The main barn of the Foreman Stock Farms, about 7 miles from this city on the Foreman-Bundy Road, was totally destroyed by fire early last night. A nearby water tank and silo were damaged also. The farms are owned by the Foreman family here, with J. Wesley Foreman in active charge.
The fire broke out just as the stock was being drive in from the pastures. If it had occurred 10 minutes later, after the animals had been housed, it is believed that most of the 250 cattle and 100 sheep it housed would have been lost also.
The origin of the fire was undetermined today.
The Elizabeth City fire department was notified promptly after the fire broke out, and one truck left hastily to render whatever aid was possible. A short distance from the farm, however, it stalled at a point where the road was being widened and never reached the fire, despite strenuous efforts on the part of firemen and volunteer assistants to pull it out of the mud.
Discussing the fire today, J. Wesley Foreman stated the loss probably would exceed $10,000, and that it was partially covered by insurance. He said that the origin of the fire had not been determined, and that he had not even an idea what caused it.
In contradicting an earlier report that corn huskers were at work in the building, and that it was believed that the fire might have been caused by a spark dropped from a cigarette, Mr. Foreman stated that no corn husking was going on at the time, though workmen were “blowing” cornstalks in the barn late in the afternoon. He explained that he did not in any way attribute the fire to possible carelessness on their part.
The loss was confined principally to the building alone, according to Mr. Foreman, there being little feed stored in it.
From the front page of The Daily Advance, Elizabeth City, N.C., Saturday evening, April 24, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92074042/1926-04-24/ed-1/seq-1/
No comments:
Post a Comment