Redsetter wrote on Aug 17
th, 2018 at 7:32pm:
Many have read or heard it, but what is the original source of that info? A public announcement by Stevens, or more likely, Savage, after their purchase of the company?
The Stevens fire is real and has been well documented in books about Stevens whenever the subject of Stevens records for serial numbers is discussed. It's also been documented in the government investigation for war profiting after WWI, so not just a myth.
Besides the timely circumstance of the fire, Stevens also cleverly made all their upper management "unavailable" to testify at the Congressional hearings that were held. They sent all their upper management to the West Coast for almost two years until the investigation was wrapped up.
This might seem like an insignificant attempt to withhold testimony today, since we have so much accessibility today to electronic devices to record interviews. But in the 1920's this actually worked and no Stevens upper management ever testified.
Jay Kimmel goes into great detail in his history of Savage-Stevens Firearms. I've read it elsewhere, but can't cite you the other source without looking through my firearms library.