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: mLi - h » ■ ♦ * «L ' •• ’ « * *v.vvVThe fire that destroyed Bluefield Radio Station WHIS's transmitter and transmitter building yesterday afternoon rages unchecked In two photographs above to leave only embers and saved furniture from building in third photo at right. The tire of car int photo still burns as flames consume the wood frame buili background. The fire was believed to have started in the i spread to the connecting building. A garage that housed • had burnt away at the time photograph was taken. Snbelches upward from the hilltop building in center aerial photo, taken by a staff photographer from a McGlothlin Plying Service planeN Note spectators and firemen working in intense heat of front yard removing furniture from the building and dozens ofSunday drivers who are watching the fire. Route 52 is to rij scene in aerial picture. At left, furniture remains on lawn the fire as dying blaze lieks up from destroyed building in ’ ground. • - % v •StationLeavesBlazeDestroysWHISTransmitterScheduled New Television Station Will Not Be Affected, Company Official Reveals LastNight; Damage Toll Thought Near $100,000A fire believed to have started in a car parked in thlt;* garage swept unchecked through Bluefield Radio Station | WHIS transmitter building at Harry Heights off Route 52 yesterday afternoon. The building and all equipment was acomplete loss. • - • ‘T •' YFiremen and spectators were able to save only the furni-I ture in the house as flames raced from the garage and into'■ Y '■T' ■' i the modern, wood frame buildingand expensive transmitter equipment.Station WHIS went off the air at about 4 p. m. and will not resume broadcasts until equipment can be replaced. The fire left only charred embers where the building that housed the 5.000 watt trans-ATL ANT A. Ga., May 8 UP—Gun- mitter stood. An auxiliary 250-play and dynamite figured in the watt transmitter was also destroy-d| two major Southeastern' strikes* during the weekend as one dis-put# appeared near settlement,. . . . . . , .while the other remained snarled. hacl not been determined lastni Negotiators met in Washington —?!!!. nifnv’, again today in hopes of ending the _0^ ^e Daily Telegiaph1 8-\vppk-f*ld Louisville and Nashville Panting Company, station ownru.Swdstrike ,'sald it likely would approximateil K-;:iroaa sulKe- , , . $100,000. He pointed out that the1itDGunplay Marks Railway StrikeExact Loss UndeterminedA definite estimate of damagesINo developments were reported in the CIO Communications Workers of America strike against ’’ Southern Bell Telephone Co.—also J eight weeks old.ITwo Woundedel Two railroad men were wounded I late Saturday night in unrelated 15! shootings Earlier a railroad r bridge guard was shot to death e but tills was reported to have been accidental. And an auto carrying nonstriking \ telephone employes home from work was fired on Saturday night but no one was hurt.Guy Withrow, a chief clerk and , master mechanic at the Evans-0 ville, Ind.. railroad yards, was ar-. I rested in connection with the . ^ _ . „wounding of George Yeager, a as a residence by Pat Flanagan,sucker who was shot in the leg. manager of Station WHIS, who wax „ At Louisville. Ky„ Howard L.r Moran, a aonstrikin* engineer J andwas peppered in the face and right move much of the furniture TroniJshoulder with birdshot. Moran, 27,I • - - » — • * - • « * * • -stlexact amount of the equipment in the building had not been checked at the time.The fire apparently broke out in a car parked in the transmitter building’s garage about 3:45 p. m . firemen said. William Lackey, 19* year-old Concord College student employed by the station said he saw smoke coming from the body of the car. When he opened the door to push the vehicle from the garage, flames leaped out aqd he was unable to move the car or extinguish the fire. He said he could only use a garden hose as the blaze spread to the gas tank and the connecting building.The building was also occupiedthe house before it was razed.I.i told police he was sitting in the; Firemen Of Little Helpcab ol a switch engine and say “a 1 blast about two tracks away” a! ,°.n«moment before he was hit. His a J* J; “J; ^it!r fd m th. tr,!??, condition was not considered seri- gall(M?? of1 ' onto the raging fire. Firemen thenabandoned the building and workout. y ■.Guard ShotRaymond D. Murphy, a 23-year-old bridge guard was shot to death near Frankiurt, Ky. Police quoted relatives as saying the incident was an accident which occurred as Murphy removed a shotgun ^ from his truck Friday night.,o At Memphis, Tenn., Roy Free-v man. district manager kept tele-ing was located in a rural areawest of Route 52 about one air milenorth of Bluefield.Firemen and more than a dozenspectators formed a human chainin passing furniture from thebuilding. In less than 15 minutesthey had removed every article- i ,vv o i of furniture and clothing from theis1 phone workers in a phone com-;.n* nw WiiilHinrr all n^crhf a fhor a no.** *»UUoC»Saved were all chairs,f takmz o'hei^nonstrtfeers home was couches, a piano, refrigerator.h fi-ed on Freeman said a single washinS machine, stove, televisiond ti-ed on. I reeman saio.^a s.ngie ^ ftnd eyen rugs af d a door ^as unhinged from the building.1P piant manager. FlaJnaga” and, , wife werespending the weekend in a summerU g55vrtvW pour^.'e LN’a main line north and a##n, south oI Birmingham, Ala. A damn , .at?ed switch near Attalki, Aik. I Cause Not Determinedn- wrecked another freight train.—■n-d.i-inTwo Men Enroute To Cemetery Killed InN. J. Auto AccidentNEWARKJ.. May 8Cause of the fire in the automobile has not been determined, but it is believed it may have started in the car upholstery. Neither have firemen abandoned one theory that the fire might have started in the building’s bollqr room and spread to the auto. The 1948 Chevrolet belonged to Bill Lackey, who lives only a short distance from the transmitter building: ' .•personnelI*__________ __t Shott said stationTwo men on their way to put would begin immediately to try Mother’s Day wreaths on the1; to find a replacement transmitterand would immediately start re-igbuilding. He said that the planned television operations by the station would not be affected bv t,he blaze.Lackev called RatUo Statio WHISday in auto accidents on rainswept Rt. 1,One of the men died in a two-car crash on the Pulaski Skywayin Jersey City and the second was in Bluefield upon discovery or the e,I killed near RosedaleLinden. , .ie Ihe Skyway crash also claimed were a£Ie t0 take only one truck ve th° life of Miss Ruth Miller. 3S. out of the city limits_ and jt ptoveace 1 of Baltimore, Md.. and resulted in injuries to six persons.Police said Anthony Falzone. 46, of Garwood, was heeded towardned the fire department. Firemen*at ____ streamsfire plugs to furnish water.The Blue well Fire Department:e.Lw-ng Lsland to place a wreath on ‘ hhis mother’s grave. He was killed tiremen said.in the smashup of two autos in
Newspaper Details
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Bluefield, West Virginia, US
Mon, May 09, 1955
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Sammi B.
NA 10 May 2021
Other Publications Near Bluefield, West Virginia
Bluefield Evening Leader
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