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ORTH SHORE BREEZ 
Vol. V. No. 48 
MANCHESTER, MASS., SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1907. 
20 Pages 
Three Cents 
DESTRUCTIVE, FIRE. 
Beautiful new Summer Cottage Burned to the Ground at Manchester, 
Sunday. 
Manchester was visited by another 
destructive fire Sunday afternoon, when 
the beautiful new summer cottage being 
built by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Head for 
their son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and 
Mrs. Philip Stockton, was burned to the 
ground. 
The house had been in the progress 
of construction for the past six months 
and was to have been turned over to the 
owners the coming week. Mr. and 
Mrs. Stockton were to m ve into the 
cottage early the coming spring. 
The loss is estimated at about $40, 000, 
which was partly covered by the builders. 
Mr. Whitcomb, the builder, stated to 
the BREEZE man Tuesday that he had 
less than $25,000 insurance on the build- 
ing. 
The work of rebuilding the house 
was started yesterday morning. It will 
be rebuilt on practically the same plans 
as before. 
The fire originated in the basement of 
the house, and was supposd to have been 
caused by an overheated furnace’ or 
heater. The building was heated both 
by hot air and hot water, and from one 
of these sources it was supposed the fire 
originated. The young man attending 
the fires, an apprentice employed by the 
contractor, had attended the fires and 
was out to dinner. He says everything 
was alright when he left, and that he 
did not leave the drafts open. 
The statement of the young man has 
since been borne out in the fact that 
Monday when the ruins were gone over 
the furnaces were both found to be in 
precisely the condition he claims they 
were left and fires were still burning in 
them. It is further thought that the fire 
did not originate from this source, but 
that it might have been caused by spon- 
taneous combustion, there being a lot of 
painters’ cloths, oils, paint, etc., in the 
basement. 
The alarm was sounded at 1.01. 
The fire was first discovered by Mrs. F. 
M. Andrews, who saw an_ unusual 
Loss $40,000. 
amount of smoke rising from the hill on 
which the cottage was located, from her 
house at the pumping station plant, — al- 
most a mile away. Mr. Andrews tele- 
phoned to the Head house, fearing there 
might be a fire, and Mr. Head dis- 
patched James McKnight from his barn 
to the Stockton cottage. Mr. McKnight 
climbed the hill and to his astonishment 
found the basement of the new cottage 
a mass of flames. He quickly returned 
to the Head house and the alarm was 
telephoned to the station. 
‘The apparatus made quick time to the 
scene of the fire, the hose wagon cover- 
ing the distance in a little less than five 
minutes. It was a difficult task dragging 
the hose up over the hill, through the 
trees, to the house and it was fourteen 
minutes after the alarm sounded that the 
first stream was turned on. 
‘The steamer was a little late in arriv- 
ing. The force of the stream before 
the steamer was put into use was very 
small. The house being at such an al- 
titude was accountable for this. 
The fire must have had a big head- 
way before the alarm was sounded, for 
when the firemen arrived the house was 
in flames, and flames were beginning to 
burst through the roof. “The basement 
and that section of the house over the 
furnaces was a mass of flames. The 
task of saving the building was a _ hope- 
less one. The exterior of the house 
being of stucco, or slap-dash, the fire 
was kept within the walls, but everything 
inside proved prey to the flames. 
Frank L. Whitcomb of Boston was 
the contractor. Five of his workmen 
were still at work on the building and 
they lost their tools, the loss to them 
being an average of about $100 to $125 
each. Beck of Roxbury was the 
painter, and three of his men lost their 
working kit, as did also several plumbers, 
who hadn’t quite completed their work. 
Albert James was the only Manchester 
man who lost by the fire. He lost his 
kit of carpenters’ tools, valued at $100. 
CARD 
CATALOGUES 
He is not as fortunate as the Boston car- 
penters in this respect for they are bene- 
fited to the extent of $20 by a fund for 
that purpose. 
The high wind blowing at the time 
made the fire all the more difficult to 
fight. It seemed as though the whole 
town had turned out to the fire, and a 
number of people came over from Mag- 
nolia. 
Summer cottagers who are still on the 
shore, and others who were down forthe 
week-end were much in evidence, among 
those noticed being Mr. and Mrs. W. 
D. Denegre, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. 
and Mrs. Hopkinson, the Misses Curtis, 
James Curtis, T. D. Boardman, Regi- 
nald Boardman, N. S. Simpkins, jr., 
Wm. Hooper and others. 
During the afternoon, Mr. Head 
served sandwiches and hot coffee to the 
firemen, most of whom had not had 
dinner. It was past six o’clock when 
the “‘all out’’ sounded. 
The house was of a very attractive 
design, of Moorish style of architecture, 
two stories with wide projecting coping. 
It was reached from the main highway 
by a winding avenue. Stately pine trees 
surround the house making a very pretty 
and attractive setting for a summer 
cottage. Entrance to the house opened 
into a large court, rising from the first 
floor to the roof. The heavy skylight 
on top was cut off by lattice work of 
cypress. The floor of the court is of the 
beautiful trezzo effect, in the center of 
which is a cement fountain. The ceil- 
ing of the second floor is supported, 
around the court, by white columns. 
A hall runs around the court on both 
floors, from which doors lead to the 
rooms. 
‘The mason and marble work was by 
G. S. Sinnicks. In all probability the 
floor of the court, which was a feature 
of the house, was not injured, as the 
floor had a solid cement footing encased 
on iron. 
The hose wagon was called to the 
scene of the fire again Wednesday eve- 
ning to extinguish a small blaze origi- 
nating from the coal stored in the base- 
ment. 
