The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 26, 1896, Page 1

VOLUME LXXXL_NO. 26. SAN FRANCISCO, SATURDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 26, e 1896. ANOTHER HIERCE FIRE ON A CHRISTMAS MORNING Printers’ Row Again Attacked by Flames and Men- aced for an Hour or More With Total Destruction. TWO0 ESTABLISHMENTS DESTROYED. Francis, Valentine & Co. and the Buswell Bindery Are Gutted by Flames. TEE TERRIBLE FALL OF FIRE- MAN PETER M'CABE. A While Fighting the Fire He Topples From a High Cornice—Offers to “The Call.” Printers’ row had its second Christmas fire yesterday, and by a strange coinci- dence the flames started in the same spot in an alleyway between buildings. The whole scene of three years ago when Printers’ row was visited by fire on a Christmas day was again enacted, the same general alarm, the same fizht with flaming paper and woodw. only there wa ad sccident ye. , when Peter McCabe, a fireman, slipped from the top cornice of a building on Commercial street | and fell to the sidewalk, thirty or forty | feet below—a probably fatal fall. he Fire Department and the Underwritets’ Fire Patrol did remarkably efficient work, with the result that only tbe establishment of Francis, Valentine & Co. suffered to any extent. Shortly after the noon hour two bells and then seven bells elarming the City gave warning of the fire. The alarm was looked for by many of the old-time print- ersand pressmen, and as 27 was counted more than one man exclaimed, **There she goes again!” Then followed a general rush o the scene of the fire, and in ten | minutes the streets around were thronged with spectators. A second alarm re-enforced the firemen | already busy with the flames, which, with the rapidity of a flash, assumed propor- tions that threatened to spread through- out the block. Great masses of black o ancis, Valentine & Co. at 516 Com- mercial sireet, and even in the brignt light of day tongues of fire could be seen leaping upward and cutting through the angry cloud. At first sight it was hard to tell whence the smeke and flames emanated—whether from THE Ca and editorial department 9 Clay street, or from the printing houses in the same block. The firemen, however, attacked their common enemy from front and rear and in a very short time were victors. The second alarm cawme so quickly after the first one that nearly ali available ap- paratus was put in operation at the same time. Streams from several engines were united into half a dozen pipes, and these combined soon decluged the burning building and quenched the blazing masses of papers, machinery and woo” n parti- tions, though not until the bookbinding works of tue Buswell Boosing and Mail- ing Company and Francis, Valeatine & Co.'s cstablishment were almost iotally destroyed. The fire was first seen almost simultane- ously by tive or six men. H Cohn and w. Ferguson, employes of Francis, Valentine & Co., were at lunch in Bmith’s restaurant, 517 Clay street, the rear win- dows of which -look into the light well command a view of Francis, Valentine & Co.’s pressrooms. Cohn and Ferguson .saw smoke in the alley and mentioned 1t to Smith, and then while they wer: ak- ing there came a burst of flame through the windows. Ferguson ran out and gave the alarm. He encountered Thomas B. Valentine, his employer, who was frantically shouting fire, and 1 the race were some composi- tors of THE CaLL. They had all seen the fire break out like an explosion. Presently the engines and fire appara- tus were upon the scene, and as the filymes were threatening relief was summoned. In ten minutes started. On Commercizal street two “‘siam- es: @'’ streams were plying at either en of the printing house, doing excellen work. It was the water-tower, however. that finished the angry fire. This machine was hauled up immediately in front of the burning building and let loose with sev- eral stresms united in a perfect avalanche through the top-story windows where the | fire was raging. Wherever the nozzle of the tower pointed there was darkness, for 1t raked the combustibie materiai with mighty force and drove the fire to the wall. And »!1 this was accomplished in half an hour. Meanwhile three double streams were car- ried through TaE CALL’S composing rooms and turned ioto the rear of the blazing structure, and kept persistently upon the upper floor and roof. Such a flood falling between the four fire-proof walls acinally washed everything downward and from the beginning had control of the fire 1n every part of the large space affected. An hour or two after the first burst of flame startled all who saw it, the fire was extinguished. All that remained was a wreck of the newest and most complete printing house in San - Francisco, of twisted and ruined machinery, charred timbers and publications. But an odd straggler remained to view the ruin, the fire engines were gone and a few gzangs of men worked in and about the scene of the fire. THE CALL escaved with a few broken panes of window glass and some Christ- mas “pi.” Charles A. Gage, day foreman “of the composing rooms, saw the smoke and flames that surprised the men in the ‘resisurant downstairs. He madea hasty investigation and saw the light-well belch- ing forth fire and smoke from the press- e rolled up from behind the building | | a gallant battle had | room of Valentine & Co. The first thing ‘ he did was to turn in an alarm from the } auxiliary box in his department, and with the assistance of several printers be closed the iron shutters on the rear windows. This prompt action saved the composing department, possibly the whole building, | for the flames pas-ed up against the iron ’ shutters harmlessly. In the editorial rooms on the upper floor Ralph Schwab, the assistant librarian, was all alone in his glory, thinking of | mince pie and things, when the dreaded | visitor showed its head. He immediately | closed the iron shutters and went out to | ook at the fire that could not get in at his { part of the Louse. In the basement the fire patrol men | covered the great presses and other ma- chines with water-proof sheets, and saved | the printing department of THE CaLL. | There will be some weekly papers miss- ing to-day. Quite a collection of them was | | in Buswell's bindery, which occupied half i the top floor of the burned building. They were there to be bound, but will never ap- pear. This bindery had contracts with the News-Letter, Breeder | Hispano Americano, Illustrated World and other periodicals. ‘Besides there was a large assortment of books, magaz nes, et n process of binding, and all of them were destroyed. The machinery of the bindery was so badly burned and distorted it is thought that it is worthless now. The to the bindery company was placed at 0. According to estimates of the under- | writers' Francis, Valentine & Co.’s loss was about $20,000, and on the building, a | solid three-story brick structure owned by the J. B. Thomas estate, $7500. Blake, | Moffitt & Towne's basement was invaded by water and the loss to paper stored there was about §100. The loss claimed ‘in the fire of 1893 was $42,000, the insurance $22,000, by Francis, Valentine & Co., and TEE CaLL-Bulletin | 1oss was $900. and Sportsman, | Where the Fire Started in Francis & Valentine’s Premises—Just After the Engines Arrived. Thomas B. Valentine was in his office when the fire broke out. *Since we had that fire three years ago Christmas day,” | he said, “I felt uneasy on this day. I went to the office this morning about9 | o’clock and made an examination of the | whole building, pesped into every hole and corner of the pressroom and through the two upper floors. Then 1 went into | my office and wrote some letters. While | writing I heard the speaking-tube whistle from the pressroom below. Thesound in- creased in ifitensity until it began to } frighten me and as it continued 1o grow { londer I started to find out the cause of | the noise. I opened the door and found the room full of smoke and rushed out shouting ‘Fire!” “How this occurred is a mystery to me. I'm certain that everything was all right an hour before the fire. We have been very particular since the last fire. We cleaned up and burned up everything in the way of refuse paper and the like, and nothing of a combustible nature was left in the building. I've no idea where it came from. There is a furnace in the rear for burning paper and such stuff as might be dungerous. **We have not carried enough insurance, but 1 believe the aggregate amount car- ried is about $20,000. Probvably we are better covered than before. - The last time there was rebuilding and complete refit- ting, but now I presume the floors are safe and the presses not all badly injured.” The Commercial Light and Power Com- puny, in the basement of the Francis Val- entine & Co. building, sustained heavy losses by water and heat. Much of the main belting was ruined, and the dyna- mos and engines, although securely cov- ered by the fire-patrol men before the water came down heavily, were supposed to have been more or iess damaged. The patrol had a pump at work on the base- ment some time orevious to the last stream’s removal, and by that means fire was kept up in one boiler. The superin- tendent stated that his company would be ready this morning to supply the print- ing-houses with power as usual, and his other patrons with light. He estimated the loss to the company at $2500. As to the immediate cause of the fire no positive information could be got, as nobody could venture a guess about its origin. But there was no doubt yesterday about the place where the fire orizinated. Those who first saw it agreed that it started in the basement, and finding its way into Valentine's pressroom leaped up the elevator shaft direct to the top floor. H. Cohn said he saw the flames coming from below in the rear of the restaurant. Ferguson corroborated this statement. He saw the fire as it burst from the cellar and through the back windows of Valen- tine’s pressrooms. THE CaLw printers tell ‘the same story. % Negligence on the part of somebody con- pected with the wrecked print shop is be- lieved to be responsible for the fire. This is the third extensive fire in the same place, and besides the Fire Department has responded to various “still” alarms from the unlucky spot. Three weeks ago THE CArvr’s librarian extinguished an incivient blaze in the -, NSD 7 7 Scene on Commercial Street Where McCabe Was Injured. bottom of the light-well and at 4 o’clock yesterday morning George Boyne, super- intendent of THE CALy's' mailing depari- ment, quenched a fire of rags used for cleaning muchines. These rags lay in heap Dbeside “the - carbage laraace I th alley; or light-shaft, where Valentine & 1'Co.’s men burned waste paper the day be- 1 fore. . It was in that particular nlace that the fire started yesterday. A remarkable incident of the fire was Frank P. Lippett’s experience. Mr. Lip- pett is a lawyer at Petaluma. Three years ago he was on Montgomery street when the alarm sounded from box 27. Yester- day he stood within twenty feet' of the same spot- when 27 rang out again. He went to the same corner at which hastood Jhree years ago watching the fire and saw the same building burn down. No less a coincidence was the presence of George K: Fitch, the veteran editor, at yesterday’s fire. Turee years ago, on Christmas. day, he went to visit' a sick friend at Berkeley, and on his return was astonished to find the Bulletin composing and editorial .rooms, now part of THE Carr’s quarters, badly damaged by fire and the rear buildings entirely destroyed. He was at Berkeley again yesterday and when he came back printers’ row was again ablaze, just as it was three. years before. s iy PETER McCABE’S FALL. The Fireman, Droppsd Sixty Feet From the Roof of the Burning Bullding, Bhortly before the fire was placed under control, Peter McCabe, a fireman in i | fellow’s arrival there that there was a chance that he mighv recover, Almost as remarkable wasthe fact that not'a bone was broken.. This may in a | reasure be/accounted for by the fact that ’! #e0aba siruek oo the top of a street lemp At the time Commercial street was well filled with fire. wagons and apparatus, and the sidewalks were covered with people watching the firemen at work on the street, ladders and roof. McCabe was seen to step to the edge of the roof of the three-story builaing, and a second later his feet flew out from the cor- nice and his hands clutched wildly at a telephone wire. He fell. A cry of horror went up from the crow below apnd many a strong man turne aside so as not to witness the frightfalfali A second later there was a loud crash of glass as the big street lamp was shattered into a thonsand pieces, followed by the sound of the fireman’s body as it struck on the sidewalk and street, where it lay apparently lifeless. A dozen firemen sprang forward, fol- lowed by many citizens who were anxious to be of service. Poor McCabe, who is a very large man, presented "a most pififul' sight. ~Blood streamea from & dozen cuts on his head and face, and' his clothes were ‘torn and cut to tattars. The word passed along that the fireman was dead.. Nevertheless the inanimate form was hastily placed in a huck and hurried off to the Receiving Hospital. There, to the surprise of all, McCabe showed signs of life. A careful examination showed thatnone of the man’s bones were broken. This fact The Fireman Who Was JE-ER 'M¢ CARE! { Injured at Yesterday’s Fire. Engine Company 2, fell from , the roof of the three-story building to the sidewalk, a distance of over thirty feet. The wonder is that his life was not crushed out of him the minute he struck the sidewalk; but he lived, and the doctors at the Receiviug Hosvital statad some time after the poor [ is probably explained in this way: In fall- ing McCabe's body struck on the side of the lamp instead of directly upon it, and the force of the fall was thus lessened. Had the body struck six inches fartker to the right it would have been impaled upon the lamo-nost. DEATH OF CAPTAIN SWASEY PATRIOT MAD PIONEER He Passed Away Unexpectedly From a Stroke of Heart Disease, With 'Which Ailment He Had Been Ten Years a Sufferer. After- his wounds were dressed McCabe was put in the ward, and in an hour or so he recovered consciousness and spoke a few words with friends at the bedside. The doctors say that the extent of the man’s injuries cancot be ascertained until to-day. It is feared that he was injured internally. At any rate it was a miracu- lous escape from death. From Daniel McKenzie, foreman of en- - gine 2, an account of how the accident happened was given. Hesaid: “McCabe and several cf our company were on the roof, anii we wanted one of the small Jines of hose passed up the lad- der. Itoid Pete to go to the edge of the roof and lend a hand in passing up the line. When he stepped upon the cornice his feet struck an electric light or tele- phone wire and tripped him up. His feet shot out and down the poor fellow went. I hope that he will live. He wasone of the best firemen and be never shirked his duty. Even in the big sulphur fires we have had Pete would stay and fight fire when all others would leave. He did not know what it was to be afraid.” McCabe has been in the Fire Depart- ment about two years. He was one of the new men in 29 when that ccmpany was organized. For the last year McCabe has been with 2 on Bush. street near Kearny. His only relative is a crippled brother named John, whom he supported. MecCabe was removed from the Receiv- ing Hospital to the German Hospital late in the sfternoon by his fellow-firemen. He was conscious and appeared to be hold- ing up even beiter than was expected. peds e Fire Breaks Out Agaln. At 6 o'clock there was an explosion of gasoline or benzine in the rear of the Val- entine Company’s pressroom. A large quantity of the dangerous, material was stored there for cleaning presses and type. The explosion lighted up the whole place and it seemed that a bigger fire was coming, when an alarm was given from box 76—that popular Christmas box. A A LIFE OF INCIDENT AND ACTIVITY. The Adventurous and Highly Romantic Career of the Deceased. WAS ONCE CAPTURED BY INDIANS, He Assisted at the Raising of the American Flag at Monterey by Commodore Sloat. Captain William F. Swasey, one of the most noted of the older pioneers, a man full of erudition concerning the argonauts of ’49, died sdddenly of heart disease at the Hillsdale House, 33 Sixth street, last night. He had been a sufferer from heart disease for ten years and had lately been attendea by Dr. C.J. Patton, who informed him last week that he hdd not long to live. The captain complained of pains in his chest late yesterday afternoon, and be- fore the landlord couid get a physician the old pioneer was dead. The first persons on the scene were Drs, Patton and Krotosyner, both o! whom at once pronounced the cause of death heart disease. The Coroner’s deputies investi- gated the case and at once’concnrred in the verdict and leit the body at the' hotel. Officers of the Pioneer Society consuited Mrs. Swasey and her sons without delay and proposeéd to take charge of the fu- neral. ' The body “was removed to the California undertaking parlors and ar THE LATE CAPTAIN W. P. SWASEY. stream of water and three chemical streams extinguished the blaze in a few minutes. —_— Courtestes to “ The Call.” The Chronicle, through Joseph B. Eliot, and the Bulletin, througn Mr. Crothers, very generously offered their presses and offices to THE CALL when a rumor went out that THE CALy building had been burned. “G0D BLESS THE GOVERNOR.” Gratitude of a Man Who Was Pardoned After Being Wrongfully Imprisoned for Sixteen Years. LEAVENWORTH, Kaxs., Dec. 25.— Governor Morrill issued a pardon for W. J. Jackson, which was handed the latter this morning. “God bless the Governor,” was all Jack- son could say at first, but presentiy he ex- pressed a wish to rejoin kis wife and chil- dren in Texas as soon as practicable. Ac- cordingly he was dressed in citizen’s clothes, shook hands with Warden Lynch and others in the Warden’s office and without a backward glance walked out of the prison in which he was wrongfully confined for sixteen years. His earnings during that time, which amounted to $193, were given to him and he bought a ticket to Nockenat, Tex.. where he will arrive for a family reunion Sunday. _ Jackson was charged with a marder committed -near Wellington, Kans., in 1873,but was not convicted tili 1880. He was a Texan, but herded cattle in Kansas. His was a death sentence, which in this State, as is well kaown, amounts to life imorisonment. He claims that J. J. Eikins, who died three years age, left a confession of the murder, but that it was not in form to do the prisoner any goed. Jackson has a wife and five children, the eldest of whom was 9 years old when last seen by the father, and will, therefore, be 25 at tbeir next meeting. The ‘‘baby” was 2and is now 18 Mrs. Jackson has educated the children on the proceeds of a 40-acre cotton plantation and has been un- remitting 1 her efforts to secure ber hus- band’s pardon, ber belief in his innocence beine still unshaken, ran&ements for the funeral will be per- fected to-day. CUaptain Swasey had an eventful career. Leaving his home in Maine when a youth of 16 he started for the West. At Cincin- nati he met a family friend, who, evi- dentiy captivated by his independence and pluck, furnished him with some capi- tal. With this, in the course of two months, he had established a flourishing business in the provision line. Next he formed a partnership and en- gaged in the fur busin bhaving his headquarters in St. Louis. Things were going on swimmingly when, through the dishonesty of his partner, the young fur trader found himself deprived of his sav- ings and almost destitute, His next venture was to join a party of trappers bound for Fort Laramie. Ar- | rived there, he joined forces with a | French-Canadian named Chaumie, and togecther they seLout on a trapping expe- dition. They were captured by a band of Arapahoes, who tortured Chaumie and burned him at the stake. The daughter of the chief fell in love with young Swasey and induced her father to save his life. =The prisoner was placed in the front row and saw his friend tortured and burned. When the fagots were lighted at the feet of the unfortunate trapper Bwasey ran forward to save his friend, but the Indians heid him back and Chills Indicate undue exposure and too little vitality to resist the cold. Avoid danger by keeping the blood pure and system healinhy with Hood’s Sarsaparilla Tha_h{!b—in fact the One True Blood Purifier, Hood’s Pills act easily, promptly and effectively 20 centss