McInnes Fire - 1879

“A public calamity has befallen Hamilton; a disaster from which the city will not recover in a day. Never in the history of the city has there been witnessed such a conflagration as raged for nearly three hours last evening; never before has so much valuable property been destroyed.”

Hamilton Spectator. August 2, 1879

It was about a quarter to six on Friday evening, August 1, 1879, when the cry “McInnes Block’s on Fire!” was heard in the vicinity of King and John streets in downtown Hamilton.

Within minutes, the men from the nearby fire station were at the scene, but already the flames were shooting high into the air. Soon, the building was completely engulfed in flames.

The McInnes building, erected in 1856, was a handsome, four storey warehouse, whose external walls were built of Ohio free stone.

The Spectator noted that the block was an ornament to the city and its destruction is little short of a public loss.”

Running the whole length of the west side of John street, from Main to King streets, the McInnes building contained within its walls the warehouse of the D. McInnes dry goods company, as well as premises for Messrs. Furner, Livingston and Company’s wholesale and retail dry goods business, and offices for the Bank of Hamilton and the Hamilton Provident and Loan Society.

Although there was some delay in getting adequate water pressure, the fire department was soon able to play nine streams of water on the building, but to little or no effect: “in an incredibly short time, there was not an ignitable article in the structure which was not in flames. As the roof fell in, and floor after floor collapsed with a terrible crash, immense volumes of sparks and some large pieces of burning timber and wooden material were wafted over the city by the wind, igniting a few structures, and placing others in the most imminent danger.”

It seemed that only was the McInnes building doomed, but there was a real possibility that the flames could spread throughout Hamilton’s downtown core.

As described by a reporter at the scene, thousands of spectators flocked to the vicinity of the fire;

“They seemed not to care for the inconvenience of being nearly suffocated with the large volumes of smoke which were wafted from the burning structures, and the fact that many had holes burned in their clothes with the flying burning cinders, or drenched with shifting hose, appeared to be regarded as a small price provided they could established themselves sufficiently near the theatre of excitement.”

The excitement was heightened even further when the Dixon Brothers’ store, across John street from the McInnes building fell prey to the flames.

The Spectator reporter learned that a large quantity of fireworks and gun powder was stored in that premises :

“About 7 o’clock a startling fusillade burst from the store, which caused a general scatter of the crowd. The reports resembled skirmishing firing by a body of infantry, with now and then a louder report as if of a regular cannon. It was kept up for a considerable time, pretty variegated flames being thrown out at intervals.”

The high winds, which prevailed during the height of the blaze, carried burning cinders over great distances.

Even at the Beach strip, far across the waters of Burlington bay, cinders fell in such quantities as to blacken the earth.

Closer to the fire, the wind-blown cinders were much more dangerous in effect.

The recently constructed Larkin Hall on John street north had a narrow escape from the fall out of the McInnes fire. Smoke was noticed pouring from its upper floor, but a score of volunteers worked diligently to save the new building’s roof.

The British Methodist Episcopal Church, at the corner of John street north and Rebecca street, was less fortunate. Smoke was also seen billowing from its roof, but by the time water could be directed on the building, the fire had made such headway that it was impossible to check the flames before the entire building had been gutted.

Unfortunately for the members of the British Methodist Episcopal Church, its minister, Reverend O’Banyon, a large portion of the congregation as well as most of the negro population of Hamilton, had gone to St. Catherines for the celebration of the anniversary of the West India Emancipation.

When it looked as if the large premises of the Sanford, Vail and Bickley company, at the southwest corner of King and John streets, were in danger of being lost to the spreading flames, efforts were made to save its stock.

As described in the Spectator;

“Windows were drawn up on every flat, and clothing in all its various stages of manufacture was dashed to the pavement below, from which it was collected by hosts of volunteers who assisted to pile it into wagons right heartily. Bales of cloth were also dropped from the storerooms, and several of those employed in gathering them up had narrow escapes from being injured by the falling bales.”

By nine p.m., the fire was under control, although the firemen remained at the scene all night, pouring water on the smoldering embers. As daylight broke, the interior of McInness building was a mass of ruins while the exterior stone walls remained standing.

The McInnes building had been lighted by gas, and the gas pipes throughout the building had been melted.

However, the main gas pipe entering the gutted building was still intact, and the gas it carried continued to burn, tainting the atmosphere near the ruined structure.

Shortly after 7 a.m., three employees of the gas company, James Ivory, John Nibbs and Robert Seymour, were sent into the basement of the burned-out building to plug off the main gas pipe. The location of the pipe was in the vicinity of the main entrance to the building off John street.

As the three men began to remove debris in order to access the gas pipe, the whole John street wall lurched, then collapsed, with a terrible crash.

Several other men working in and around the building had narrow escapes from being hit by the falling wall.

For s short time, the Spectator reporter noted, the three gas company employees were not missed:

“It was asserted by one man that he had seen Ivory immediately after the tumble down, and this led to the belief that, mysterious as was their disappearance, the men might have gone to work in some other part of the city.”

Mr. Littlehales, manager of the Gas company, accompanied by several of his employees, set off in rigs to look for the men, and for several hours a diligent search was made for the missing employees.

Finally, the agonizing conclusion was reached that the men must have been trapped by the falling wall.

Hamilton City Council was hastily convened for the purpose of authorizing the firm of Hancock and Addison with the task of tearing down the walls which were remaining erect.

While engaged in removing the debris from the area where the three gas company men were believed to be buried alive, another catastrophe took place.

About midnight, the contractors hired to remove the debris of the fallen wall began to erect a derrick for use in lifting out the heavy blocks of stone.

A few hours later, about 4:30 a.m., when everything was ready for the operation to begin, James Hancock, using a ladder, climbed to the top of the derrick in order to oil the machinery.

Hancock had barely reached the top of the derrick when it fell over with a crash. Hancock was hurtled violently into the ruins of the burned out building, where he hit his head against a large block of stone, fracturing his skull. He was taken to his home on Locomotive street, and, although given full medical attention, Hancock died as a result of his injuries.

The following day, Fire Chief Aitchison organized an operation with the purpose of pulling down the biggest of the still-standing walls.

A small rope was thrown through a window on the fourth storey near the centre of the wall. To this small rope, a larger rope was attached.

Shortly after 1 p.m., everything was in readiness for what the Spectator reporter termed “the grand pull” :

“About 200 men caught hold of the rope, and pulled with a hearty good will, the line being taken a way down John street. The wall swayed backwards and forwards in a most alarming manner, at one moment threatening to fall outwards, and, at the next, inwards. At last a compromise was effected, the wall falling with a terrible crash inwards, and the cornice outwards. As the structure fell, an immense cloud of dust completely beclouded the entire neighborhood for several minutes, enveloping the hundreds of spectators who had assembled to witness the novel proceedings.”

It was not until Tuesday August 5, 1879 that the bodies of the three gas company employees were located. The bodies were found under the sidewalk, near the gas pipe at which they had been working. The heavy blocks of stone had fallen through the sidewalk, crushing the victims.

After the bodies were removed from the ruins, a coroner’s jury was sworn in. The jury proceeded to view the corpses at the King William street morgue.

The Spectator reporter who accompanied the jury to the morgue was shocked by what he saw:

“The bodies presented an appearance to those who viewed them which they affirmed they never desired to look upon again. The features and bodies were bruised, burnt and scorched almost out of human resemblance.”

The afternoon after the discovery of the bodies, there was a public funeral procession for all four men who died in the aftermath of the McInnes building fire.

As described in the press, the procession had a profound impact on those who viewed it :

“Never since the Desjardins Canal accident, when Hamilton, in conjunction with adjoining places, was draped in mourning, have the streets presented a more melancholy and suggestive spectacle when the four men who lost their lives in the ruins of the burned out district were consigned to their last resting place. And never, perhaps, before was more genuine sorrow exhibited than on the occasion of these obsequies.”

The final chapter of the McInnes fire story was written at the coroner’s inquest into the deaths of the gas company employees, held in the City Hall.

Thomas Littlehales, manager of the Gas company was sworn in as the first witness. He informed the jury that there was no way to shut off the leaking gas, except by going into the building. He denied that he had ordered the men to enter the ruins of the building.

The second witness, John Eastwood, confirmed Littlehales’ story by testifying that he had heard Littlehales tell Ivory, “on no consideration go in the building, Jimmy, while there is any danger.”

After testimony from several other witnesses, the jury returned the following verdict :

“That the three men came to their deaths by falling upon them the eastern wall of the McInnes block, whilst endeavoring to cut off the gas from the burning building. The jury has ascertained that Ivory was street foreman in the employ of the Gas Company and had Seymour and Nibbs in his charge, and that he was warned on the night before his decease against entering the premises whilst they were unsafe. The jury regret that the Gas Company have not provided means for cutting off connection with their supplies without entering the premises which may be in dangerous condition.”