
glow.
SHOT HOLES IL WINDOWS.
A drawback to the frcmen, the latter
saw. was the heavy fTeprOOf wired glass OF
the windows After futile efforts had been
made to break the windows with the force
Of the water, shot guns and revolvers were
used Hundreds Of shells were fired by the
officers. who succeeded in breaking many
0f the heavy panes of glass. 1t was deem
ed lInwise to use dynamite. With the
southern section Of the roof completely
enveIoped the flames soon swept through
the third floor, and working upwards
reached the northern end Of the building
at Third and GTeenhlll avenue. BY 9.3C
O'Clock the structure was totally destroy
ed
Only six weeks ago this building suffer
ed n severe loss by fire, which DESTROYED
the lower portion of the workrooms a
Third and Greenhill avenue On tn,
second floor, used as offices by the man
agement, furniture had recently been In
stalled at an approximate cost Of 50, ,000
This section Of the building was finished il
white tile
BY midnight nothing remained Of th
main buildings but the charred walls an
piles Of snoudoring debris Several Of tn
fire companies were held on the seen
throughout the night TO combat any ten