NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Essex County Club At Manchester Blanaement 
Fire This Morning Caused Total Destruction. 
Thrilling Escape of Caretakers. 
The Essex County club at Man- 
chester-by-the-Sea, the centre of so- 
cial life on the North Shore, the Mecca 
to which society wends its way from 
all points along the Shore, was totally 
destroyed this morning by fire. 
Nothing but the four chimneys remain 
standing. 
Aside from the loss of the large 
- building, with its contents, which 
was the most spectular fire even seen 
in Manchester, a tragic touch was 
narrowly averted, in that the four em- 
ployees living at the club escaped only 
by the merest margin. The house- 
keeper, Miss Mary McGill is on the 
“dangerous list” at the Beverly hos- 
pital as the result of falling from the 
roof as she was trying to make her 
escape from the building. 
The alarm. was sounded at 2.35. 
The “all out” was sounded about three 
hours later, after the entire structure 
was burnt to the ground. 
The cause of the fire is somewhat 
of a mystery. It is thought by some 
the fire might have originated from 
defective wiring. It seemed to have 
started in the very centre of the build- 
ing, in the room where one of the 
heaters was located. 
The four employees were almost 
“overcome with smoke when _ they 
awoke. They tried to get out by way 
of the stairs, but soon found this an 
impossibility. They then turned to 
the windows. Joseph McPhee, the 
head-waiter, thought of telephoning 
an alarm and with this in mind tried 
again to get down stairs, but he was 
driven back. He then climbed out a 
window and jumped down one story 
to the roof of a small ell. From there 
he slid. and jumped two more stories 
to the ground... The question was then 
how to.get at the telephone. All the 
doors were locked. He was scantily 
clad, in his bare feet, but in some man- 
ner he broke into the building and 
telephoned an alarm. He was just in 
time for as he was still talking the 
wires were burned off and the tele- 
phone was out of commission. 
Meanwhile James McElvoy, the 
chef, was assisting Miss McGill, the 
housekeeper, to reach the ground. It 
was planned to form a rope of bed 
sheets and lower her to the ground 
where McPhee was to assist her, but 
she apparently became dazed and 
either fell or jumped. She fell on the 
little piazza, in the rear of the build- 
ing, enclosed by lattice work and en- 
tirely shut jy. The smoke was pour- 
ing out the windows and the flames 
were only a few feet away.. McPhee, 
who was on the ground saw the pre- 
dicament and hastily procured a base- 
ball bat and smashed an_ entrance 
through the lattice work. He found 
Miss McGill in terrible pain all in a 
heap. McElvoy and Patrick Sheehan, 
who helps in the kitchen, were soon 
on hand and the three carried the suf- 
fering woman to the stable. She was 
attended by Dr. G. W. Blaisdell, who 
said no bones were broken. She was 
taken in the ambulance to the Beverly 
General hospital. Sheehan in jump- 
ing from the roof severely cut one of 
his hands. It was said two of the 
fingers were broken. 
Meanwhile, the Manchester fire de- 
partment was promptly on hand and 
streams were turned’ on the building, 
then a mass of flames. The fire seem- 
ed to gain rapid headway, and the 
heavens were lighted up for miles 
around. It seemed that the whole 
town was out. The firemen put up a 
good fight ,but their efforts amounted 
to nothing in he face of the headway 
made by the flames. A few chairs 
and tables were brought out of the 
building, but practically nothing of 
consequence was saved. 
Fortunately, there was no wind and 
the large embers were not carried far. 
enough to set fire to other buildings. 
The building was a total loss. It is 
estimated the loss is $65,000,—$s0,- 
000 on the building and $15,000 on 
contents. It is difficult to estimate the 
value of the contents ouside the fur- 
nishings. In nearly all of the hun- 
dred or more lockers were articles 
of clothing, golf sticks, and the like. 
Nothing was saved. ‘The manager, 
Mr. Doucette was able to get out the 
club books and the small safe in the 
office. 
Insurance was carried through the 
office of O’Brion and Russell of Wa- 
ter street, Boston. 
It is not known what will be done 
toward rebuilding. In all probability 
some temporary structure will be put 
up for the summer, and the club 
house will be rebuilt during the com- 
ing fall and winter. For some time 
there has been plans on foot to remod- 
el the club considerably, and it is safe 
to conjecture that now a club house 
will be built that will surpass any- 
thing of its kind on this side of the 
water. ‘The club is one of the most 
ponular clubs in New England and 
the golf. grounds are now considered 
Only The Chimneys Left Standing. 
Housekeeper Severely Injured. 
among the best in the country.. 
For the last two or three years the 
club has been kept open all winter 
and many people have availed them- 
selves of the opportunity to spend a 
few days on the Shore in winter mak- 
ing the club their headquarters. 
Much comment is being heard to- 
day of the manner in which the in- 
jured Miss McGill was sent to the 
hospital. She was sent alone, with 
the execption of the driver and Officer 
Bullock. The law is very specific on 
this point. Whether it is necessary 
or not, a woman MUST accompany 
a woman patient in an ambulance. 
Whoever is in authority in this mat- 
ter should be censured for allowing 
the poor woman to be sent on a seven- 
mile trip to Beverly unaccompanied. 
Several members of the local First 
Aid Class of the Red Cross Society 
has an opportunity to put their train- 
ing into practical operation last night. - 
Though the “first aid” was rendered 
Miss McGill by Dr. Blaisdell, Mrs. 
John Baker (whose late husband was 
formerly supt. of the Essex County 
club grounds), Mrs. Alexander Rob- 
_ ertson and Miss Grace McGregor, ad- 
ministered aid to the suffering woman 
while the ambulance was being called. 
The ambulance made quick time to 
Beverly, in charge of Driver Thomas 
Carroll. The distance was covered 
in less than 30 minutes. 
The fire department may be blamed 
for not having more than four streams 
on the fire, but in our opinion these 
four streams did as effective work-as 
fifty streams. The whole building 
was a roaring mass of livid flames in 
less than ten minutes after the alarm 
was given. Nothing could stop the 
fire. The building was of wood, and 
stood alone in the open,—the best of 
conditions for a big fire. 
CLASSIFIED ADS. 
It is not too early to begin looking 
for summer business. Many peo- 
ple look to the Breeze every 
spring for suggestions as to where 
they can obtain Rooms for the 
summer. If you have a room to 
let it is not too early to begin 
advertising it NOW. It costs 2c 
a word the first week and Ic a 
week thereafter. 
