Evening star., 1934-05-19
NEW ENGLAND CITY
IS SWEPT BY FIRE
Blaze, Believed Incendiary,
Causes 5000, 900 Damage.
400 Out of Jobs.
Py the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
NEWBURYPORT, Mass, May 10
A fire, believed incendiary, roared
through the river front section OF the
city today destroying factories, homes,
stores and shipyard filed with val
liable private yachts.
It leveled an area quarter OF a
mile square and caused damage eStl-
mated by insurance underwriters at
between S7000 600 and 100000.
Four hundred persons were thrown
out of work with the destruction OF
the Fisher Shoe Factory and dozen
families were made homeless by the
burning of their dwellings.
It was the most destructive blaze IN
the long history of Newburyport and
for two hours it swept onward, un-
controlled. Aid was summoned from
score of surrounding Massac chusetts
and New Hampshire communities, ap-
paratus coming from as far away as
Salem, 26 miles to the South.
Two Firemen Overcome.
Only two casualties were reported.
Both were firemen and both were
overcome by smoke. Neither was In
a serious condition.
The fire began in a long wooden
abandoned building, formerly shoe
factory. just before 2 am. 1t was
brought under control shortly before
o'clock.
Sporadic bursts of flame still shot
from the charred remains at daybreak
and at intervals smoking heaps OF
debris fiared up. The crumpled walls,
twisted steel and burned wood eX-
tended from Winter street to Titcomb
street along the south bank of the
Merrimack River and back from the
river to Merrimack street.
Houses in widely separated sections
of the city bore the marks of less dis
astrous fires, caught from flaming en-
bers. Dozens Of store-front awnings
in Newburyport's business section lay
strewn on sidewalks, where they had
been deposited by firemen after catch
ing flying spark.
The belief that the fire was set
came from an unusual series of events
during the late evening.
Three Alarms Sounded.
Three alarms we're sounded at close
intervals just about midnight. The
;\rst was for fire in a garage. The
sicond was for a fire in a mattress
il nearby dwelling. which fire. off,
cialf said was set. The third was a
falls alarm.
olice and fire officials said they be-
lie ed the larger and more disastrous
blaze was the work of some person
who had connection with the three
earlier alarms
The long wooden building in which
the early morning blaze commenced
was owned by the Dodge Bros. and
was soon to be torn down to make way
for a street-widening project.
From there. the flames leaped tc
the Fisher Shoe Factory and then tc
Odd Fellows Block, which was for
merly State armory. In rapid sue
cession, the blaze ate away severa
houses, two blocks of stores, a gasoline
filling station and the Mckay Boat
Yard, where between 40 and so small
yachts lay on marine railways, wait
ing to be placed in the water.
The wharf and main shed at Nc
Kay's were quickly victims of the fire
and within a short time the boats
were blazing. The yard and its CON-
plement of yachts lay black and al
| most unrecognizable as day broke.
Wind Fans Blaze.
A strong wind, now blowing from
the Southeast and again from the
| Northwest, famed the flames. II
shifted constantly and without warn
| ing.
Fear that the city buildings and the
business center of the community
might catch during one of the North
west blows. brought an order for q
| concentration of apparatus in that
section.
Newburypdrt's firemen fought the
river front blaze while outside ap-
paratus guarded the municipal Offices
and business sections of patrolled
other parts Of the city in search OF
fires set by flying sparks and embers
, Newburyport lies three miles up the
Merrimack River and is one of Mas
sachusetts' oldest sea coast cities. II
was an important port in the early
days of United States merchant ma
rine and was once large shipbuilding
center Many of the more famous OF
the ships that piled the seas in the
days of the windjammers boasted
Newburyport as their home port.