The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1920-02-12
BigelOw-MOrris BObbin
Mill Is Burned to Ground
CONTINUED from paga u

is estimated at $4,000, partially GOV
cred by insurance.
h The fire is believed to have starte,
near the motor in the new dry house
! Officials of the company have no ide.
as to the cause but think it may hav
been a cigarette thrown down into
pile OF bobbins. An investigation
has been begun to determine the orr
/ gin of the fire. No one was in thu
/ building when the fire broke out q
! $50 o'clock and as a result the fire
gained considerable Roadway befor,
it was noticed by passels by. Franz
Stevens, the night Waterman ut thu
mill was due to report at 5.45 anc
got there just after the fire started.
4 The first signal, of the fire was Civ
en- by the engineer Of the C. p. r.
engine of the air line express. Short
ly after, the fire alarm was rung and
a small portion of the apparatus re-
spondcd The fremen were able to
do little because of the lack of water
supply. The nearest hydrant to the
plant is the one near the Raymond
House and this was too great a dis
lance to string the line of hose. If
there had been an adequate supply
of water near the mill the structure
undoubtedly could have been saved
but the absence of water made it i'm
possible to fight the blaze.
c. f. Bigelow had left his Office in
the building early and had gone over
to the Boston and Maine station
where he was talking to Harry Ste
wart of Beebe. He decided to walk
back to the plant and come home
with Arthur Norris, his partner. Just
as he turned the bend on Clyde street
he remembers seeing a reflection on
The West side of the building but
paid no attention to it as it had been
quite a common thing to see refec-
ton from the mill at that hour of
the day.
As soon as Mr.. Bigelow opened the
door to the mill he smelled smoke. He
rushed to the telephone to call for
help but in his haste he dropped the
receiver. He picked the instrument
up again but was unable to get Cen
trail for some reason. Mr.. Bigelow
then rushed out of the building and
started for George Herrick's house to
secure help. On the way he met AL
bert Johnson, one of Herrick's en-
ployes, and the two men went back to
the building to see what they could
do toward putting the fire out. They
went into the basement and examined
it very closely but could locate no
fire. From there the went to the sec
ond floor where they discovered fire
some bags of bobbns near
the motor They had practically ex-
this blaze when Mr.. John
son discovered fire on the third floor
just above them. There are more
than % pals of water hung up in
different parts of the building and |
there is also running stream but in /
the darkness it was difficult to locate |
these and the fire spread so rapidly !
that the men found it necessary to
cave the building to escape being |
trapped.
In commenting upon the lack of
ire protection for his plant, Mr.. |
Bigelow said:
"If the water system had passed |
our building we could have saved it
three times. 1t is too bad we did not |
,ayo n b1y,.dopt ~, fropt &c o,,,. ,>1on+
"If | build another mill it will be
If cement or brick and l shall have
t On the track where we will have fire
Mr. Bigelow said that business was
never so good as it has been lately
md that the company had large
amount of orders ahead. Fortunately
. large Shipment of 10000 rods
vas made Wednesday. The freight
had just been lifted and the
irst shipment since the embargo was
made Wednesday.
1t is estimated that there were
100000 rough bobbins stored in
he cellar which were totally destroy
d. The company had just complet- !
ID the invoicing and had found that {
business was never better. There were
more than $4,000 trip rods stored in
he plant.
During the progress of the fire
excitement was caused
~ the explosion of barrel of wood
llcohol, white shellac and tulpentine.
The fire soon became roaring fur
lace and terrific heat drove the spec
ators upon the hill. The flames shot
straight upward and illuminated the
ky for some distance, and attracted
persons from all sections of the city
o the scene. 1t was one Of the larg:-
st crowds that ever attended a fire
n this city. 1
The telephone and electric light
wires in front of the mill were burnt
Town.. The Electric Light Company
hut off the power Immediately after
he fire broke out. One of the large
electric light poles across the street
rom the mill caught fire but Chief
hamilton put the flames out with a
land extinguisher.
About so men were thrown out of
by the FIRE.
This is the fourth big bobbin mill !
ire Newport has had. The first fire
vas Oct. 80, 1906, when the Orleans
3ohhin Works owned nv. T. p An i