“The large
and expensively furnished residence of Miss Mary O. Shriver, Union Mills, occupied by Miss
Shriver and her nephew, Robert T. Shriver, narrowly escaped complete destruction by fire
about half past seven o’clock, last Saturday morning.
Miss Mulligan, a companion of Miss Shriver, was the first member of the
household to come down stairs on that morning. She
discovered the front chapel, (one of the rooms on the west side of the house), filled with
smoke and flames. She at once sounded the
alarm. Robert S. Shriver hurried his aunt,
Miss Shriver, into his automobile and rushed her to the home of James M. Shriver, near by. Leslie Irvin, an employee of the family, phoned
for the Westminster fire company and called for assistance from those within reach of his
voice. The responses were prompt, and George
W. Bankert, Harry L. Cratin, D. Wesley Yingling, Charles Snider, Charles C. Croft, and
others soon arrived at the house, and to their strenuous efforts, well directed, the
saving of the building can be attributed. It
was found that the fire was caused by a defective flue from the furnace in the cellar
under the front chapel. An organ, the
mantelpiece and other articles, were in flames.
Harry L. Cratin and Charles C. Croft heroically carried the flaming
instrument to the porch and cast it into the yard. Others
dashed water into the burning room and carried valuable pictures and pieces of furniture
from other parts of the building to places of safety.
The fire, however, was confined to the two rooms of the chapel. All of the woodwork there was either scorched or
badly smoked; the papering, lace curtains, pictures, ornaments, etc., were seriously
damaged. The smoke played havoc with the
altar and its costly appointments. Its
candles were melted to their sockets. A large
crucifix, carved by one of the actors of the passion play and presented to the mother of
Miss Shriver by the late J. Alexander Shriver, of Baltimore, was among the articles
injured. Miss Madeline Shriver rescued from
the debris the remains of a large collection of newspaper clippings referring to the
numerous visits of the late Cardinal Gibbons to their home.
Among the articles carried from the house during the excitement was a life
size oil painting of the Cardinal presented by him to Miss Shriver a short time before his
death. The Westminster fire company answered
its call with great promptness and made a record run to Union Mills through the frigid air
of that morning. Although the fire was pretty
well under control when the company arrived, it did good service in extinguishing the
organ, which was still aflame, and all evidences of fire in the building. The company remained on the premises until there
was no further danger of an outbreak. Joseph
N. Shriver, Westminster, a nephew of Miss Mary O. Shriver, hearing the alarm, came to
Union Mills in his automobile with his speedometer standing at the 70 mile point. His passengers were his son, Nicholas, and one of
the Westminster firemen. James M. and Miss
Madeline Shriver, who had been to Westminster to early church, reached Avalon, their home,
a short distance away, about the time the fire was at its height. The losses are covered by insurance in the Mutual
Fire Insurance co., of Carroll county, and in Stock Companies represented by Thos. F.
Shriver, Baltimore.” |
