DISASTROUS FIRE AT CORTLAND WAGON WORKS

Cortland Wagon Company #2 complex of buildings (1894 map)

No. 1 lower left, 2 1/2 story saved, No. 2 center left, 3 1/2 story saved, No. 3 upper center and left, 3 1/2 story destroyed, No. 4 center right and upper right, 3 1/2 story destroyed.

The Cortland Democrat, Friday, December 7, 1888.

A DISASTROUS FIRE.

A Portion of the Cortland Wagon Company's Works Destroyed.

   A few minutes before 1 o'clock on Wednesday morning last, fire was discovered in the second floor of the blacksmith shop of the Cortland Wagon Company. The watchman, Mr. Lucien Hale, makes his rounds through the buildings every hour and he found everything all right at 12 o'clock, but when he opened the door of the boiler room just before 1 o'clock where he had been to fix the fires, he discovered the fire.

   He at once ran to the front door of the office and pulled alarm box number 423. He then awoke the engineer, Mr. Ed. Fitzgerald, who lives on the opposite side of the street. He then attempted to turn on a hose that was hanging in the room where the fire was located but was unable to enter the room which was filled with fire and smoke.

   Hitchcock Hose Company arrived on the scene about this time and soon had two streams on the fire. Orris Hose, the Emeralds and Water Witch companies were very soon on the ground and had streams on the fire. The village steamer connected with one of the wells and the Wagon Company's steamer attached to a well in the engine house and had two streams each going, and the stationary engine added two more streams and a part of the time three streams, making in all fifteen.

    Five minutes after the alarm the pump at the Water Works pump house was started and furnished 3,000 gallons of water per minute until the fire was out at 6 o'clock A. M.

   For some reason the New York and New Haven Automatic Sprinkler with which the building was supplied did not work. Representatives of the company are now in town investigating the matter and their report will be made public as soon as the cause of the failure is known.

   The diagram of the buildings which we print above will explain the location of the same and show the extent of the fire.

   No. 1 was the first building erected on the site and was used entirely for wood work and contained most of the special and expensive machinery.

   No. 2 which covered the engine and boilers on first floor and body works above was scarcely injured.

   No. 3 was totally destroyed. The first floor was used to store wheels, cart bodies, trimmings, etc., and as shipping rooms. The paint and trim shops were in the floors above. Raw materials, cushions, etc., were stored in the basement. A good many cutters in this building were burned. Some cloth from the second story and a few goods on the first floor were all that was saved from this building.

   No 4 was totally destroyed. The main shipping rooms were on the first floor and a large part of this floor was used as a store room for finished goods. The upper stories were used for paint and storage rooms. The building was packed full of finished and unfinished work, very little of which was saved. Seven hundred finished cutters were burned in this building.

   No. 5 was used as a blacksmith shop on first floor rear. In front was the store room for iron, bolts, axles, springs, etc., of which the company always carried a very large stock. In rear of the blacksmith shop were the special machinery for bolting tire, and finishing wheels and other parts of wagons, before turning them over to the painters. In the second story front were the handsome offices. In rear of the offices was a show room containing specimens of every kind of vehicle turned out by the company. In rear of the show room was a machine shop, where wood work was ironed off. This room and the attic were filled with parts of wagons. The books and papers in the offices were all that was saved from this building. The brick walls are still standing.

   No. 6 is a large brick building. The second and third stories were used as paint shops and the first story and attic were used for storing finished-goods. The building and contents were saved.

   The total insurance on building and contents is $208,150. Companies represented by Maybury & Maycumber have $144,300 of the amount, Theodore Stevenson's companies have $57,150, Jas. A. Nixon $15,000, Rosworth & Lathrop $6,000, H. J. Messenger $4,000, Allen & Davis $1,500.

   The loss on material and finished and unfinished work will probably exceed the amount of insurance, but until an inventory is taken the exact amount cannot be ascertained. The loss on buildings over the insurance will probably amount to $6,000 or $7,000.

   There were about 530 men employed in the works, several of whom will be thrown out of work for a while, although we understand that the company intend to continue business and will occupy their old shops on Railroad street in connection with the buildings not burned until new ones can be erected.

   Two loaded coal cars and seven empty box cars were on the switch between buildings Nos. 4 and 5. Two of the box cars were loaded with books and furniture from the Company's office and drawn away, but all the others were burned except one.

   The offices of the Company are now in the third story of the Schermerhorn block.

   It has been talked on the streets that the Company would not rebuild, but we understand that new buildings will be erected on the site of those burned as soon as possible.

   The Company are in receipt of numerous telegrams from firms with whom they have done business, offering assistance and sympathy.

   Mr. Robert Wood, representing the New York and New Haven Automatic Sprinkler Company, called upon us Thursday and requested us to correct the statement published in the Standard which says that the sprinklers in the buildings were put in by the J. C. Mackey Company. They were put in by Mr. Wood's company, and Mr. W. requests us to say that they desire to assume all the responsibility of the failure of the sprinklers, if they did fail. He is now engaged in making an investigation and thinks he will be able to arrive at the cause within a day or so. His report will be published probably next week.

   The Standard was honestly misled by an employee of the company, who supposed he was giving correct information. Several citizens, a number of firemen and some of the employees of the company received considerable bruises and contusions while working at the fire.