Southampton County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Newspapers.....Fire, 1891 

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"Richmond (VA) Dispatch," No. 12,391, Apr. 15, 1891, p. 3 

A BIG FIRE IN FRANKLIN. 

The Planing-Mill of the Franklin Lumber Company Destroyed. 

  [Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.] 

  FRANKLIN, VA., April 14. - This town was visited by fire again yesterday 
evening.  About 3 o'clock in the afternoon the people were aroused by the 
blowing of the alarm-whistle at the lumber-planing mill belonging to the 
Franklin Lumber Company, located near the edge of the town and on the banks 
of the Blackwater river.  It was at once seen that the cause of the blowing 
was that the planing-mill was on fire.  Nearly everybody at once went to the 
mill, but before any assistance could be rendered the whole plant was in a 
blaze.  Nothing could have been done, however, had the whole town been there 
when the fire first started, as the efficient corps of mill hands did all that 
any one could have done. 

                THE DISCOVERY. 

  The fire originated to the works above the boilers and shaving-vault.  It 
was discovered immediately, and the hands at the mill at once went to work on 
it.  Buckets of water were being thrown on it, but seeing that this would not 
do all that was necessary the manager at once seized the hose and had the pump 
started up, and in an incredibly short time had a stream of water on the fire. 
In the heated atmosphere and the inflammable material that the fire started in 
it travelled like a train of powder, and it had gotten into the shaving-vault 
and beyond where the men could not get the water to it.  In a short time the 
whole concern was wrapped in flame, and in a half hour the main building had 
fallen in.  The company had a big stock of manufactured lumber on hand, and 
this made a tremendously hot fire.  The dry-kilns of the company stood about 
sixty feet to the east of the mill, and it took hard work to save them.  The 
pump and hose of tbe company did splendid work as long as the pump was 
supplied with steam, but when the steam-pipes to the boilers broke the pump 
stopped, and the fire then had to be fought with buckets until the town engine 
could be gotten in place to work, which was done as soon as possible, though 
there was some delay in getting hose, the hose belonging to the town not being 
long enough to reach the fire. 

              THE DRY KILNS SAVED. 

  Effort on the part of the men present, aided by a providential wind, 
succeeded in saving the dry kilns.  The total loss of the company will reach 
$23,000,000 [sic; $23,000], on which there is an insurance of $10,500, all 
placed through Parker & Vaughn's agency, and divided among the different 
companies and agencies as follows: The Hartford, of Hartford, Conn., $1,000; 
the London and Lancashire, of England, $1,000, both with George W. Dey & Son, 
Agents, Norfolk, Va.; the Queen, of England, $1,000; the Liverpool and London 
and Globe, $500; and the Virginia Fire and Marine, of Richmond, $1,500, with 
S.R. Dunn & Co., Agents, Suffolk, Va.; the Aetna, of Hartford, Conn., $1,500; 
the German-American, of New York, $1,000, and the Commercial Union, of London, 
$1,000 with Harper & West, Agents, Suffolk, Va.; the Western, of Toronto, 
Ont., $1,000, and the Petersburg Savings and Insurance Company, of Petersburg, 
Va., $1,000. 

THE LOSS. 

  The lumber company's net loss will be about $12,500.  It is understood that 
they will rebuild. A considerable number of people are thrown out of 
employment by the fire. 

  Mr. J.E. Moyler, of this place, who has been to Baltimore, returned home on 
Saturday sick with the grippe and reports a large number in that city as down 
with that malady.  He is now improving. 

****************************************************************************** 

"The Staunton (VA) Spectator", Apr. 15, 1891 (Vol. 68, No. 35), 
   p. 4, col. 4 

  A fire at Franklin, Southampton county, 
destroyed the Franklin Lumber Co.'s works; 
loss $20,000, partly insured. 

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The drying kilns were destroyed in another fire, 30 Oct 1891.  Articles 
   ("Alexandria Gazette" & "Roanoke Times," Oct. 31, 1891) are posted at: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/news/10311891rt.txt 


Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
File Manager Matt Harris (zoobug64@aol.com) [line breaks mine]  

file at: 
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/news/04151891ss.txt