Weston, MA Fire, Apr 1900

PRANCING FLAMES.

At Least 200 Acres Burned Over.

Westonites Make a Heroic Fight.

A Barn Destroyed, a House Scorched.

It was only a tiny spark blown from the smokestack of a passing locomotive, yet it startled the town of Weston from end to end and sent dark tidings for miles around. Today the power of that burning particle is reflected in the blackened foundation of what was a big country barn, the scorched and thoroughly soaked home of a retired butcher and a broad expanse of charred meadow and woodland. Those who battled against the flames, which were nursed by a vigorous no'-wester, claimed that the devastated land covered something like 200 acres.

To the Reporter.

"Biggest brush fire I ever see in these parts," remarked a well known character of the town as he rested one of his booted legs on a boulder and ran his right hand through his beard. "I tell you it looked bad for a time. Talk 'bout the Cape Cod forest fires; I calculate we give 'em a rub this time. Didn't she whoop it up though? Looked a bit skeery for Col. Lamson's house fer a spell, blamed if it didn't, and Gale's had a narrow escape.

"You say you're a reporter on the Boston Journal, Be yer, though? Well, I have read that paper for a good many years. You see it happened like this, near as I kin make it out. The train which leaves Boston at 1:30 in the afternoon on the Massachusetts Central and passes here at 'bout 2:06, left a stray spark behind her down in the brush somewhere near the track on Col. Lamson's land. Well, with such a fresh wind the fire didn't take long in starting and the flames were driven along in a southeasterly course in lively style. They made short work of Lamson's woodland, came pesky near Gale's house on the hill up there, as it was burnin' up a hencoop I berlieve, and climbed the side of the hill like a streak of forked lightning."

The Battle On.

"In short order nearly a hundred men were working with might and main. Foreman Smith had 'bout 40 men under him in the department, and there was no end of volunteers. Women and children came runnin' from everywhere and some of them were skeered, too, I can tell yer. I was myself for a while. Why, man, you have no idea how dangerous it looked. You'd fight the fire one place, and the first thing you'd know it would be blazin' away somewheres else. 'Bout 25 firemen came up from Waltham with a steamer, a hose cart and supply wagon, and they lent able assistance.

"That's a pile of cord-wood burnin' up there now. You can see what there is left of Lamson's stable---burned clean ter the ground. No livestock was lost, though. All the horses were ter work, and the men managed to get the lambs and cattle out all right. You should-a-seen that flock of sheep there skedaddle about that pasture when the excitement was at its height. The poor little things---they didn't know what to make of it. There was a lot of hay and grain in the barn. It was all burned up, and so were a number of farming tools."

Fire Collared Clark's House.

"The sparks from the burning brush and barn flew clear across the road here---the white one over there, Mr. Clark is 'bout 60 years old. He had been fighting the fire with the others over on the hill, and when he heard as how his own house was burnin' he ran to it. Well, his place wasn't burned so very badly, but it was drenched from roof to cellar by a stream from the fire engine. While a gang was fightin' the fire at Clark's house the flames crept nearer and nearer to Lamson's old cottage. The only way it was saved was by back-burning. You know what back-burnin' is, don't you? Why, simply burn up as the brush and shrubbery around the house and keep it under control so that when the flames from the main fire come along they don't find nothin' ter burn. That trick was tried more than once. It worked successfully. See Lamson's trim little house? It's all right isn't it? That's the way we saved it. The fire continued across that meadow for 'bout three-quarters of a mile all told, I should judge. It burned up a big patch of woodland south of here. The rest I guess you can see fer yourself."

Mischief Inflicted.

Lamson's barn was lowered to the very ground. Only a heap of ashes and a few charred timbers remained. The roomy structure stood in a hollow and the flames that devoured it came leaping over the crest of the hill on its southerly side. There were some lively scenes while the live stock were being driven to a place of safety. A farm hand attempted to lead a young heifer. It started to run and the man caught its tail. A laugh-stirring sprint followed.

Firemen at a Funeral.

"Someone sees the smoke, and quicker'n it takes to tell it the hull town was in a hullaballu. The alarm of fire was sent out, but the worst of the cussed thing was 'bout the hull of the town fire department was down at a funeral service at the Unitarian Church. The news reached the church right in the midst of the service, and the members of the local fire department hurried out. Foreman J. M. Smith and his assistant, A. M. Cheney, did gallant work, by Jove! By the time the town apparatus, consisting of two hook-and-ladder companies and a hose company, arrived on the scene, Lamson's barn was going. You'd a'thought the hull town was burnin' ter see the smoke. The funeral passed down this road when the fire was burnin' fiercest. Foreman Smith and 'bout 40 men went right ter work, but the wind was so high they see things were lookin' bad, so a call was made to Waltham for assistance. It it hadn't been fer the wind, the fire could have been handled easy enough. Part of the men fought the flames with pails of water and hand-pumps.

"I lost about $800 in the destruction of my barn," said Col. Daniel S. Lamson, a tall gentlemanly appearing man, every inch an American. "I don't know just what the damage was to my woodland. I have about 100 acres. The barn was insured. I thought surely my home was going, and I would have been sorry if it had. This house is one of the landmarks of the town. It is about 140 years old."

In His Damaged Home.

E. O. Clark, one of the most highly esteemed men of the town and a member of the Board of Health, was seated in his pretty little white cottage across the road. He had injured his left hand on the hose cart so badly that a physician had to dress it. Mr. Clark was cooling down after the excitement. His home was water-soaked from roof to cellar, and the water dripped from the ceiling. Neighbors sat around him. He was unable to give and estimate of the loss he sustained. It will probably reach several hundred dollars.

The path of the fire lay right through the centre of the town and passed dangerously near the Town Hall, which, with it stores, composes the business section. By a peculiar coincidence a spark from a passing train on the Fitchburg set the brush on fire on the other side of the town known as Kendall Green. It burned over 40 or 50 acres of brush and woodland, but did no more serious damage.

Boston Morning Journal, Boston, MA 27 Apr 1900
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Transcribed by Linda Horton. Thank you, Linda!