The San Francisco Call

VOLUME LXXXI.-NO. 26. PRICE HVE CENTS.SAN FRANCISCO, SATURDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 26, 1896.

ANOTHER FIERCE FIRE ONA CHRISTMAS MORNING

Printers' Row Again Attacked by Flames and Men-aced for an Hour or More With Total

Destruction.

TWO ESTABLISHMENTSDESTROYED.

Francis, Valentine & Co. andthe Buswell Bindery Are

Gutted by Flames.

THE TEKRIBLE FALLOF FIRF--4 MANPETER M'CABE.

While Fighting the Fire He TcpplesFrom a High Cornice— Offers

to "The Call."

Printers' rowhad its second Christmasfire yesterday, and .by a strange coinci-dence the flames started in the same spotin an alleyway between buildings. Thewhole scene of three years ago whenPrinters' row was visited by tire on aChristmas day was .again enacted, thesame general alarm, The same fi:tit withflaming paper and woodwork, only there'was a sad accident yesterday, when PeterMcCabe, a fireman, slipped from the topcornice of a building on Commercial streetand fell to the sidewalk, thirty or fortyfeet below— probably fatal falL The Fire. Department and the Underwriters' FirePatrol did remarkably efficient work, withthe result that only the establishment ofFrancis, Valentine &Co. suffered to anyextent. \u25a0;\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0 i-:<j''k'

Shortly after the noon hoar two bells«nd then seven bells alarming the Citygave warning of the fire. The alarm waslooked for by many of the old-time print-ers and pressmen, and as 27 was. countedmore than one man exclaimed, "Thereshe goes again!" Then followed a generalrush to the scene of the tire, and in tenminutes the streets around were throngedwith spectators. jjgja 'i

A second alarm rp-en forced the firemenIalready busy with the flames, which, with

the rapidity of a flash, assumed propor-tions that threatened to spread through-out the hioefc. Great masses of blacksmoke rolled up from behind the buildingofFrancis, Valentine & Co. at 516 Com-mercial street, and ,even in the brieatlight of day tongues of tire could be seenleaping upward and cutting through the,angry cloud.

At firstsight it was hard to tell whencethe smoke and flames emanated

—whether

from The Call's publishing a.nd editorialdepartment building at 517-519 Clay street,or from the printing houses in the sameblock. The ;firemen, however, attackedtheir common enemy from front and rearand ina very short time were victors. *-\u25a0'

The second alarm came so quickly afterthe first one that .nearly all available ap-paratus was put inoperation at the sametime. Streams from several engines wereunited into half a dozen pipes, and thesecombined soon deluged the burningbuildingand quenched' the blazing massesof papers, machinery and woo' n parti-tions, though not until the bookbindingworks of the Buswell Booking and Mail-ing Company and Francis, Valentine &Co.'s establishment were almost totallydestroyed.

The fire was firstseen almost simultane-ously by nve or six men. H Cohn and

•W. F. Ferguson, employes of Francis,Valentine &Co., were at lunch in Smith'srestaurant, 517 Clay street, the rear win-dows of which look into the light wellcommand a view of Francis, Valentine &X)o.'fi pressrooms. Cohn and Fergusonsaw smoke in the alley and mentioned 11to Smith, and then while they v:ere speak-ing tbere came a burst of flame throughthe windows.

Ferguson ran out and gave the alarm.He encountered Thomas B. Valentine, hisemployer, who was frantically shouting ifire, and in the race were some composi-

• tors of The Call. They had all seen thefire break out like an explosion.

Presently the engines and fire appara-tus were upon the scene, and as the flj/neswere threatening relief was summoned.In ten minutes a gallant battle hadstarted. On Commercial street two "siam-es d" streams were plying rat either endof the printing house, doing excellentwork. Itwas the water-tower, however,

that finished the angry fare. This machine Iwas hauled up immediately in front of theburning building and let loose with sev-eral streams united in a perfect avalanche• through the top-story windows where the jlire was raging. Wherever the nozzle: of jthe tower pointed there was darkness, forit raked the combustible material withmighty force anddrove the fire to the wall. jAnd »\1 this was accomplished inhalf' anhour.1

' • . ,Meanwhile three double streams were car-

ried through The Call's composing roomsand turned into the rear of the blazing !structure, and kept persistently upon theupper floor and roof. Such a flood falling

•between the four fire-proof walls*actuallywashed everything downward and fromthe beginning had control of the fire in

every part of the large space affected.An hour or two after the first burst of

flame startled ail who saw it, the fire wasextinguished. All that remained was awreck of the newest and most completeprinting • house in San \u25a0Francisco, oftwisted and

-ruined machinery, charred

timbers and .publications. But an oddstraggler remained to view the ruin, the

fire engines were gone and a few gangs ofmen worked in and about the scene ofthe fire. .

The .Call escaped with a few brokenpanes of window glass iand some Christ-mas "pi." Charles A. Gage, day foreman

"of the composing rooms, saw the smokeand flames that surprised the men in therestaurant downstairs. He made a hastyinvestigation and saw the light-wellbelch-ing forth fire and smoke from the press-

room of Valentine &Co. The first thinghe did was to turn in an alarm from theauxiliary box inhis department, and withthe assistance ofseveral printers be closedthe iron shutters on the rear windows.This prompt action saved the composingdepartment, possibly the whole building,for the flames passed up against the ironshutters harmlessly.

In the editorial rooms on the upper floorRalph Schwab, the assistant librarian,was all alone in his glory, thinking ofmince pie and things, when the dreadedvisitor showed its head. Hs immediatelyclosed the iron shutters and went out tolook at the fi>e that could not get in at hispart of the house.

In the basement the fire patrol mencovered the {Treat presses and other ma-chines with water-proof sheets, and savedthe printing department of The Call.

There willbe some weekly papers miss-ing to-day. Quite a collection of them wasinBusweil's bindery, which occupied halfthe top floorof the burned building. Theywere there to be bound, but willnever ap-pear. This bindery had contracts with theNews-Letter, Breeder and Sportsman,Hispuno Americano, Illustrated Worldand other periodicals. Besides there wasa large assortment of boo&s, magaz nes,etc., in process of binding, and all of themwere destroyed. The machinery of thebindery was so badly burned and distortedit is thought that itis worthless now. Theloss to the bindery company was placed at$3000.

According to estimates of the under-writers Francis, Valentine & Co.'s losswas about $20,000. and on the building, asolid three-story brick structure owned bytne J. B. Thomas estate, $7500. Blake,MofStt &Towne's basement was invadedby water and the loss to paper storedthere was about $100.

The loss claimed in the fire of 1803 was$42,000, the insurance $22,000, by Francis,Valentine &Co., and The Call Bulletinloss was $900.

Thomas B. Valentine was inbin officewhen the fire broke out. "Since we hadthat fire three years ago Christmas day,1'

he said, "1 felt uneasy on this day. Iwent to the office this morning about 9o'clock and made an examination of thewhole building, peeped into every holeand corner o! the pressroom and throughthe two upper floors. Then Iwent intomy office and wrote some letters. WhilewritiugIheard the speaking-tube whistlefrom the pressroom below. The sound in-creased in intensity until it began tofrighten me and as it continued to growlouder Istarted to find out the cause ofthe noise. Iopened the door and foundthe room full of smoke and rushed outshouting 'Fire!'

"How this occurred is a mystery to me.I'mcertain that everything was allrightan hour before the fire. We have beenvery particular since the la3t fire. Wecleaned up and burned up everything inthe way of reluse paper and the like, andnothing of a combustible nature was leftin the building. I've no idea where itcame from. There is a furnace in the rearfor burning paper and such stuff as migUtbe dangerous.

"We have not carried enough insurance,but 1 believe the aggregate amount car-ried is about $20,000. Probably we arebetter covered than before. The last timethere was rebuilding nnd complete refit-ting, but now Ipresume the floors aresafe and the presses not all badly injurpd."

The Commercial Light and Power Com-pany, in the basement of the Francis Val-entine <ft Co. building, sustained heavylosses by water and heat. Much of the

main belting was ruined, and the dyna-mos and engines, although securely cov-ered by the rire-patrol men before thewater came down heavily, were supposedto have been more or less damaged. Thepatrol had a pump at work on the base-ment some time previous to the laststream's removal, and by that means firewaskeptupin one boiler. The superin-tendent stated that his company would beready this morning to supply the print-ing-houses with power as usual, and hisother patrons with light. He estimatedthe loss to the company at $2500.

As to the immediate cause of the fire nopositive information could be got, asnobody could venture a guess about itsorigin. But there was no doubt yesterdayabout the place where the lire originated.

Those who first saw it agreed that itstarted in the basement, and finding itsway into Valentine's pressroom leaped upthe elevator shaft direct to the top floor.

H. Cohn said he saw the flames comingfrom below in the rear of the restaurantFerguson corroborated this ntatement.He saw the fire as itburst from the cellarand through the back windows of Valen-tine's pressrooms. The Call printers tellthe same story.

Negligence on the part of somebody con-nected with the wrecked print shop is be-lieved to be responsible for the tire. Thisis the third extensive fire in the sameplace, and besides the Fire Departmenthas responded to various "still" alarmsfrom the unlucky spot.

Three weeks ago The Call's librarianextinguished an incipient blaze in the

bottom of the light-well and at 4 o'clockyesterday ;morning George I'Boynei*» super-intendent of,The Call's mailing depart- •

men quenched :a tire of rags used forcleaning^m^hinek These rags lay in i

h'eapsbeiide'Jthe cat'toftgd furnace lv tfa*alley* or light-shaft, where Valentine &.Co.'s men burned waste paper the day be-

fore. -. l̂>:.- .»..••;»'«'. V; • \u25a0-\u25a0..\u25a0;•'.'•-• \u25a0-•\u25a0>- '

Itwas in that particular place that thefire started yesterday.

Aremarkable incident of the fire wasFrank P. Lippett's experience. Mr. Lip-pett is a lawyer at Petaluma. Three yearsago he was on Montgomery street whenthe alarm sounded from box 27. Yester-day he stood within twenty feet of thesame spot when 27 rang out again. Hewent to the same corner at which ho stood

.three years ago watching the fire and sawthe same building burn down.

No less a coincidence was the presenceof Georee K. Fitch, the veteran editor, atyesterday's tire. Taree years ago, onChristmas day, he went to visit a «ickfriend at Berkeley, and on his return wasastonished to find the Bulletin composingand editorial rooms, now part of TheCall's quarters, badly damaeed by fireand the rear buildings entirely destroyed.He was at Berke ley again yesterday andwhen he came back printers' row wasagain ablaze, just as itwas three yearsbefore.

PETER McCABE'S FALL.

The Fireman Dropped Sixty FeetFrom the Roof of the Burning

Buildlnsr.Bhortly before the fire was placed under

control, Peter McCabe, a fiieman in

Engine Company 2, fell from tbe roof ofthe three- story building to the sidewalk, adistance of over thirty feet. The wonderis that his life was not crushed out of himthe minute he struck the sidewalk ;but belived, and tbe doctors at the ReceiviugHospital \u25a0tat.art annaa time after the poor

i

| fellow's arrival there that there was achance that he might recover.

Almost as remarkable was the fact thatnot a bone was broken. This may In ameasure be accounted for by tbe fact that

:"i'ab.» »{-t:»k on the top of a street l&Bn;<before tie landed in the street

At the time Commercial street was wellfilled with tire wagons and apparatus, andthe sidewalks were covered with peoplewatching the firemen at work on thestreet, ladders and roof.

McCabe was seen to step to tbe edge ofthe roof of the three-story building, and asecond later bis feet flew out from the cor-nice and his hands clutched wildlyat atelephone wire. He fell.

A cry of horror went up from thecrowbelow and many a strong man turne Iaside so as not to witness the frightfulfallA second later there was a loud crash ofglass as the bi^r street lamp was shatteredinto a thousand pieces, followed by thesound of the fireman's body as itstruckon the sidewalk and street, where itlayapparently lifeless.

A dozen firemen sprang forward, fol-lowed by many citizens who were anxiousto be ofservice.

Poor McCabe, who is a very large man,presented & most pitiful sight. Bloodstreamed from a dozen cuts on his headand face, ami his clothes were torn andcut to tattars. The word passed alongthat the fireman was dead. Neverthelessthe inanimate form was hastily placed ina hack and hurried off to the KeceivingHospital.

There, to the surprise of all, McCabeshowed signs of life.

A careful examination showed that noneof the man's bones were broken. This fact

is probably explained in this way: In fall-ing McCabe's body struck on the side oftbe lamp instead of directly upon it,andthe force of the fall was thus lessened.Had the body struck six inches farther tothe rightitwould have been impaled uponthe lamn-nosL

Where the Fire Started inFrancis &Valentine's Premises— JustAfter the Engines Arrived*

Scene on Commercial Street Where McCabe Was Injured.

The Fireman Who Was Injured at Yesterday's Fire.

DEATH OF CAPTAIN SWASEY,PATRIOT AND PIONEER

He Passed Away Unexpectedly From a Stroke ofHeart Disease, With Which Ailment He Had

Been Ten Years a Sufferer.

After his wounds were dressed McCabewas put in tbe -ward, and in an hour or sohe recovered consciousness and spoke afew words with friends at tbe bedside.•The doctors say that the extent of theman's injuries cannot be ascertained untilto-day. It is feared that he was injuredinternally. At any rate itwas a miracu-lous escape from death.

From Daniel McKenzie, foreman of en-gine 2, an account of how the accidenthappened was given. He said:

"McCabe and several cf our companywere on the roof, an^l we wanted one ofthe small lines of hose passed up the lad-der. Itoid Pete to go to tbe edge of theroof and lend a hand in passing up theline. When he stepped upon the cornicehis feet struck an electric light or tele-phone wire and tripped him up. His feetshot out and down the poor fellow wentIhope that be will live. He was one ofthe best firemen and he never shirked hisduty. Even in tbe big sulphur fires wehave had Pete would stay and fight firewhen all others would leave. He did notknow what it was to be afraid."

McCabe has been in the Fire Depart-ment abont two years. He was one of thenew men in29 when that company wasorganized. For the last year McCabe hasbeen with2on Bush street near Kearny.His only relative is a crippled brothernamed John, whom he supported.

McCabe was removed from the Receiv-ing Hospital to the German Hospital latein the afternoon by his fellow-firemen.He was conscious and appeared to be hold-ing up even better than was expected.

Flre Breaks Out Again.

At6 o'clock there was an explosion olgasoline or benzine in the rear of the Val-entine Company's pressroom. A largequantity of the dangerous material wasstored there for cleaning presses and type.Tbe explosion lighted up the whole placeand it seemed that a bigger fire wascoming, wben an alarm was given frombox 76

—that popular Christmas box. A

stream of water and three chemicalstreams extinguished the blaze in a lewminutes.

Courtesies to"

The Ca!l."The Chronicle, through Joseph B.Eliot,

and the Bulletin, througn Mr. Crothers,very generously offered their presses andoffices to The Call when a rumor wentout that The Call building had beenburned.

__^____^______

THE LATE CAPTAIN W. F. SWASEY.

"GOD BLESS THE GOVERNOR."

Gratitude of a Man Who Was PardonedAfter Being Wrongfully Imprisoned

for Sixteen Years.LEAVENWORTH, Kans., Dec. 25.—

Governor Morrillissued a pardon for W.J. Jackson, which was handed the latterthis morning.

"God bless the Governor," was all Jack-son could fay at first, but presently he ex-pressed a wish to rejoin his wife and chil-dren inTexas as soon as practicable. Ac-cordingly he was dressed in citizen'sclothes, shook hands with Warden Lynchand others in the Warden's office andwithout a backward glance walked out ofthe prison in which he was wrongfullyconfined for sixteen years. His earningsduring that time, which amounted to $193,were oven to him and he bought a ticketto Nockenat, Tex., where he willarrive fora family reunion Sunday.

Jackson was charged with a mardercommitted near Wellington, Kans., in1873,but was not convicted till1880. He wasa Texan, but herded cattle in Kansas.His was a death sentence, which in thisState, as is well known, amounts to lifeimprisonment He claims that J. J.Eikins, who died three years age, left aconfession of the murder, but that it wasnot in form to do tbe prisoner any good.

Jackson has a wife and tive children, theeldest of whom was 9 years old when lastseen by the father, and will, therefore, be25 at tbeir next meeting. The "baby"was 2 and is i.ow 18. Mrs. Jackson haseducated tbe children on the proceeds of a40-acre cotton plantation and has been un-remitting inher efforts to secure her hus-band's pardon, her belief inhis innocencebeinz stillunshaken.

A LIFE OF INCIDENTAND ACTIVITY.

Tbe Adventurous and HighlyRomantic Career of the

Deceased.

WAS ONCE CAPTURED BYINDIANS.

He Assisted at the Raising of theAmerican Flag at Monterey

by Commodore Sloat.

Captain William F. Swasey, one of themost noted of the older pioneers, a manfullof erudition concerning tbe argonautsof '49, died suddenly of heart disease atthe Hillsdale House, 33 Sixth street, lastnight

He had been a sufferer from heart diseasefor ten years and had lately been attendedby Dr. C. J. Patton, who informed himlast week that he had not long to live.The captain complained of pains in hischest late yesterday afternoon, and be-fore the landlord couid get a physicianthe old pioneer was dead.

The first persons on the scene were Drs.Patton and Krotosyner, both o! whom atonce pronounced tbe cause of death heartdisease. Tne Coroner's deputies investi-gated the case and at once conenrred intbe verdict and left the body at tbe hotel.

Officers eJf the Pioneer Society consultedMrs. Swasey and her sons without delayand proposed to take charge of the fu-neral. The Dody was removed to theCalifornia undertaking parlors and ar-

rangements for the luneral will be per-fected to-day.

Captain Swasey had an eventful career.Leaving his home in Maine when a youthof 16he started for tbe West. At Cincin-nati he met a family friend, who, evi-dently captivated by his independenceand pluck, furnished him with some capi-tal. With this, in the course of twomonths, he had established a flourishingbusiness in the provision line.

Next he formed a partnership and en-gaged in the fur business, having hisheadquarters in St. Liouis. Things weregoing on swimmingly when, through thedishonesty of his partner, tbe young furtrader found himself deprived of his sav-ings and almost destitute.

His next venture was to joina party oftrappers bound for Fort Laramie. Ar-rived there, he joined forces with aFrench-Canadian named Chaumie, andtogether they set out on a trapping expe-dition. They were captured by a band ofArapahoes, who tortured Chaumie andburned him at the stake.

The daughter of the chief fell in lovewith young Swasey and induced herfather to save bis life. The prisoner wasplaced in the front row and saw hit friendtortured and burned. When the fagotswere lighted at the feet of the unfortunatetrapper Swasey ran forward to save hisfriend, but the Indians held him back and

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