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VOL XLIV. NO 0.NEWBERRY. S. 0. FRIDA.Y A*PRIL 12.,19070 WO EK - INVESTIGATIN4G TH. FIr . Board of Fire Masters Take Testi mony and Make Recommendations. . -Full Report. The J)oard of fire masters, compos ed of Mr. H. B. Wells, chief; John W. Ear.hardt and Johin B. Mayes, as sistants; L. C. Pitts, president of the Excelsior Hose Company; and John B. Eigleberger, president of the Truck Cmpany of colored fire departmani of Newberry, held a meeting on Tues da.y afternoon to inquire into the causes and incidents connected with the recent fire at Newberry so that they might make report to the comp troller geneil, as required by law, and to the city council. The examin ation of witnesses was coiducted by Mr. F. H. Dominick, city attorney. Their report will be submitted to the city council along with the evidence taken at the heaving. . The Herald and News priin'ts in this connection a stenograjphie report of the tesptimony taken before the board of fire masters. While the report has not yet been written out, The Herald aid News undersands that 'the report will concur in the recommendation of the chamber of commerce'as to in creasing the area of the fire limits. It will also recomiienii( that a building inspector be appo.iaited and employed by the city to inspect all buildings tha-t may be erected hereafter and to see that the chimneys and flues -are properly protected so as to make them as nearly fire proof as possible The report will also re(iest the comi imissiolerlS or puldiie works to re quire the superinltenctr1t to go to the power house ininediately upon the alarm of fire being turned in and to remain there .so as to see that if pos sible the machinery is kept in good wvorkiing order and that an employee of the commi'sioners shall also go to the standpipe and remain there dur ing a fire. As to the causes of the failure of tle water supply during the recent fire at the ''critical moment,' the report reaches mo conclusion, but simply submits the testimony. It does the same as to the cause of the fire. The report also recomin;iids the purchase of -another power pumllip to be put in the second well, and also an air 'compressor. It is also recom mended tiat an aut'homatie self-regis tering pressurae gaue be procured for the superi'tieint's office, which will register the pressure at all .times, and which en he filed away so that the pressujlre anly -iveii date in the past may be ob-tained by reference to this register. i is also recommended that a piessire gauge be placed on the side of the valve at the stand Pipe ilext to the water main, so that the man at the standpipe can tell if the pressure is off from the pump. Testimony In Detail. Testimony taken before Board of Fire Ma,sters on Tuesday, Apr~il 9, 190'7, a t ' p. mi. Mr. 11. C. Williams, being duly sworni, says: Q. 1)o von owll the builig, *' WillIiamns, 'in which the firie st aited on Friday? A. Yes si. -Q. Aboit' wvhat time of day did the fire begin ?, A. T do not know exactly, but I should say about 11.:45 or 12 o'clock. Q. Where did the fire start? A. I was in the store, which I oc up)ied at t.hat time, and the building which the fire startedl. Q. When did you first see the fire.? A. I sawv it after the fire bell rang. Q. In what condition was the house that time? A. A small flame wvas going one or ofeet above the house. .Ana .the flames were inear the .Yes sir. The flames sceemed to near .the comb of the roof, is my ilection, but the flue was further ni. The flue wvas nearer the eaves the house than the comb, but I not positive where I sipv the fir e, her it was in Main street 0r 3d street. One of my sons came igh the store and saidl Ithe fiire was ringing. T was sitting at my Some one told me that my was on fire. Mr. Ray Watts said )la me, but T do not iemember vho it was, but I then went back in ,he house and started to go to my safe, but I went up stairs to see after ny family, and when I got up there, [ saw the fire. The building was 2 1-2 stories, and I went into the hall of lie upstairs to try to get some.of the things out of the house, then went back down stairs in the store to get ny papers, and when I went again ipstairs the flames were coming in to the second story. Q. What fire, if any, was in the louse at the time? A. I do not think we had had any Ire, to my knowledge, except in the kitchen. The kitchen waA on the second floor upstairs at the rear. Q. Do you use the bottom floor as i store room? A. Yes sir. Q. What, in your opinioin, caused Ihe house to catch on fire? A. It must have caught from the flue I suppose, I d.Inot know, but that is my supposition. When I had those flues built I cautioned the ma sons, who did the work, to use all precaution to have them sceure to ivoid fire, and I had the bricks laid the flat way four inches and told hem to plaster on the outside and on he inside, but whether they did that n the iiside I do not know, but I know that. they were plastered on the outside. I do not know how it 2ould have caught except from the flue. We were cooking with green pine, so there was nothing to make any special flame. Mr. H. B. Wells: What size were lhe flues Mr. Williams r A. Six itnch p)ipes. Mr. 11. 13. Wells: Tliey would have lo be a brick and a half or two brick? A. I do not know. They had a piece of tii arotund the hole, and we used six inch pip)es. Q. Were these flues below the ceil ing? A. Yes, sir-, so adjusted as to let thelm hang below the ceiling. My wife was upstairs at the time of the fire, and my little daughter and the other little child and the cook knew nothing of the fire intil the bell rang. Q. Was this a two and a half story luilding? A. I suppose that is what you would callI it. Q. What tlid you use the half story for? A. The boys used it for sleeping purposes. Q Did the flue g-o throuigh the rooms? A. No, sir, none of the flues went through the rooms. The flues went between the ceiling and tie caves of of tile roof. Mr. F. M. Boyd's Testimony. Mr. F. M. Boyd, being duly sworn, says: Q. What offeiial position do you occupy, Mr. Boyd? A. Superintendent of the water works. Q. In the fire that took place on the 29thI of March, Mr. Boyd, what was lie 'oniditionl of thle wvater pressuire at thlat time? A. WVell, just as thle fire hlell ra.ng 1 was niol. in thle ot'110e, I was in thle drug store, and I enn onIly state that I always k ept the stanludipel pract i eally full, and we hind nothing out of Itle usual to happen just p)reviouis to the fire to cause the st'andpipe to give out. Our rules are nlever, under any conditions, to let tile wvater get lower than fifteen feet from the' top, anld I kno1w from my personal know icedge that nothing had hiappenled that morning to hinder us from car rying out thlese rules. Q. At the time of the fire you were in the drug storeo? A. Yes, sir'. Q. What time did you get to the fire? A. Immnedhiately after the b)ell ranlg. Q. What was the condition (of the pressure at that time?' A. .Just at the maximum. Thle p~ressiure was just as good as it was possible~ to get from a full standpipe. Q. How long did thlat last? A. WVell, I was around there anld noticedl, of course, the streams play.. ingr. I could iint. tell how many <treams there were' onl hiand. Tile fire beingi~ in a big wvooden store we Slpplosed t hat they wanted all the pressure t he.v could get, and it was not nmore than tenl miniutes after T got there until I saw that it was out off, then I cut the pressure from ithe standpipe to the n6zzles. I then phon ed down to Mr. Eargle to force his pump, that, I had eut the standpipe off. 'To be certain about it, I notified him that I was going to cut the stand pipe off. I went to the stanldpipe my self and shut down (lie valves, and I know that tle pumIIIp was running when the valve was shut dow-tn, for I could feel the pressure of the pump. I ran around to the standpipe hurri edly and coming back I was not in amy special hurry, of course I did not take my time, but I did not hurry particularly, and I could see the s'reams and could see that they were having all the plresure that they could handle at that time. Q. How long did that last after you cut it off? A. It is a hard matter to say, but I should say that it took me possi bly three minutes, may be four, any way hardly five to walk from the standpipe down to the place and I walked jalong leisuirely, and I got baek there ten minutes possibly be fore there was the com'Plaint that there was no pressure, that the pres sure had gone down, and I happened to be at one of the hydrants at the time hat tle pressure went down inid I told them to open the hydrants well, and they said they were open. Some of them then tnied it and I caught hold of the handle and sure enough the , pressure had gone down, and I, of course, realized that something out of the usual had happened, so went :1-*oiund14 to plione to Mr. EmI!le and told him that we had (lie slandpipe ent oft'. T immediatoly ran into a little store nlear the Mower. Company andIi as I-eame out of file door I re marked that tle pump had broker. down, and two liell volunteered to go and open the standpipe. I saw Mr. Dunston and told him to go mith them as he happened along just at that time, so as they started on up to the standpipe and I ran to the power house and the pressure was out long enoui-oh for a man to run from the fire to the standpipe, don't know how long, but possibly fifteen minutes. Q. That was done just as soon as you discovered that the pump was otit. if fix? A. Yes, sir, and fortunately I found somebody right there. Q. After that you had ample pres sure? A. Yes, as much as the water in the standpipe could possibly give. Q. What. was the condition when you '_rt to the power house? A. MI'. MEargle and Mr. West were there. I was not at the power house when tle pump )ibroke down, but went down there and found Earvle and West. They were on tlie side of the puimp and had M:otten the pump ready to go aga-in. I -was not there more than two minutes before tihe pump was started again. Before the pump was started I looked up at the guage and 'the waler was w~ithin fif'teeid ('eel of t he too of (lie stand pipe ai that timhe. [ am po'sitiv'e of this. Q. WhiatI was the triouble wvit th le A. Now it is just thle hiardlest thling~ to sav eva'tly what was the matteir wvit.h it . There' wer noC pa(t s br'oken. "he pump did not conme to pieces, and as I said. T was not there when it sto)pped1. Mr'. Eargle can tell you ex aet:1y how the pumip acted and( I can= not tell you w~hat made it do it, and1 afteri the pump was started up then ,ve got a good pressure' and worked it up until the water w~as exhausted from the r'eservoir'. Q. What dift'erence, Mr'. Boyd, (does it make, -if anyv, to cut the stan-dpipe A. Yes, siir, it makes a lbig diftfe' ('n.ee. Thei pressure from thle stand >ipe wh'len it is full just hiere at this poiint is '70 pounds. and up there (lie force w~ould noit he quite as much, ad w.hen the sta ndpipe is cut off, it is poss5ile to run (lie lines up to 125 pounds(l. It makes quite a difference. Q. Wit (lhe standpipe on, what pressure would you have? - A. Tt makes a little greater pres sure (lhan with (lie stanudpipe( of". oi' of' courise t he meter' ' vies downa ther'e. and it var ies wvithI thle p'ilsa inof nt'hle piump. [t will make a lit tle dli fferecncc a t tlie nozzles, lmut not a great deal. It causes a back reurei ici dwin at (lie stat ioni, bu11t not a great deal of difference at the noz zles. Q. Have you in your offiec an auto mat-ic record of where the water stauds in tihe standpipe each day. A. No. sir, I have not. Q. lave you any rules for re<pliring you to be I the poweri house duriiig a fire? -A. Well, yes and no too. I hardly know just how to answer that, Cap tain. When Mr. Eargle is down there -4he is our chief engineer and is inl charge whien he is there-I do not feel that it is necessary for me to be there. I happened to be up town in this case, but knew that, Mr. Eargle was on d1uty, for lie comes in at 11 o'clock or a little before, and the fire broke out about 12 o'clock. I did not feel that it was necessary to go to the powler house. Q. You felt that you had compet ent men there anld there were no rules that required you to be at tle powelr house? A. No, sir, it was not necessary for me to be at the power houre. I would have "one. but did not, feel that it was necessary when Mr. Eargle was there. Mr. Eargle's Testimony. Mr. A. E. Earge, being~ duly sworn, says: Q. Mr. 1-jar-e, what position do you oceupy witli the commissioners of public works? A. Engineer at the city power house. Q. Were you in earge of the wat I' plant fin the day of this fire? A. Ye-. ir. ). Wh.1t w is t eh olndition of tle plant 11 1hat tine. standpipe, pumlip. ete? A. Well. 11 o'cloelk is Imv hour to .o to wirk. and I vork tiroug10h 12 'clock on SatiurdaV night, and that mornini I went to the Well to get a drink Id water and saw that the res ervoir was full. T only found five feet mut. As a riule we hardly evei put up five feet, but on Saturday miorningi' we put from four to five feet. Tn the meanitime I \vas stand ing in the front door of the power house and got an alarm, and the fire man answered the phone and said it was a fire in Mr. R. C. Williaiis' store. and lie put his hand on the whistle cord and T started for the pullp ald it worked all right anIII T knew that the staidpipe valve had been shutt off and I ran it up to 120 pmolds pressiure and it ran a11l riht utili all at. once it made aI lon-! stroke I'll 4,neV Side and tle appearance of it seem1ed that tle valve had brokenl in two. and the bolts that hold the screws to tle va,lves (tlie or tle other h1ad cme out, an11d tle piessiur-e kept droppiing: back luntil T had none and I hail to stop my pump and I was certain that that was the trouble. I examined it and found nothing that could cause it and I went to the oth er side aind Mr. West camne and we finished takin, it off ill a veiy shioit time11 P an placd it bac~k andl hy t hat Sinn Mr. lHoyd had got ten t here and hne -aid. '"lets tiy it aigain1.' and1 we d id, and1( myi .auge shuowed thai:t t here Q. hIow lonig wa:s liat pumlp stop1 AI canniot tell vou, hut abou(it fit teol Cinute1111 s I suppolise. It l oii inc any1 short. tImue to t2ike tlle plite ottf and examine Ithe valves. I was onll lie Ot her side whlen Mir. rYs Q. FTow long was2i it het wveen the ilmne t hat the pilup stopped and1( Mur. We-t got t.her'e? A. Not over teini minu1tes. Q. And duinlZ all1 that timle you had not not ified anybVodyV up town? A\. N,sir, F got sev'eral mIessnui.es fom,pope up fo wn, b ut. did not think1'; l;i;:had any t ime for' tha:t , but tlhouTh t t he best t tin tha t I could do was to get my pump right. Q. What was thle mattecr with the .\. I gave my pmp a :oodl eNaliin af.in and tiried to find( soimethiing and tounud one valve worn a lit tle and11 t'onnd an~otller' valv~e I ilit lil 2 ne mmin it. A flter 1 i:i ha taken the th a v ni tl i w oie 11 i tc e i a n d Iii fm n' ll t hm it was sol it all 1 rouinl. 01. Tas tIlint been ri'inired. i. ln I'o? Q. Did you ever have any trouble like this before? A. Yes, sir, some. Of course the pum1p was certainly drawing all the Water it could from the reservoir and I was so anxious for it. T wanted to give them the water after they called for it, and I was standing by the ma chine wVatching the iedle on the wall when the pressure went, down. In regard to packing the pump. I had just taken out the packing of one of the pistons to see what condition it was in and the packing I used would give good satisfact.ion for six months, and it would run tenl months, and on examining it I found it all right, and I don't see why it should give out. Q. What do you do to it to make it wor'k when you take off these pieces? A. leprime the pump. Q. What is repi'iming it.? A. It is refilling it. If the water leaks out, you have some trouble in stopping it. It was repriimed thenl and tried anl(d iii a couple of minutes the water began. I gave it a trial after I t hand lost the water and gave it. suffi cieiit time. It miight. not have rescat ed itself as it ought to until it was raise up several times by tlie pump. Mr. C. M. West's Testimony. Il r. C. Al. Wesl, being diul1Y sworn, t says: Q. What is your oceupation, lr. West ? A. Machinist at the cotton mill. Q. Did you go to the power house on the day of the fire? A. Yes, sir. Q. Why did yo go down there? A. I her thallt the preIsue hadil gotIiien weak. so I went down. Q. What eonldition did youl finld: thii.-s in whenl you got there? A. When I went inl I asked what lie trouble was. and whe n they said they cl t get water, I hlped them take the plate (,ff aiid1 examiin eId it and I'mind nothinl." thle matter,i so we put the plate back oin. We did not find anything the matter with it at all. Q. The pump started to work afte r you put. that plate bick on and re primed it 7 A. Yes, sir. Q. How was the stroke of the pump at that time? A. On the riiglht-hand side it. was all right. but on thlie litier side there was soleillin' wrow. Ir. Iloyd fin ally came anicd adjIlsted the stream valive and it sevilled to work all rigi It wa. i 1 i-n1i11g nli'ely wh "Ill left. Q. Mr. West haveln't V.I had ex periellee witi Ilat style pIulip? A. Ye-, sir. we have a c11111|1 (l iat slm. at Ille Illill. Q. Iid it ever give votl ally Irou ble of this kind? .A. Yes. sir, we have had sollie roku ble with it. Q. A ftler you ad,just it, it is all right ? A. Yes, sir. Q.Inyuopnn,dyothn lhat incip 'intlicieint to do Ihe work? e. o sir. I do nolt. Q,. Is -herie an cinuncip i nIc thei mar ket with V- l c v lye-. tha c ii s onc e?cii A. N, cir i in R). \ood piavnp no wvihcIcc-.a beeni itiilncci sIcre 60 Q. Yo sp k ofi noicinc'. the water'i pressiiur ine dlown, what Iilme did youii get there? A.A few mnc l ut es before 1 2 0o'iloek. Q. Did t hey seem to have any pres sure at that t icme? A. Yes, buiit toairlyx weak. Q. hlow long <did it take you toi get there? A. Abhout five miutes. Q. llocw longc. did it take to get the A. Mayc le we wile woirkinc'. oii it iabhouh Ie m'inutcaies. (.. Who ii'Ihey -I arte d there was not hin the.. malI e it i t~ i'~i ~i l.eept. the st ream valve hand tic bei adiljustied? 'I.llhat is a 11 conhc l se'e, f have niever hail anyt hing like I hat to hap pen withI kind cif pomp. WYe have two, one wi th a primninw valve tic guard a1ainilst t hat. Qi. I: t her a piiniie vilvye oin this. ill n 1 we t he mat cier withl the I do 1nct know. I could not een inything wrong with it. We took the -ide of the pump down and we could lot find anything wrong so we put t back and started up. 11). Mr. F. M. Boyd Recalled. Mr. I'. 13. Wells: Mr. lloyd, did "ou eVer examine the foot valve in our suetion pipe in the pumlp7? A. Yes, sir. Q. What style of valve is it? A. A valve about thirty inches (eross with four openings about eight nches possibly. The suction pipe is L ten or twelve inch pipe. Q. How far is that suction from he bottom of the cistern? A. Twenty-four inches. Q. You wollld have only twenty .Ourl inches of dead water in your 'eservoir? A. Yes, sir. Owing to the cleaning ip of this pump scales are sometimes neh thick and it is very possible to mtve washed sole of these seales into he pump. One of tlese scales very ikely got caught in the pump, and he reservoir has not. been cleaned mi since I have been here. Q. Those scales, will not bother 'our valves in the suetion pipe? A. No, sir. Q. TIeyt' wold( hohlil lp y sile ion valves ? A. Yes, sir. MI-. 11. it. Wells: Wiat is your lpilionl of' the pump. Is the pmpI)I able o do this wor1k? A. No, and I will give my reason. Phe part that works the stream vil -S is operalIed by what we eall spools ill the m inl pi61. rIods on" ( the sidles Iext I0 theP b1161h-r. The pmn V 1t i)W01h11 W run Ialon.- mild tho hi Woubd 11(ldenly snap 41lT, and wheln they wi.ea-k, tllere( is nothin-Xt4( todo btut hake t out anlid fix it. and plriiularly vhenl youl turn- thev one prIessiure in m1 the low plrestsrt side, which re Illilred. more il' l-ve 14 mllove this, anld it S likelY to happen at any time. And lie continual working o this lever, wVery stio'k it takes it fends to break I ill t wo, and of course every piece f maclilnery is likely to break. Q. Have yil a piece to replace that is S01 as it breaks? A. Yes. sir. Q. How longl wotld it take? A. Thrie or four hours. Q. In case a br'eak like t1111 wild h1appen d11141 we wollid depend fill the p. w \ woil o114t )e Safe? A. No, sir, 1Ihis Iminp is run during ihe day rmll six lo tell times at lmt inervals. and any siu:n of weak nlees il the pmpI)III wo i have i tenl dency to shiw. 1llut about these ae eidens. Thevy will happel sonm-tiiws it. Q. I)o you elep any If 1hos1 extra1 A. No, sir. MI. h. Wilur: Mr. Bioytl, I ander-slmud youl tn say 11ha0 yoll runil volr piinI 11111il you exIlalistod the walelr inl tIle cisieil. The vapavilv tof Q. \\'hiat arm'Vi y ou.-inig ini do af -oi n m 4''u il ep the lI t hi'.in h Mr. A. H. Monteith Testifies. worni'i, says: Q. Ini re(gard'l I to it' Ii rtssiilIe, M i'. 14058 at tlhat I he. A. Yes', I waIs at thle poiwer house IifI'teeni or twellt y miinuites afr 1 the 11 re sIirted. I drov DriV 1. Jamtes Mc luiiosh to t.he po)weir house5( and1t rlounid Mr'. Boydi mal other(is t hei'e. Q?. Th1ey' were' at4 wor'k on1 thle pumpi~i1 '(e arrivedl. W\e asked'4 whlat t'e i >re'sent , said( to lnwi that1 they <ny V ll own) ter was ill waiter' and14 fromii le stanipieui gauge4 it. shiowedl hIat I was withliin teen or fiflteen' feetL of weing Pull. W~e Itheni drIIo Io the itanidpipeRI. and4 Mi'. Hoy snV4 21id thie val '(' was1 widh' open. I dlid not4 'e.t out. .101 w( i' I,A\in1t'.hi 5 2'(Ii A ode,' In, '.-a, low 414) yOli Peel ini t he Ti. e w.ill prov'' the july -olnl (I ('uuni)Inml) f'or Nh .. (i(i..