A spectacular blaze which burst through the roof with a roar and enveloped the entire building before it was discovered at 3 o’clock this morning destroyed the Liberty Warehouse on North William street and all its contents.
The building, said to have been the property of the defunct Tobacco Growers Co-operative Association, was estimated by Fire Chief Leslie Yelverton to have been valued at approximately $25,000. The amount of tobacco in the warehouse could not be learned as C.O. Watts, the proprietor, could not be located. Information as to insurance could not be obtained at the time of this writing.
Watts came to Goldsboro from Danville to operate the house here on the opening of the market on September 7.
A citizen going home in the early morning is reported to have discovered the fire, and not being familiar with the location of the fire alarm boxes, to have raced all the way back ot the City Hall to call that “There’s a big fire down there.”
Patrolman Bass was making his regular rounds when he suddenly saw the heavens in the northeast section of town lit by a lurid glare. There was a muffled roar and flames sung high into the sky. This was [lines obscured]. It is thought that the sudden flare was seen by Mr. Bass occurred when the roof collapsed in the rear of the building.
Indications were that the fire started first in the rear of the warehouse.
Valiant work on the part of firemen saved frame dwellings which on the north and south of the burning building were only a few feet away.
The flames were leaping 15 feet into the air, a morning wind fanning a furnace glow of sparks, but the adjoining houses were saved.
The fire-fighters narrowly escaped injury when the brick wall—some 15 feet high and 50 feet long—collapsed, sending a shower of brick and debris halfway across William street. Two streams of water were playing through windows and doors when the wall collapsed with a report that was heard for blocks.
Hundreds of the city’s residents were awakened by the alarms, all the firemen of the city having been called out, and saw the reflection of the flames in the sky and rushed to the scene to watch the work of the fighters.
From the front page of the Goldsboro News, Sunday, Nov. 14, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn93064755/1926-11-14/ed-1/seq-1/
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