$100,000 Fire Sweeps Store of Antrim Co.

BLAZE WORST IN 18 MONTHS Fire swept the wholesale store of Antrim Hardware Company, 1514 and 1516 Federal street last night, damaged the stock to the extent of $100,000, injured several firemen, menaced homes and the plant of the Standard Oil Company opposite. It was the first three-alarm fire in Camden since January, 1937. One of the firemen, Ralph Bingaman, of Truck Company No. 1, was cut severely on the right hand and foot by falling glass and went to the Cooper Hospital. Another hoseman, Ray Smith, of headquarters, also was cut on the right hand but stuck to his fire fighting after his wounds were dressed. Huge choking billows of smoke that rolled over the fighters balked them several times in their efforts to check the fire, but they remained at their posts and finally subdued the blaze after a battle of several hours. Spread Rapidly Chief John H. Lennox declared the fire started midway on the first floor from some unknown cause and spread so rapidly before its discovery efforts of the firemen were greatly hindered. Louis Gold, proprietor of the Federal Automobile Company, which adjoins the Antrim place, discovered the blaze and sent in an alarm at 7 p. m. He then telephoned to Councilman E. Hulings Antrim, of Merchantville, treasurer of the concern, who raced to the fire, together with his mother, Mrs. Elwood Antrim, widow of the founder of the firm. Later B. Frank Antrim, president of the firm, arrived. The members of the family conferred and decided to reopen today their other store at Twenty-sixth and Federal streets, and to secure if possible an unoccupied floor of a chain store building to carry on the business. The stock, according to Antrim, was fully insured. The firm was created on December 1, 1889, and had made arrangements to celebrate its golden anniversary. Mrs. Antrim, mother of the treasurer, stated she had half the anniversary number ready for publication "but the first fire we ever had has ruined all that now." Smashes Windows When Gold, accompanied by his son, Marvin, discovered the fire, the latter smashed in two front windows on the first floor to permit the smoke to roll and and to prevent an explosion inside, he said. Meanwhile, Leroy Garrison, who lives at 50 South Twenty-fourth street, was driving past in his automobile. He saw smoke rolling upward from the first floor and ran to the rear of the structure and threw open the door to permit the smoke to roll free at the rear. Eight minutes after the first alarm was sounded Chief Lennox ordered a second, then a third at 7.33 p. m. Eight engines and two hook and ladder trucks responded and the fight began to keep the flames from spreading in the neighborhood. With the wind blowing north, the tanks of the oil company across the street seemed threatened, but the interior of the structure was bulked with two firewalls which held and gave the firemen a chance to get into action and beat down the flames. (Continued from Page One) Paint, chemicals and tar paper stored on the second floor made a dense, choking smoke that completely concelead the neighborhood and the hundreds of spectators that thronged the vicinity to watch the fire. Two tenants in nearby houses, Miss Agnes Mitchell and Mrs. Roy Dilks, 72, living in 1510 and 1508, respectively, were unaware of the fire right next door until the police sent them to safety. Miss Mitchell said she was in the shed in the rear of her home and the first she heard of the fire was when a policeman ordered her to get out. Refused to Leave Mrs. Dilks, alone in the house at the time, refused to leave. She told the police she didn't want to go, because the family had lived there but a month and her relatives were away. Finally she was urged to depart and did, finding refuge with Mrs. Albert Bowne, whose husband runs a printing shop a few doors below. When Councilman Antrim arrived on the scene he attempted to rescue records of the firm which he said could never be replaced. Five times he entered the smoking building and five times he was turned back by the firemen. Finally two firemen, Andrew Ballantine, who drives Chief Lennox, and Ladderman John Strauss, of Truck Company No. 4, forged their way through the dense smoke and retrieved the records. Antrim fixed his damages from smoke and water at $100,000 which he said was the amount of stock in the building. Mrs. Antrim, his mother, stood under an umbrella near the burning building, and refused to go back. "We'll open tomorrow," said the energetic woman, "and not let this bother us. This firm was created in 1889 when Hulings, my son, was four, and B. Frank Antrim, now president, and myself ran the businees and we're not going to let this get us down, you bet." Antrim said he was the last person to leave the building at 5 p. m., and everything appeared to be all right then. The burglar alarm with which the building is equipped did not sound, so Antrim says no one could have entered the building after he departed. Truck in Collision After Engine Company No. 10 was sent home the apparatus was sideswiped by a traveling sandwich wagon, owned and driven by Emido Martelli, of 1315 Thurman street, at Eleventh street and Newton avenue. Martelli's wife and 25-months-old son were aboard the wagon at the time but none was injured. Police took Martelli to City Hall where he was asked for a statement as to the accident. According to the persons on the scene, Martelli was driving on Eleventh street when the engine came along Newton avenue, with its siren open. The wagon driver did not seem to pay attention to the screams of the whistle and continued, the front of his car grazing the side of the apparatus. When Engine Company No. 9, at Twenty-first and Federal streets, the first engine to respond to the alarm, reached the hydrant the firemen found an automobile parked there, and locked. They had to push the car out of the way, in order to get a hose to the hydrant. Chief Lennox said the last time the department received a third alarm was when fire gutted the store of the McCrory Company at Broadway and Kaighn avenue.