Arrival of Fayetteville Firemen Saves Parkton, Nov. 17, 1924

Town of Parkton Has Destructive Fire in Business Section Early This Morning. . . Entire Town Was Threatened with Destruction. . . Town Saved by Fire Truck from Fayetteville. . . Firemen From 17 Miles Away Arrived 22 Minutes After Alarm Was Phoned—In Heart of Business Section—Several Firms and Individuals Sustained Losses

Fire at Parkton early this morning destroyed brick store buildings and damaged considerable merchandise. The entire town was threatened with destruction, considerable wind blowing at the time, and was saved only by the timely arrival of a fire truck from Fayetteville 22 minutes after Mayor J.Q. Parnell ‘phoned to the fire department there.

Mayor Parnell was a Lumberton visitor about noon today and gave The Robesonian an account of the fire.

When the fire was discovered about 7:30 it had gained considerable headway in Hutson Bros. store, where it originated from a flue or from trash, fire having started in the stove in the rear of the building earlier, and the store closed. The building occupied by Hutson Bros. and the Fancy Grocery was a two-story brick building owned by Campbell & Thompson. It was completely destroyed, also practically all the goods of the merchants who occupied it.

This building was in the center of the business district and adjoining buildings caught fire, but owing to the effective work of the Fayetteville fire-fighters and the aid rendered by the Coast Line railway in hauling water, the fire was not allowed to spread to other buildings.

It is 17 miles from Fayetteville to Parkton and as the truck arrived in 22 minutes after the alarm was turned in some quick work was done. A purse of $100 was made up in Parkton for the firemen.

Others suffering damage to merchandise from water and incident to rough handling were: A.H. Perry, H.C. McMillan, L.E. Hughes, Parkton Grocery, W.G. Britt, H.T. Furmage, Grantham drug store, C.A. Bodenhamer & Co., and two barber shops.

Mayor Parnell suffered a bad quarter of an hour in contemplation of 31 bales of cotton he had exposed on the cotton platform with only $1,000 insurance, but the fire did not damage them.

The total damage was about $15,000, about half covered by insurance, according to Mr. T.W. Thompson of Parkton, one of the owners of the building that was burned, who is a Lumberton visitor this afternoon.

From the front page of The Robesonian, Lumberton, N.C., Monday, November 17, 1924

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