John R. Evans & Company
The John R. Evans Company manufactured leather at its factory at 2nd and Erie Streets in North Camden. John R. Evans was a major employer in Camden, and one of the largest of several leather factories in the city. Founded in 1858, the business employed up to 700 people before its closing shortly before the December 19, 1971 fire which destroyed the entire five-building complex. The plant had been involved in or threatened by fire at several times previous in its long history.
Four John R. Evans employees, Francis J. Knox, Norbert C. Rowan, Morris Wilson Rickenbach Jr., and Raymond Price, gave their lives for America during World War II.
Another company, located nearby at 72 Erie Street, was also in the leather manufacturing business for many years. Known at different times as McNeely & Company, Allied Kid, and the Julius Brand Leather Company, this factory remained in operation into the early 1970s.
$225,000 Fire Ruins 5 Uptown Plants
Camden Courier-Post —
How Flames Gutted Big Industrial Building
Residents Flee as Flames Rage in Big Building
Factory of Evans Leather Co. Saved by Valiant Work of Firemen
Apparatus Is Disabled; Debris Buried Fire Plug
Metal Stamping Firm, Textile Concern Heavy Losers; Pattern Shop Saved
Taken shortly after daylight today, this photograph shows firemen still pouring water on the ruins of the Varoma building on Erie street from the roof of the Evans Leather Company building adjoining. Five industries were wiped out in the blaze which caused damage estimated at $225,000.
Sweeping through the Varoma Building on Erie street and driving 80 persons from their homes, a spectacular fire early today wrecked the quarters of five industrial concerns and caused damage estimated at $225,000.
Responding to three alarms, every piece of fire apparatus in the city, with the exception of the “cover-up” companies, fought the blaze for hours.
Handicapped by the location of fire-plugs and the breakdown of several pieces of apparatus, the firemen prevented the flames from spreading to the huge building of the Evans Leather Company, which forms an “L” on two sides of the burned structure.
Twenty dwellings on the east side of Segal street, separated from the Varoma building only by a narrow alley, were also saved after their occupants had fled to the street.
Fire Chief Thomas Nicholas announced later today, after the flames had been brought under control, that he would begin a rigid investigation into the blocking of Segal street by a high board fence and the piling of refuse around a fireplug at the head of the street.
The wrecked building is owned by the Varoma Corporation of which Thomas Van Osten, of Palmyra, is president; William MacIntosh, 3[?]7 Vine street, vice president; Alfred Van Osten, of Palmyra, secretary, and David B. Robinson, of West Collingswood.
Building Loss $50,000
MacIntosh today estimated the damage to the building alone at $50,000. He is also president of the MacIntosh Printing and Lithographing Company, of which James J. Stinson, of Merchantville is secretary. Damage estimated at $10,000 resulted from the fire in the quarters of that concern.
The other industries, all located in the big brick building, which suffered in the blaze, with official estimate of the damage to each, are as follows:
Blue and Gray Textile Company, of which T. A. Carr, of 302 Porter road, Fairview, is president, $30,000.
Allied Metal Stamping Company, of which Joseph A. Skublicki, of 115 State street, is president, and William Daugherty, vice president, $75,000.
James A. MacMillan & Co., manufacturing chemists, headed by James MacMillan, of 809 North Third street, $10,000.
Philadelphia Metal Stamping Company, of which firm Clement A. and Mrs. Florence Perrin, of Collingswood, and Edwin L. Seabrook, of 566 Benson street, are members, $50,000.
Other Concerns Escape
The fire was discovered at 5.35 o’clock by a watchman who sounded the first alarm. The flames had started, from causes as yet undetermined, in that portion of the building occupied by the Blue & Gray Textile Company. The building, which housed nine separate industries, covered an area 100 by 300 feet. Part of it was one story in height and another part two stories. Four of the industries in the two-story section of the building escaped serious damage. They are Kruse & Slattery, tool-makers; the Camden Hardware Manufacturing Company, the Wolf Company, manufacturers of advertising novelties; the Thomas C. Van Osten pattern-makers, headed b[illegible]dent of the concern w[illegible] building.
The structure, at 105-107 Erie street, extends back almost to Segal street and has a frontage covering most of the block on Erie street between Second and Burns streets.
Arrivnig [sic] in response to the watchman’s alarm, Chief Nicholas visioned the danger of repetition of the fire nine years ago when buildings at the same location were wiped out by flames. He immediately sounded the second and third alarms, bringing almost every piece of apparatus in the city to the scene.
Carr, president of the textile company, estimated the loss there at $30,000, stating that a large shipment of intricate machinery from Germany had arrived only a few days ago. The concern was anticipating removal, in a short time, to larger quarters at Ninth and State streets, Carr added.
From the two large rooms occupied by the Blue & Gray textile firm, the flames swung over to the quarters of the Allied Metal Stamping Company. Daugherty, the vice-president of this concern, said his company was filling a large order for electric switch-boxes and had been working at capacity for several weeks. Switch-boxes valued at $40,000 were destroyed by the fire, with machinery and other equipment valued by Daugherty at an additional $35,000.
Blasts Add to Perils
Moving northward, the flames next struck the MacMillan plant, where chemicals are manufactured for paints and drug companies. Here the flames reached a number of containers of chemicals and, for a time, the blaze was punctuated by a series of explosions. Here, firemen risked imminent peril to their lives by carrying other containers of chemicals out of reach of the flames.
Still continuing northward; the fire next reached the MacIntosh lithographing plant and spread through the cutting and shipping rooms, causing damage estimated at $10,000 before firemen succeeded in dragging two lines of hose into this section of the building and driving back the flames.
The Philadelphia Metal Supply Company went next as the fire swept eastward. In this plant, metal cornices and valuable hand-made dies were destroyed at a loss estimated by Perrin, a member of the firm, at $50,000. Arriving at the scene, apparatus from Engine Companies No. 1 and No. 7 developed boiler trouble and were unable to work. Firemen were further handicapped by the fact that the Evans Leather Company has blocked off Segal street at the north end by a high board fence. A fireplug at this point was also blocked by a pile of chemical containers, declared to have been placed there by the leather company.
Declaring that he could have attached at least four more hose lines had this plug not been blocked, Chief Nicholas announced that he would conduct an investigation. He said also that the leather company had failed to place gates in the Segal street fence, as city officials required them to do when permission was given for erection of the barrier.
Hose lines were taken to the flat roof of the Evans company, high above the burning building, and water poured onto the flames from this altitude. Hundreds of persons were attracted to the scene by the spectacular nature of the fire, which was visible from the Camden bridge and for miles around. A police detail led by Chief James E. Tatem and Inspector Lewis Etehr [sic] kept the crowds in check.
Firemen escaped injury while fighting the flames at their height, but while they were still pouring streams of water onto the ruins shortly before noon today, the first casualty occurred. Emanuel Kane, of 703 North Third street, a fireman attached to Engine Company No. 6, was struck on the head and knocked down by a 12-foot length of steel bar, six inches thick, which pinned him under it as he fell. Companions ran to his aid, lifted the bar from him and revived him. Hospital treatment was not necessary.
Eight other firemen narrowly escaped serious injury a few minutes later when a section of the east wall fell. The eight men were standing under the wall when one of them saw it totter. They dashed from the spot just in time to avoid being buried by the falling debris. Three of these firemen were from Engine Company No. 1 at Fifth and Arch streets; three from No. 4, Fourth and Vine streets, and two from No. 2 Company, Front and Linden streets.
Jack Sperry, an Evening Courier photographer, was walking along the roof of a part of the burned building when he fell through a portion of it which had been burned from beneath. Pinned at his arm-pits, he was dragged out. He got his picture.
While carrying a hose line into the [illegible] structure, Firemen Harry Lee [illegible] David Ellis were knocked down when a [illegible]pling blew off the hose but [illegible] hurt.
[illegible] wild confusion was [illegible] street when members [illegible] whose homes were threatened by the flames, rushed to the street, many of them clad only in night clothing. Carrying screaming children with them, occupants of the dwellings also dashed out with furniture and personal belongings which they piled in the street. Cellars of the score of houses on Segal street were flooded by water from the firehoses, which was knee-deep amid the ruins.
Families whose homes were menaced and who were driven from the dwellings were those of Paul Warner, 1002 Segal street; Frank Bosco, 1004; Giles Beebe, 1006; Howard Pratt, 1008; Mrs. Mary Sweeten, 1010; Charles Randall, 1012; Harry Burr, 1014; John Sweeten, 1016; Leona Moore, 1018; Dora Annastasio, 1020; John Hamilton, 1024; Abe Granis, 1026; George Stewart, 1028; Arthur Wilkins, 1032; Charles Stutzenburg, 1034; George Wilson, 1036; George Bowers, 1040, and A. W. Dickinson, 1042 Segal street.
The fire today was the fourth big blaze that has occurred on the site. The first was in 1867, when a roller mill and nail factory were destroyed.
In the second, in 1908, flames destroyed the morocco plant of R. H. Evans Company.
In 1919, with the temperature at the zero point, firemen were again called out to fight another disastrous blaze in the Evans plant that had been rebuilt.
Fence That Hampered Firemen
Camden Courier-Post —
The upper view shows the fence at the end of Segal Street, above Erie Street, which firemen say hampered them during yesterday’s big fire which caused $225,000 damage. The insert shows how a fireplug was blocked. The lower sketch is a bird’s eye view of where the fences are located in relation to the big blaze. Officials of several plants destroyed by fire say they will demand from city officials an explanation as to why the fence was built.
2 Firms to Demand City Begin Probe of Fence as Aid in Fire
Camden Courier-Post —
Structure Across Alley Caused Heavier Loss at Factory Blaze, Officials Say
GATES FOUND BOLTED
Officials of two North Camden industrial plants that were wiped out by fire yesterday morning, announced today they would demand a thorough investigation by the building inspectors and highway department as to why a ten foot fence was allowed to be built across Segal street and a wide alley adjoining their property on Erie street. They claim that if the fence had not been erected Camden firemen would have been able to check the blaze which caused $225,000 damage.
Officials who will demand an investigation are Vincent P. Dougherty, vice president of the Allied Metal Stamping Company, whose loss was $75,000, and C. E. Perrin, head of the Philadelphia Metal Stamping Company, who suffered a $50,000 loss in the blaze.
“I intended to ask Mayor Price to start a probe that will not end in a whitewash,” Dougherty said. “The fences were constructed of heavy planking by the John R. Evans and Company. It is my impression that when the company sought permission to erect these fences they were informed gates must be placed there in case of fire. Gates were installed in the fence leading into the alley but some time ago the gates were bolted and carboys of acids and other chemicals were placed against the fence.
Fence Near Fireplug
“The fence cutting off Segal street is right against a fire plug and this hampered the firemen in their work. If the firemen had been able to use this plug at once the fire loss would not have been so great.”
“The erection of these fences was an outrage. I don’t know who gave the Evans company permission to build them, but I want to find out why they were allowed to be built,” Perrin said.
Firemen said they believed the fence contained a gate, but when they arrived at the blaze they found the gates bolted. Fire Chief Nichols said the fence compelled the firemen to lay 900 feet of hose where if they had been able to get through the fence at once they would have been required to lay only 100 feet to reach the blaze.
Engineer Defends Action
Charles Jones, chief engineer of the Evans plant, said the company was within its rights in constructing the wooden fence as it was built on the Evans property.
“We bought property on Segal street about nine years ago,” Evans said. Segal street was never a through street and when we bought the property we tore down the buildings and moved the dead end further south.
The city, after we made the purchase, removed water and gas mains and if they left a fire plug up against our fence that is the fault of the city. The properties were bought and torn down about nine years ago.”
Fire Chief Nichols said today had there been a gate on the two fences the fire loss would have been greatly cut down. George W. Johnson, building inspector said the matter had not been brought to his attention as yet.
Letter to the Editor of The Evening Courier
Camden Courier-Post —
To the Editor of The Evening Courier.
Sir:—In Monday’s issue I noticed a letter, “Some Whys Suggested By the Fire in Erie Street,” which I will endeavor to answer in the sequence in which they were asked.
“Why is a corporation allowed to dead end a street?”
This I suppose applies to Segal street, at the river end of which next to the leather plant is a high board fence and against which is a fireplug with outlet facing towards Erie street. Rilett’s shipyard previous to the leather plant’s purchase of the same had the same condition existing, and when the new plant was built the city cut the water main and moved the fireplug up the street outside of the new owner’s line. This has existed for years, and cannot now be criticised. So far as maintaining a passageway or alley there, none ever existed either during Segal’s building and ownership of the old match factory, ammonia plant and ice plant on this site or the old Rilett ship repair yard, and as the leather plant bought 10 houses, five on each side of Segal street at that end, they are entirely within their rights to erect a fence there and store anything on their own property they see fit.
As for the driveway running down by the burnt buildings, there never was an outlet at the river end, only a gate for a man to pass through when going from Rilett’s shipyard to the blacksmith’s shop on the other side for the work he did for the shipyard, all of which property is included in the present site of the leather plant.
“Why are fire towers outlet to streets locked at all times?”
The law distinctly says that fire tower doors must be open to exit from the inside and to prevent people from entering from the outside. A special lock is used which allows the doors to be opened from the inside but locked against the outside entrance of same. No other kind of lock is used as in the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and New York the fire marshals and safety inspectors are on the job too much to allow any monkey business with fire tower exits.
In answer to third question, I would say that the fire department has the right to burst open any thing or place necessary to gain entrance, but as the fire was outside the building, which was amply protected by fire walls, they probably did not think it necessary.
As far as the fire equipment going bad at such times this can be expected especially when conditions exist as outlined by the last part of “A Taxpayer’s” letter, to which this is an answer.
J. T. L.
Fire-Fence Probe Refused by City
Camden Courier-Post —
Officials Declare They Have No Jurisdiction in Factory Blaze Controversy
City officials declared today they would make no investigation into the erection of two large fences which firemen say hampered them in fighting the $225,000 fire at the Varoma Building, Second and Erie streets, early Thursday morning.
The fence, erected by the John R. Evans & Company, cuts off Segal street and prevented the firemen from entering an alley from Front street which would have enabled them, they said, to fight the fire from the rear.
Bernard Gallagher, fire marshal, said there was sufficient water without the firemen using the blocked fire plug on Segal street.
“It required only 150 feet more of hose to circle the yard and this was attached so quickly the Segal street plug was not necessary. We are not planning any investigation,” he said.
Vincent P. Dougherty, vice president of the Allied Metal Stamping Company, whose firm suffered a $75,000 loss, and C. E. Perrin, head of the Philadelphia Metal Stamping Company, which lost $50,000 in the blaze, yesterday asked Mayor Price to order an investigation.
George W. Johnson, building inspector, said today the city had no authority or jurisdiction in the matter.
“The fence was built on the Evans property and no authority is necessary from the city for the erection of a fence,” he said. “There is no regulation I know of requiring gates to be placed in a private fence.”
John R. Evans & Company
Camden Courier-Post —
John R. Evans & Company — Manufacturers of the Standard Brands: Ruby Black Glazed Kid, Maximus Patent Leather, Peerless and Peacock Brands of fancy-colored Kid, all for Women’s and Men’s Fine Shoes.
60 Overcome While at Work in RCA Victor; Probe Started
Camden Courier-Post —
Two girl employees of the RCA Victor Company who are among nearly 100 persons suffering from ptomaine poisoning as the result of eating from “box lunches.” Miss Clara Schaeffer, left, of Gloucester, and Miss Violetta Brown, Brooklawn, were confined to their beds at their homes last night after receiving treatment at Cooper Hospital.
60 OVERCOME WHILE AT WORK IN RCA VICTOR; PROBE STARTED
New York Ship Employees Sent to Hospital From Ptomaine
WORKERS OF 4 FIRMS LISTED AMONG VICTIMS
Sandwiches Served by Philadelphia Caterer Believed to Be Responsible
Nearly 100 Camden factory and shipyard workers were poisoned yesterday after eating food contained in box lunches.
More than 60 of the workers, stricken at their machines in the RCA Victor Company plants, were rushed to the company’s dispensary and local hospitals. Many are reported in serious condition.
At the New York Shipbuilding Company others became ill after partaking of the lunches. Four are in West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital recovering from the effects of the poisoned food. At least three more were stricken at the leather plant of the John R. Evans Company, Second and Erie Streets.
In Philadelphia more than a score of laundry workers were carried to physicians and hospitals, all said to be victims of contaminated foods. Physicians believed all would recover.
Dr. David D. Helm, city sanitary inspector, believed the ptomaine condition resulted from the eating of egg sandwiches.
Dr. Helm, along with Sergeant Rox Saponare and detectives, last night questioned Ray Konst, 3313 D Street, Philadelphia, owner of a Philadelphia box lunch concern.
Put Ban on Sales
Following the quizzing, Konst was ordered to refrain from further selling of the box lunches in Camden, pending the result of an investigation. He also must obtain complete approval from the Philadelphia Board of Health before being allowed to resume operations here.
The boxes, distributed by Konst, are labeled “The Majestic Lunch.” Konst declared that never before had complaint reached him as to the quality of his food.
“I have ordered distribution of Majestic Lunches in Camden be stopped,” Dr. Helm said, “until the investigation has been completed and the health authorities in Philadelphia to whom all evidence will be given because they supervise this company, give them a clean bill of health.”
Two of the box lunches have been obtained by police and will be chemically analyzed today by order of Dr. A. L. Stone, city health officer.
Konst assured police he would assist in any manner possible to learn the source and nature of the foodstuff causing the illness.
Woman First Victim
The first illness occurred shortly after 3 p.m. at the RCA Victor plant. A young woman was overcome after partaking of a glass of water. She was taken to the dispensary where Dr. Reuben L. Sharp said she was suffering from ptomaine poisoning.
Within a short time several other girls and men in various sections of the plant were stricken. Some fainted at their machines and had to be carried to the dispensary.
Soon Dr. Sharp and his staff of nurses had more than they could handle. Private automobiles were pressed into service and many of the victims taken to Cooper Hospital, where stomach pumps were used to clear their bodies of the poisonous food.
One man, B. H. Poole, 40, of 144 North Sixtieth street, Philadelphia, was admitted and his condition described as serious.
Others were treated and sent to their homes, where many were attended last night by their personal physicians.
Girl Describes Scene
Miss Clara Shaeffer, 19, of 226 South Fifth Street, Gloucester, employed at the RCA Victor, told of the scenes near her shortly before she became ill and was rushed to Cooper Hospital for treatment.
“I saw many of the girls running upstairs to the restroom,” Miss Schaeffer said at her home, where she is confined to bed, “but paid little attention to them, although several had to be assisted up the steps.
“Suddenly I felt sick at my stomach and had a desire for a drink of water. I asked the girl next to me to get me a drink, but she was unable to leave her machine at the time and I walked to the fountain.
“After taking the drink everything seemed to whirl about and I thought I was going to faint. I told my foreman and he ordered me taken to the dispensary.
“When I arrived there the place was filled and someone took me to Cooper Hospital, where the doctor gave me some medicine and I was taken to my home.”
Miss Schaeffer said she grew worse after she arrived home and her parents summoned a physician.
Fall at Machines
Others told similar stories of the scenes as worker after worker was stricken. Plant officials said many had fallen where they stood, the ptomaine attack seizing them so suddenly they had no time to summon aid.
Konst told Detectives Benjamin Simon and John Opfer that he sells more than 200 box lunches in Camden daily. He has agents at the RCA plants, New York Shipyard and at the leather companies.
He also sells more than 500 box lunches daily in Philadelphia.
The lunch yesterday was made up of a cheese sandwich, an egg and lettuce sandwich, a piece of apple pie, cupcake and fruit. Some of the lunches contained tuna fish sandwiches.
Man’s Condition Serious
According to Dr. Helm, all of those taken ill had eaten the egg sandwiches, some had partaken of the tuna fish and others of the cheese.
One man became ill when he ate half an egg sandwich given him by a fellow employee late in the afternoon.
The laundry workers affected were employed at the Forrest Laundry, 1225 West Columbia Avenue, Philadelphia.
One of these, John Gilligan, 52, of 1923 East Willard Street, was taken to St. Luke’s and Children’s Homeopathic Hospital in a critical condition.
Police were checking other hospitals to learn if additional victims were unreported.
Present for Pope Made in Camden
Camden Courier-Post —
RT. REV. JOHN J. DUNN, Bishop of New York City, who is en-route to Rome bearing an album of RCA Victor religious records to Pope Pius XI. The records were made here and leather for the album also was produced in this city by the John R. Evans Company.
PRESENT FOR POPE MADE IN CAMDEN
Records of Choir Singing Made by RCA Victor and Binding by Evans Co.
Two products of Camden are linked together in a gift which Pope Pius XI will receive in Rome in a few days.
The gift will be an album enclosing records of the recent RCA Victor recording of a Gregorian Requiem Mass, sung by the Pius X School of Liturgical Music, College of the Sacred Heart, New York City. The leather used in the specially made album was prepared by the John R. Evans Company.
The record set, issued domestically in the Musical Masterpiece Series of RCA Victor, represented one of the most unusual advances being made in the restoration of liturgical music. In both the Roman Catholic and Episcopal churches a revival of interest has been manifested in these settings, especially in plain song.
The liturgical music revival in the Roman Catholic Church has come principally through the influence of the Benedictines, whose Solesmes recordings of earlier date are now well known, also under Victor auspices. The restoration of proper church music in the Episcopal Church has come through the Oxford Movement in England and the consequent Catholic Revival in this country.
The album set, of the standard Red Seal type, was bound in white kid leather, with an accompanying explanatory booklet bound in similar material. The presentation inscription on the cover was completed at the Victor plant in gold leaf.
The set is at present on the high seas. Rt. Rev. John J. Dunn, bishop of New York, taking it aboard the Conte de Savoia en route to an audience with the Pontiff. Mother Stevens, executive director of the Pius X School, whose choir sang the recordings, made arrangements for the presentation.
Blue Collar Work
During the summer of 1942 I worked as a laborer at a large factory, and my experience there has affected my opinions on labor relations ever since.
The J. R. Evans Company Leather Factory at 2nd and Erie Streets in Camden, New Jersey was established in 1858, and employed many men to remove wool from sheep skins and tan them into leather. It was a smelly, gloomy, hard working, no-nonsense place, but a lot of men made their living there. My job, along with several other 18 year olds, was to hang tanned wet skins on hooks in a dryer, and bundle them up as they came out dry at the other end. The skins had previously been treated with a sulfur compound, the wool scraped off, washed and sold, and then tanned.
There was some razzing of “Little Joe” the general Foreman, who spoke several Slavic languages in order to deal with his many foreign-born workers, but there was no outward hostility. In fact, I classified this company as an old-time Patronial firm where the owners looked out for their employees. In addition to a medical office with a nurse on duty, there were graphic signs on every wall showing what an Anthrax infection looked like and what to do about it immediately.
We came to work before 7 a.m. and started things going. At 9:30, the whistle blew and we all went to the cafeteria for cheap coffee and breakfast. At 12 noon, work stopped for lunch, then we stopped again at 2:30 for another snack break, finally going home at 5. I think I made less than a dollar an hour, which wasn’t too bad for those pre-war days. However, late in the summer word was passed around that an attempt would be made to unionize the factory. We were all invited to a meeting elsewhere in the city, and Brother Goldberg from Union Headquarters in New York spoke to the many Evans workers.
I will never forget his impassioned speech, which sounded like it came right out of the Karl Marx handbook. He said, “You men work, you work, you work your selves to death in a lousy stinking place. And what do you get? A few lousy dollars a week. And what do your rich bosses do? They eat all the best food off of silver plates with their gold knives and forks, and drink champagne from crystal glasses and enjoy all the money you made for them.” This continued over and over in the exact same vein for forty minutes, and then he shouted, “We want a strike!” Some hollered, “Yes!” but that wasn’t enough. He kept ranting the same thing until finally most of the men in the hall hollered “Yes!” because it was late and they wanted to go home.
The next week they went out on strike and the factory shut down for a long time. My buddy and I left for good because school was starting in a few weeks and we could go back to cooking hamburgers somewhere, but the factory was never the same. The men probably got a few more dollars a week, with fewer hours per day, but it was a long time before they made up for those lost weeks.
Since then, I have had many men working for me in chemical plants and I have always been concerned for their safety and welfare, as well as compassionate for the people who actually do the hard work. I still agree that unions were needed to protect workers from heartless management. However, I despise professional union organizers who generate class hatred in order to increase the size and prestige of their national union.
Present day socialists and liberal writers continue to condemn successful business men as “Robber Barons” and “Cut-throat Capitalists” (See Smithsonian Magazine, January 2011.) and are equally prejudiced against people who risk their money to start businesses. There have, of course, been many company owners who have misused and neglected their workers, but no union or political party has ever built a factory and created jobs for “blue collar” workers.
Concern for the health and welfare of working men has been a controversial subject for centuries. In the early years of the Industrial Revolution, democracy was still a new concept and the welfare of the working man wasn’t even considered. Factory owners assumed that people were glad to get jobs and would work in any condition. Unfortunately, as businesses grew, that attitude persisted.
People now agree that the men who build the machines and things we use should have a safe and healthy place to work and there are many laws to insure that. But what about the man who invests his money to start a business? Shouldn’t he also be allowed to make money by selling a product?
A small business with a few employees is much like a family. The workers know the man who started it, work hard to make it succeed, and if paid well, do not resent the boss when he gets a return on his investment. After all, what other reason would a man have to invest his money to start a business if he didn’t want to make money?
Suppose his company grows bigger with many employees and foremen and supervisors to manage them. Fewer employees remember the man that started the company, but if their pay and working conditions are good, they have no reason to hate him. A man with a family to feed and a job with steady pay might wish for more but doesn’t want to risk his family’s welfare. This is probably the level where labor relations are not a problem.
However, as companies grew bigger with stockholders and multiple factories, a disconnect between management and labor began to develop. Management began to consider labor as just one of the costs of doing business, and the laborers felt like unimportant cogs in their machine. Even small gripes turned into major problems if not handled properly. Poor management practices that ignored the welfare of the workers soon invited problems and were the exact reason that unions were formed.
Today, it almost seems that we have come full circle. The treatment of employees by large companies is now fairly well controlled by health and labor laws, while large national unions seem to be in decline. The high cost of union labor has probably driven much of our manufacturing overseas. The unionizing of government employees seems particularly unnecessary, because the heartless management that oppresses them is none other than we, the American people!
Time will ultimately sort out the correct roles of workers and investors. Less government control of business and more cooperation between Management and Labor should be of value to both sides.
John R. Evans & Company Factory
John R. Evans & Company factory, as seen north on Segal Street — Summer of 1971. Segal Street kids: Floyd Miller Jr., Vennie Miller, Bobby Reed, & Frank Houser Jr. Photo courtesy of Floyd L. Miller Jr.
The Fire of December 19, 1971
On December 19, 1971, at 3:39 P.M., Box 1415 was transmitted for a reported factory fire at the John R. Evans Leather Company, Second and Erie Streets, North Camden. As units of the 1st Battalion left quarters to respond, a huge, menacing column of black smoke could be seen looming to the north. At the height of the fire, this column was visible as far away as Burlington County, over twenty miles from the City. First arriving units transmitted second, third and fourth alarms in quick succession as fire spread rapidly through three blocks of one hundred year old brick and frame buildings.
Numerous special calls for mutual aid, above the fourth alarm were made as fire extended to nearby dwellings. The entire five building complex was destroyed. This Camden landmark founded in 1858, closed just prior to the fire and had employed over 700 people. During the fire, Ladder Company 3 had its water tower in operation with aerial raised to maximum extension. Without warning, the turntable sheared from its mount and lifted off the apparatus, plunging the ladder and Fire Fighter Thomas DiBiaso over fifty feet to the roof of an adjoining building. The turntable operator, Fire Fighter David Sanders, was also injured. Fire Fighter DiBiaso would be retired as a result of his disabling injuries.
Five neighborhood juveniles were arrested and charged with setting the fire.
At 5:29 PM on August 23, 1972 fire would again strike the old leather factory, with disastrous results. Remembered as the Poet’s Row fire, a combination of high winds, low water pressure, apparatus awaiting parts to be purchased for repair, and a lack of manpower gave Camden arguably the greatest fire disaster the city had ever experienced, rivaling and in some ways surpassing the Hollingshead fire of July 1940. Flaming embers from the Evans buildings ignited homes in the Poets Row neighborhood of North Camden. When all was said and done, all the homes on both sides of the 200 blocks of Milton Street and Burns Street had been destroyed, as well as all the homes on the north side of the 200 block of Byron Street, and several on the south side. A number of properties on Erie Street were also heavily damaged.
Fireman Injured as Plant Burns
Camden Courier-Post —
Empty Evans Building Destroyed
By ROBERT N. SANDLER Courier-Post Staff
A 36-year-old fireman, injured yesterday when the ladder from which he was battling a general-alarm fire at a vacant leather tanning plant in North Camden ripped from its base, was reported in satisfactory condition today in Cooper Hospital, Camden.
Thomas DiBiaso, of 2840 Pierce Ave., Camden, was admitted to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit with multiple cuts, a broken wrist and elbow and a possible fracture of the skull.
Witnesses said DiBiaso, a three-year veteran of the fire department, fell about 30 feet and landed on the roof of one plant building when the ladder separated from its base. A second fireman, David Sanders, 38, of 2943 Berkeley St., Camden, who was just starting up the ladder at the time, suffered only minor injuries.
the aid of eight engines and four ladders, including one ladder truck from Westmont Fire Company No.1, fought the blaze in near-freezing temperatures for three and a half hours before it was declared under control at 6:55 p.m. by Fire Chief Frank Deal.
According to Camden County Fire Coordinator Jack Plaskett, men and equipment from Audubon, Brooklawn, Gloucester City, Haddon Heights, Oaklyn, Pennsauken and Woodlynne were stationed in Camden city firehouses. Volunteers of America Firemen’s Canteen was also at the scene.
Cause Probed
Fire officials said the cause of the fire was under investigation.
Camden Mayor Joseph M. Nardi Jr. was among the dozens of residents who watched as the fire spread quickly through the 113-year-old brick and frame buildings. A two-story brick wall of one building collapsed.
He called the fire “tragic.” The Camden mayor said he had hoped the former leather plant would be used for a commercial warehouse. He added that a private corporation had considered construction of modular-type homes on the vacant waterfront lots adjacent to the leather plant.
The five-building complex was sold to a New York firm in September, reportedly for use as a warehouse.
One of Largest
Before John R. Evans Co. went out of business last Feb. 26, it was one of the largest leather tanning companies in the area.
Founded in 1858, Evans Leathers imported kidskins and other leathers from India, Africa, South America and other parts of the world.
The plant, which at its peak in 1960 employed about 700 office, production and maintenance workers, processed $12 million worth of leathers for manufacture of shoes and handbags.
According to James Bienkowski, who said he formerly worked for Evans Leathers, the buildingswere [sic] completely empty since last Friday, when he and others workers [sic] removed the last of the equipment for Johnson Machinery of Newark.
DENSE smoke billows from former John R. Evans Company leather tanning plant in North Camden.
Courier-Post Photo by Robert L. Cave
Ladder Company 3 at the Evans Fire
Ladder Company 3 (second alarm Truck) gets water on fire at the former John R. Evans Leather Company leather tanning plant in North Camden on December 19, 1971. Firefighter Thomas J. DiBiaso operating the ladder nozzle. This incident went to a Fourth Alarm. Photo by Bob Bartosz.
Photo taken moments after Ladder Company 3’s aerial fell, severely injuring Firefighter Thomas J. DiBiaso. Photo by Bob Bartosz.
Photo by Bob Bartosz.
Photo by Bob Bartosz.
It took 3½ hours to bring the blaze under control. These photos were taken shortly before the wall collapsed, as also depicted on the cover of Fire Engineering magazine’s March 1972 edition. Photo by Bob Bartosz.
Photo by Bob Bartosz.
John R. Evans & Company factory wall collapsing, December 19, 1971.
Fire Engineering Magazine — March 1972
Fire Engineering Magazine, March 1972 Edition — The Fire of December 19, 1971: John R. Evans & Company Plant Destroyed. Photo by Bob Bartosz.
5 Juveniles Arrested in Plant Blaze
Camden Courier-Post —
N. Camden Boys
Five North Camden boys are in the Camden County Children’s Shelter at Lakeland following their arrests yesterday in connection with Sunday’s general-alarm fire at a vacant leather tanning plant at Second and Erie Streets.
The boys, between the ages of 11 and 14, all live in the vicinity of the waterfront plant, police said.
Three of the juveniles are charged with malicious burning; two, with trespassing.
Face Judge Malandra
They will be arraigned before Camden County Juvenile Court Judge Angelo D. Malandra.
Camden Police Lt. John Giletto, head of the juvenile division, said the boys told police they and other juveniles had been using the former John R. Evans Co. plant as a clubhouse.
They said they panicked and fled when a fire they started in the building Sunday got out of control, Giletto said.
Possibly $200,000
The building’s owner, Thomas Greiff, president of Greiff Trucking Co. of Brooklyn, N.Y., placed his loss at between $100,000 and $200,000, according to City Fire Marshal Harold Pike.
Greiff said there was no insurance on the building, Pike said.
Fireman Thomas DiBiaso, 36, who was injured fighting the blaze, was in fair condition in Cooper Hospital.