Mt Airy, Maryland Fire

March 25, 1914

ONE-THIRD OF MT. AIRY IN ASHES AS THE RESULT OF AN $86,000 FIRE

Great Conflagration Sweeps Business District Leveling Whole Block Inside of Thirty Minutes

CITIZENS STAND HELPLESS FOR LACK OF WATER SUPPLY

Entire Fire Fought By Frederick Men – Water Is Brought In Tank Cars From Junction – City is Distracted Over the Catastrophe – Only a Black Hollow Remains of Former New Buildings – Little Talk of Rebuilding.

One-third of Mt. Airy is a mass of smoking ruins this morning. Valuable business property and stock valued at over $85,500 was destroyed yesterday by a fire which started in the Farmers’ Grain and Milling Company at a quarter to twelve yesterday morning and within half an hour was eating up an entire block of buildings.

The flames spread with incredible rapidity, and Mt. Airy citizens were forced to stand helplessly and watch the devastation. There was absolutely no available water with which to quench the flames. One man, when the first puff of flame was discovered, grabbed a bucket of water and threw it desperately at the fire. When that was gone, all was gone.

From the Farmers’ Grain and Milling Company, the flames jumped to the lumber and coal yard of E. M. Molesworth, and in a few minutes had leveled that building to the ground. Mr. Molesworth’s business with all its stock and fixtures had just been bought by the Peoples’ Lumber and Supply Company, and stock had been taken only day before yesterday. The loss of this concern, in actual computed figures, amounts to $14,688.

Only One Dwelling Burned.

The only dwelling house that fell prey to the flames was that occupied by W. W. Baker, his wife, and six children, and owned by the Peoples’ Lumber and Supply Company. Nothing was left standing of that but the stone foundation and the chimney. The Baker home was exactly one block away from the Farmers’ Grain and Milling Company. It was a mass of flames within twenty minutes after the first discovery of the fire. The Baker family saved nothing but a few blankets, some small articles of clothing and a couple of clocks. Everything else was destroyed.

Ice Plant Burned.

Runkles’ & Wagner’s ice plant was completely destroyed. Mr. Runkles places the loss at $15,000. About 800 tons of ice were store in the plant. The loss of this establishment is more keenly felt by the people of Mt. Airy than any other.

Watkins & Banks’ grocery and general merchandise store was completely destroyed, and the loss is placed by the proprietors at about $15,000.

R. L. Runkles’ hardware store and the warehouse adjoining it were burned to the ground. The loss is estimated at $10,000.

National Bank Destroyed.

The First National Bank, a two-story brick structure, was completely gutted and nothing was left standing but the cement vault and the outside walls. All deposits, securities and office paraphernalia were removed before the fire reached the bank.
Skeggs’ grocery store was burned to the ground. The loss was $3,000.

A quarter o fa [sic] mile away from the ice plant, which was the furthest from the origin of the fire, a cluster of barns, a garage, henhouses and pigeon houses, belonging to Arnold Fleming, caught fire from flying sparks, and converted them into heaps of ashes. Mr. Fleming’s house, within fifty feet of the destroyed outbuildings, although it caught fire several times. Mr. Fleming was unhurt. A number of horses and an automobile in the garage, were removed before the buildings were destroyed.

Wind Saved Dwelling.

Mt. Airy people are thankful that the wind was blowing strongly from the east. If it had shifted, at least half the town would have been wiped out. Business houses and stores directly across the street, were charred by the flames for the most part were blown toward the east.

Tons of Coal Burning.

In the deep hollow, beside the railroad track, where before was a cluster of almost new buildings, is now a mass of smouldering [sic] piles of charred lumber and blazing coal. The coal will probably burn for days before it is consumed. Huge streams of water were thrown on it, but this only made it burn fiercer. About 500 tons of soft and hard coal belonging to the People’s Lumber and Supply Company, will be totally lost.

Water Would Have Saved It.

If Mt. Airy had had an available water supply the whole catastrophe would have been averted. Not one drop of water could be secured until tank cars of the Baltimore and Ohio brought it from a watering station at Mt. Airy Junction, over a quarter of a mile away. Into these cars the end of the hose was thrust and the Independent engine on a platform car alongside pumped the water onto the fire. When the car emptied, it returned and in the meantime the flames gained new headway. Thus all the work of the firemen was undone almost as soon as it was finished.

Postmaster Discovered Fire.

Robert Runkles, postmaster of Mt. Airy, discovered the fire as he passed the Farmers’ Grain and Milling Company shortly before 12 o’clock yesterday. He was a puff flame shoot from the roof of the building, and immediately shouted, “Fire!”
An employe [sic] of the company darted from the building with a bucket of water, rushed up the bank and dashed it on the roof, but instead of quenching the flame, it seemed to increase it. Within a few seconds, the entire roof was ablaze, and smoke and sparks were being hurled back into the whole block. Nearly all the buildings were built of wood, and they burned like tinder.

Frederick Firemen Called.

A hurry call was sent to Frederick and the Independent and United Fire Companies responded without delay. The United automobile engine started on the eighteen mile trip, under its own power, and arrived on the scene twenty minutes before the Independent company’s engine, which had to be loaded on a truck and go to the fire over the Baltimore and Ohio railroad.

Both fire companies were too late to do anything but keep the flames from spreading. Gangs of firemen drgged [sic] the hose from one part of the devastated section to another, flooding everything within reach with water. It was impossible for them to get to the center of the block, for the hollow was blocked up on all sides with masses of hot tin and piles of cracking coal.

Hills Covered With Furniture.

On the hills back of the town were groups of women and children and piles of bedclothing, [sic] beds, chairs, bureaus, clocks and household furniture, which had been taken from nearby homes and trundled up the hill in wheelbarrows. Not a dwelling in the town except that occupied by W. W. Baker was touched by the fire.
Mr. Baker’s house caught fire in the rear, directly next to the sleeping apartments of the family. Had the fire been at night, Mr. Baker believes the family would have been in serious danger. There are six children, ranging in age from four to ten years. All were at school when the fire broke out, and no one was home but Mrs. Baker.

Saved Records First.

Mr. Baker’s first thought was for his books. He is manager of the Farmers’ Grain and Milling Company. When the cry of “Fire” was sounded he rushed for his office, grabbed up everything in reach and darted for the street. He had to make several trips back and forth before all his records and books were safe. In the meantime, his home had caught fire and was burning beyond hope of being saved. Mrs. Baker picked up a few trinkets and articles of clothing and ran from the house before the flames had begun to eat into the interior. All the Baker household goods were destroyed. What little was left was packed into a wagon and hauled up the hill to Arnold Fleming’s residence, where the Bakers will stay until other arrangements can be made.

Depot in Danger.

For a time it was feared the B. and O. Railroad station directly across the street from the Farmers’ Grain and Milling building would be consumed, but the wind blew the flames the other way. The B. and O. trainmen kept four engines close to the station throwing water upon it.

Mt. Airy people are much distracted to make any intelligent plans for rebuilding the devastated section. Mr. Runkles, of Runkles & Wagner owners of the destroyed ice plant stated yesterday that he did not contemplate rebuilding. His loss of $15,000 is only partly covered by insurance.

C. & P. TELEPHONE CO. SUFFERS

The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company suffered heavy losses in yesterday’s conflagration. Over 150 feet of cable was completely ruined, and one head of cable was destroyed.

More than a dozen telephones were burned, and 12 or 15 telephone poles, consumed b ythe [sic] flames. About eight of these pole shave been replaced. It was stated last night at the company’s offices that if the heated walls and ruins cool off, all telephone apparatus will be in good working order today.

A crew of 25 men arrived at the stricken town shortly before three o’clock yesterday and spent the whole afternoon repairing the damage.

The Frederick Post, Frederick, MD 26 Mar 1914

LIST OF BURNED BUILDINGS AND THE ESTIMATED DAMAGE

Farmers’ Grain and Milling Company $15,000
E. M. Molesworth Coal and Lumber Yard, lately purchased by Peoples’ Lumber and Supply Company, deed not yet delivered $11,688
Residence occupied by W. W. Baker, owned by Peoples’ Lumber and Supply Company $2,500
Ice Plant, owned by Runkles & Wegner $15,000
Watkins & Banks, groceries and general merchandise $15,000
E. L. Runkles’ hardware store and warehouse $10,000
C. L. Skeggs’ grocery store $3,000
First National Bank Building $8,000
Barns and outbuildings belonging to Arnold Fleming $2,000
Household goods belonging to W. W. Baker, manager of the Farmers’ Grain and Mill Company $1,000

TOTAL ESTIMATED DAMAGE $86,188
Less than half of this is covered by insurance, it is said.

The Frederick Post, Frederick, MD 26 Mar 1914

Fanned by a stiff breeze from the southwest, a fire which started in the boiler-room of the Farmers' Milling and Grain Co., shortly before noon Tuesday practically wiped out the business district, and for a long time threatened to spread to the residential section of Mt. Airy, one of Carroll County's most thriving towns. Ten buildings, including the First National Bank of Mount Airy, two mills and a large ice plant, were destroyed. Several other buildings nearby were partly burned. The damage will reach $100,000, partly covered by insurance. The origin of the blaze is a mystery.

The buildings destroyed, were:
Farmers' Milling and Grain Company.
Storage warehouse
E. M. Molesworth, lumber and coal yard.
Watkins & Banks, general merchandise.
Robert L. Runkle hardware and cutlery.
C. L. Skagg, green grocery
Home of William W. Baker, president of the milling concern.
First National Bank of Mt. Airy.
Runkle & Wagner, ice plant.
Several outbuildings on the place of C. Arnold Fleming quarter of a mile away.

The buildings partly destroyed were:
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad station, side facing mill charred.
Mount Airy Lumber and Grain Company, office burned.
E. M. Molesworth & Sons, furniture dealers, front and cornice damaged.
Office of the Piedmont-Mount Airy Company, roof and side burned.

The offices of Dr. W. D. Hopkins, dentist; E. M. Molesworth and the home of William O. Banks, were in the buildings destroyed. Persons living within two city blocks from the blaze, fearing that the flames would spread, moved the majority of their household furniture of their homes. In fighting the flames at the Mount Airy-Piedmont Company, Norman Woods, a salesman, was slightly burned about the face and right hand.

It was a few minutes before noon when Robert Runkles, proprietor of a hardware store but a few houses away from the mill, walked out of his store and, glancing towards the milling concern, noticed flames licking their way through the roof directly over the boiler-room.

None of the men employed in the place had as yet discovered the fire. Hurrying to the plant, Mr. Runkles notified George Davis, engineer and fireman, of the blaze.

Davis sounded the alarm and in a few minutes the half dozen or more men employed in the mill had formed a bucket brigade and began to fight the flames, but their efforts to check it were unavailing. In less than ten minutes after the fire was discovered the entire mill, which is of frame construction, was a seething furnace.

Carried by the stiff breeze, the fire jumped across a two-foot opening between the mill proper and the storage plant and in a short time this building was also ablaze. Mount Airy has no water lines for fire fighting and the only water available was that carried from a nearby pond in buckets.

In the storehouse was thousands of bushels of wheat and corn and these helped to fed the flames and make the fire burn more briskly.

The flames were carried across the railroad tracks, setting fire to the side of the railroad station, directly opposite the mill, but by heroic effort the station was saved from destruction.

When it was seen that the fire was getting beyond control Mayor Frank J. Leatherwood telephoned to Frederick, the nearest place for assistance. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad also rushed two of its largest engines to the scene.

The B. & O. had a watering tank about three miles down the road from Mt. Airy, known as Tank No. 4. Both engines were kept running to and from this tank, filling their tenders, which have a capacity of 5,000 gallons.

As the engines returned from the tank a line of hose was run from the Frederick engine into the large water tenders and in this way the fire was fought. For three hours the Baltimore and Ohio engines were kept going up and down the tracks.

Officials of the First National Bank of Mount Airy, of which Milton G. Urner, is president, realized that the building was doomed. They at once set to work removing the valuable papers and money, which had been stored in the large vault and by the time the flames reached this building everything that could be removed had been carried to places of safety far up on the hillside.

The flames had also leaped across the roadway and set fire to the office of the Mt. Airy Grain and Lumber Company, and in a few minutes this frame structure, which was one-story high, went down to the ground.

Sparks set fire to the home of W. W. Baker, almost a quarter of a mile distant, and also the outbuildings of C. Arnold Fleming Plumbing Company, about the same distance away. All these buildings which were of frame construction, fell easy prey to the flames.

Just at a time when it appeared as if the residential section was doomed a sudden shift in the wind carried the flames to the buildings of the B. M. Molesworth lumber and coal yard and the plant of the Wagner & Runkles Ice Company, to the westward of the Farmers' Milling and Grain Company.

In two large sheds in the lumber place was stored many thousands of feet of dried lumber and they went up fast. Up to this time these buildings had practically escaped the fire and it was thought they would be saved. But when the fire struck them it was but the work of a few minutes. They, with all their contents, were nothing but a charred and smoldering mass.

The beautiful residence of Miss Belle Runkle was the only large dwelling damaged. The house is directly across from the First National Bank, which was destroyed. Miss Runkle conducts a large millinery establishment on the first floor of the residence. An apartment in the house is occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clary. All the effects from the shop and the house were carried to the nearby lawns.

According to Mayor Frank J. Leatherwood, a movement will be started immediately by the merchants and business men of the town to have the burned buildings rebuilt at once.

TOWN NEEDS A WATER SUPPLY

Mt. Airy is becoming heartily sick of having a fire come along every once in a while and burn up thousands of dollars of good, hard-earned money, simply because there isn’t enough water laying around to put it out.

A strange coincidence about yesterday’s catastrophe was the fact that early in the morning two delegations left the town, for Annapolis, one to urge the passage of a bill giving the town electric light and power, and the other delegation to oppose the passage of that bill.

The same delegations have been fighting each other for years on the question of water power for fire-fighting. The contingent that doesn’t want electric light and power doesn’t want the town to have adequate protection. The other and progressive delegation wants everything that will make for a more progressive Mt. Airy – electricity, power, water and anything.

Mt. Airy citizens yesterday pointed to the black, smouldering [sic] hole, several acres square, as the fruits of years of petty squabbling over town improvements.

UNITED ENGINE UNFORTUNATE

The United Fire Company’s automobile engine was the first to the fire, but the last to come back. On the way over, it sped at a rate of forty miles an hour, leaping depressions in the road, and at times with all four wheels off the ground. So great was its speed and so severe the jolts as it jumped across the eighteen miles between Frederick and Mt. Airy that a chemical tank, weighing at least twenty-five pounds, fastened to the rear of the machine was thrown clear into the air and landed on the road with its handles bent out of shape.

But coming back – ah, coming back. The engine sped past farmhouses and fields, red in the brilliant sunset and the brave fire laddies, grimy with dust and tired with the fire struggle, waved to the pretty country girls as they whizzed along.

And then, just beyond Bartholows, a horrible knocking noise proceeded from beneath the hood of the engine, and the driver got down to examine. Some sort of casing or box, which only men who are rich enough to afford autos knows about, had been completely worn away. There was nothing for the “boys” to do but clamber down and rest themselves on the bank while two or three hours were consumed in repairing the damage.

PATHETIC SIDE TO BIG FIRE

There was more than one pathetic side to the destruction of $86,000 worth of Mt. Airy property.

But one that stood out above most of the others, was the brave happy spirit of Mrs. W. W. Baker, wife of the manager of the Farmers’ Grain and Milling Company. The Baker family, consisting of father, mother and six children, from four to ten years old, were completely burned out.

A wagon pulled by a tired-looking horse, dragged slowly up the hill back of the town toward Arnold Fleming’s residence. In it was a woman, her face rather drawn, and her eyes tired with worry. When the top was reached, she jumped down, went to the back of the wagon and started pulling out a pile of blankets, sheets and pieces of clothing.

“That’s all we’ve got left,” said Mrs. Baker, pointing to the little tangled heap on the ground.

“But isn’t it lucky,” she added eagerly, “that it didn’t happen at night. We all sleep in the part of the house that caught fire first and we surely would have been burned up if it had not happened in the daytime.

“We haven’t lost much,” continued Mrs. Baker, “that is, compared with what some have lost. Of course, it’s quite a good deal for us.”

But she never stopped smiling.

The Frederick Post, Frederick, MD 26 Mar 1914

GREATER MT. AIRY TO RISE FROM RUINS

Building Operations Will Follow Insurance Adjustments.

BUSINESS BLOCK NOW DEBRIS

A Smouldering [sic] Mass of Black Ruins Today Where Business Property Stood Yesterday – Meeting Tonight For Water System.

This morning all that section of Mt. Airy to the west of Main street, and north of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, one square wide, and two squares long is a black mass of smouldering [sic] ruins, a grim reminder of yesterday’s destructive fire which laid in ruins from $80,000 to $85,000 worth of business property on the town in less than two hours.

A list of property destroyed and of the amount of insurance carried in each case follow:

Losses and Insurance.
Farmers’ Milling and Grain Company, damage to building and stock, $15,000, insurance, $10,000.
Watkins & Banks, general store, damage, $15,000, insurance, $9,000.
First National Bank, damage, $15,000, insurance, $8,000.
E. M. Molesworth lumber and coal, damage about $15,000; insurance about $7,000.
Runkles and Wagner, ice plant, damage, $15,000; insurance about $8,000.
W. W. Baker, dwelling, damage about $2,500; no insurance.
H. L. Runkles, hardware store damage about $5,000; insurance about $3,000.
Arnold Fleming, barn and outbuildings, damage about $2,500, covered by insurance.
C. L. Skeggs, general store, damage, $1,500; insurance, about $1,000.
The buildings partly destroyed were:
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad station, side facing mill charred.
Mount Airy Lumber and Grain Company, office burned.
E. M. Molesworth & Sons, furniture dealers, front and cornice damaged.
Office of the Piedmont Mount Airy Company, roof and side burned.

The offices of Dr. W. D. Hopkins, dentist; E. M. Molesworth and the home of William O. Banks were in the buildings destroyed. Persons living within two city blocks from the blaze, fearing that the flames would spread, moved the majority of their household furniture out of their homes.

Bank Re-Opens Today.

The First National Bank of Mt. Airy, of which, Hon. Milton G. Uraer, of Frederick, is the president and which was burned out yesterday, re-opened for business this morning, occupying a portion of the furniture store of E. M. Molesworth & Sons. Yesterday, when it was seen that the bank building was doomed, Cashier J. L. Burdette and Vice President A. W. Hall and others removed all valuables from the bank, money, etc., and locked the same and vault containing other important records.

Last evening Messrs. Uraer, the president of the bank, Mr. Hall and Mr. Burdette came to Frederick by automobile, carrying with them about $40,000 in money. This money was placed in the vaults of the Citizens’ National Bank, this city, and barring what will be needed for the actual transaction of business, will be held there until the bank can again reopen in its own building.

President Uraer, from Mt. Airy, this morning stated that the bank is today doing business and ready to cash all checks against it. He stated by this afternoon the bank will have counters, etc. in the Molesworth store.

“We will open the safe just as soon as it has become thoroughly cool.” Said Mr. Uraer, “and we will begin rebuilding just as soon as we can get to work I do not know whether the walls of the bank will have to be thrown down or not, but I do say that within a few weeks the First National Bank will again be ready to open for business in its own building upon the old site, and that the whole will be bigger and better than before the fire.”

The News, Frederick, MD 26 Mar 1914

Articles transcribed by Jenni Lanham.  Thank you, Jenni!

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