Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-01-17
FACTORY WRECKED
BY $4,000 BLAZE
Paper Box Plant Fire Calls
Out Nearly All of City's
Apparatus.

Nearly all of Washington's fire
apparatus was called out shortly be
fore noon to put out a three alarm
blaze that wrecked the interior OF the
Columbia Specially Paper Box Co s
factory at $3.50 Hanover street, caus-
ing damage to the building and con-
tents estimated at approximately
$4,000.
Because of the highly inhamma bic
nature of the contents OF the three
story brick structure, the blaze gain
ed threatening headway before the
arrival of the first pieces OF fire ap-
paratus. and provided the army of
firofighters, under personal direction
Of Chief George Watson, with the
second stubborn and disastrous fire
within q week
Despite the hazardous feats which
the hremen were called upon to per-
form in order to fight the veritable
fiery furnace that ragged though the
two upper floors OF the paper plant
the only casualties were the tempo
rary distablement of several of the
men because of the inhalation of the
stinling fumes that poured from every
window and crevice in the building,
and slight cuts and bruises from
glass. nails and so on.
Employees Forced to Flee.
The five employees of the paper COM
pany, who were in the building wher
the fire was discovered, were forced
to seek safety on the run. One o1
them, Mrs. Frank Wallord. the book.
keeper, tarried long enough to grail
an armful of the company's records,
and she staggered with her load
through the billowing clouds 81
smoke to the street.
Among the first to discover the
blaze were several employees of the
Kane Transfer Company, which OPP
crates a garage on the ground floor
of the structure. w. S. Coates, one
of these employees, heard crashing
of glass and a roar, and when he
ran to the street he saw that the
whole upper part of the building, at
the south end, was ablaze. Spread
ing the alarm In the garage, he and
his colleagues succeeded in removing
q number of the transfer company 5
automobiles and trucks to places OF
safety.
Crowd Hampers Ftremen.
BY the time firemen had arrived
on the scene the flames had swept
from one end of the building to the
every upper window. A second alarm
was sounded at once, and when Chief
Watson arrived he turned In another
alarm. The second alarm also brought
police reserves from every precinct,
but they found that hundreds of
colored boys and girls from nearby
high schools had beat them there. The
task Of keeping them away from the
vicinity was almost hopeless, as they
appeared from all directions-down
alleys, from passageways and over
fences.
The paper company is conducted by
Harry Jeffrey of 1929 Sixteenth street
and Reuben Aaronson of 1855 Six
teenth street, as a partnership. Mer-
chandise boxes and paper containers
of various descriptions were being
manufactured In the building. The
property of the factory was worth
approximately s5O,00O, including ma
chinery, that. 1t is believed, escaped
serious damage.
The building is owned by j. Ed
ward Chapman, local coal dealer.
The yard and stables of the coal com
pany, directly in the rear of the burn
ing plant, were in danger for a while
Mr. Chapman said the wrecked struc-
ture was insured for $4,000.