Fire sweeps through Hemingray office bldg, old papers in attic fed flames

FIRE SWEEPS

HEMINGRAY

OFFICE BLOCK

Company Officials Fix

Loss at $10,000.

RECORDS SAVED

Firemen Battle Five

Hours With Flames.

Fire early today swept the office building of the Hemingray Glass Company, Mac­edonia Ave. and Tenth St., causing a loss of approximately $10,000. All records of the company were in the steel vault and were not harmed.

The fire is believed to have or­iginated in the basement of the building, but the cause is unknown.

Charles Brown, a watchman, was in the building at 5:15 a. m. Fifteen minutes later the building was in flames.

Paper Feeds Flames,

Factory employes attempted to extinguish the blaze, but when their efforts proved futile, called city firemen at 5:38 a. m.

Just as the firemen were prepar­ing to withdraw from the basement the small blaze which remained seemed to shoot suddenly to the upper parts of the building through a hole left when the floor of the office fell through. The fire in the attic of the build­ing was augmented by more than a ton of paper, consisting of the old records of the company and rec­ords of the 335th Reserve Infan­try, which had its headquarters in the building.

An asbestos covering over the shingle roof prevented the fire from breaking through and forced it down into the main offices.

Soon afterward the roof caved in at various points sending a de­luge of paper and water into the offices.

The loss is covered by insurance, officials of the company said.

Firemen were hampered by the cold and at one time the water pressure went down. Communica­tion with the water company brought the pressure back up to standard.

Four lines of hose, one of which was manned by factory employes, were run into the building.

The greatest damage was to the building itself, although the office equipment on the northwest side section of the building suffered heavily.

Two persons were arrested by police for driving over the fire hose. They were Oral Synnes, 1430 West Eighth St., and Fred Wiggins, 111 West Seymour St. They will be arraigned in City Court tomorrow morning.

Temporary offices were installed in the Muncie Savings and Loan Company’s former home at Adams and Walnut Sts.

Phillip W. McAbee, president of the company, is out of the city on a business trip, and is not ex­pected to return until late in the week.