C. H. Over factory fire; Hemingray hose used to fight south end of fire

GLASS FACTORY BLAZE.

Industry Fire Department

Prevent Big Conflagration.

C. H OVER & CO. WORKS AGAIN VISITED

BY THE WICKED DEMON — GOOD

WORK AND FAVORABLE WIND

SAVED TWO PLANTS

All that prevented a repetition, last evening, of the disastrous conflagration that destroyed the C H. Over & Co. window glass works and the Hemingray flint glass works nearly five years ago was the splendid system in vogue at the Industry glass factories, with which to fight the flames, but as good as it is the Over factory was damaged to the amount of from $12,000 to $15,000, shortly after 6 o’clock.

The fire starred from a stove in the north cutting room, and this part of the factory, 20 x 100 feet in diminsions [sic] dimensions with thousands of dollars worth of glass, is a total loss. During the day yesterday the fire was burning in the several stoves in the cutting room, and in some manner the heat from the stove, located near the parti­tion between the stalls used by Riley Bodecker and Jule Hatchett, caught fire, and in an instant the flames spread all through the room. At the time Hatchett was in his stall, but for some reason did not discover the fire until it had gained a strong headway.

The alarm was quickly sounded through the factory, where nearly two hundred men were at work, and every blow pipe and other tool was dropped and the men heaved for the hose house to gel the streams of water to work. The alarm was sounded to the Hemingray factory, located just across the switch on the south, and to Ball Brothers, two squares to the west, and lines of hose were quickly stretched from these factories. In the meantime the alarm was telephoned to the city fire department and Chief Shepp notified the water pump house, and when the lines of hose were in readiness the water company had a splendid working pressure on. Chief Shepp made a fine run to the fire, but had only three men, ae the others were at supper, but the way his boys and the factory employes worked caused much favorable comment from the large crowd that quickly congregated. When the department arrived, after the long run, the fire looked very mean, but the 5 lines of hose the factory boys had been using, had ahe [sic] the blaze confined to the one department with the wind blowing favorable for the firemen.

The building is sonstructed [sic] constructed of wood, covered with sheet iron, and this made the fire very hard to fight from the outside, as the sheet iron walls stood erect, while the fire was raging on the inside, and in doing so they were compelled to pass through some dangerous places, and many serious accidents were narrowly averted. The walls, were but one story high, and this fact saved the life of Firman [sic] Fireman Will Givens, who wrs [sic] was leading ehe [sic] the way with the hose between two of the walls when one of them fell upon him. He was completely buried, but soon dug his way out, with only a slight cut on one arm, and some bruises on his face. Harry VanMatre was with him and had one leg caught.

The following men are employed in the cutting room where the fire originated, and most of them, who had just quit work for the day, lost their tools: Jas. Johnson, Benjamin Cheesman, George Walker, J. Jule Hatchett, Cal Richmond, L. Richmond, Harry Bodecker, James Riley, Gene Oliver and William Johnson. The glass that was in the cutting room was in all stages of completion, and there will be trouble in averaging the amount due to the credit of the blowers who made it, as some of the books were lost. At one time soon after the blaze was discovered, the men be­lieved that it was all out, but suddenly the fire broke out anew in the cupola, and the real work was then begun.

The line of hose from the Hemingray factory was kept on the south side of the building, while the other men fought the fire from the west, away from the main factory. Mr. Ouer [sic] Over could plrce [sic] place no intelligent loss od [sic] on the building last night but from other reliable sources it is es­timated at from $12,000 to $15,000, fully insured in companies represented by George M. Cobb. The work of making repairs will begin at once, and the fac­tory will resume work Monday morning, as the glass can be stored in the other cutting room for the present, and the furnaces are not injured.