Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-10-14
Burning OF the Crystal Palace.

of the destruction of the Crystal Palace by fire
ON Tuesday night This palace was erected in.
i 1853 at a cost of $7lI 600. Other improve.
ments since made swell the cost to $750,000
1t has beeu ruinous speculation 10 the stock
holders The association went into bankruptcy
in the fall Or winter of lS54-John H. White
assignee. The Times gives the following account
Of the disaster
At ten minutes after o'clock yesterday
after Eoon the famous Crystal Palace, where
the Fair of The American Institute was being
| held took fire There is no doubt rs to the
place where the fire originated 1t was first
seen in what was called the f" lumber room,
| comprising the entrance at the Forty second
| street side, at the North nave The lumber
room was filled with old wooden patterns =
relics of previous exhibitions quantity of
canvas and miscellaneous refuse, all Of dry
and highly nAammahlc character. In mo-
mcnt the whole was in Il blaze The flames
rushed up through the staircase, lighted a
thirty-one-Star gas ilIuminatOr, dashed among
quantity OF paints and chemicals on the second
toor-swept around and along the nave tax
| ing quantity of bedding, cabinet ware and
wall paper, until they reached the edge of the
dome In an instant one body of fame encir-
| cled the entire area of the dome. The heated
air and the gas caused :he girders to snap like
! brittle glass and in twelve minutes from the
discovery of the fire, as is determined by sever
! al gentlemen who noted the fact by their
Watches the dome fell with laundering crash
| and in twenty minutes time the roofs of these
| portions of the building ware destroyed and fell
An alarm was given the moment the fire was
| discovered. but SO rapid was its progress that
by the time Gremen reached the place it was
too fate to be of service in saving the building
! and its contents The hose Of several engines
} was taken into the building, and water was
freely thrown in upon the burning mass When
the roofs and walls of the outer nayeS fell, the
utmost caution had to be used to prevent ac-
cidentS among the immense crowd that had
assembled Fortunately no one was Injured by
the falling walls. ....
From the sum known to be taken at the en-
trance, as well as from other means of deter
mining the fact, no fewer than 1000 persons
are estimated to have been in the building
when the cry of fire arose. OF this immense
crowd, there is yet no positive evidence that
aay lost their lives. There was rumOr
that a female and her child were among the
ruins, but the story was not well authentcat
| ed. A statement also prevailed that a young
man named Smith, employed in the jewelry
! department, was missing but he turned up
safe, having saved $4,000 worth Of jeweiry.
| \ large number Of persons having articles
on exhibition were present in the building when
! the FIRE broke out The fact that the building
was constructed Ofiron and glass diSpelled from
! from the minds of every one all apprehension
of any danger Of the building being destroyed.
At first very few thought Of looking after Their
goods but seeing the rapid progress of the
| flameS many undertook to remove them. The
| fire spread, however, with Such astonishing
rapidity that they had hardly turned to pick
up such OF their articles as were portable be-
| fore they were obliged to drop them and hurry
| for their lives. \ beautiful hose carriage, on
| exhibition from Albany, was taken in safety
out of the Eorte,h street entrance. a case Of
| patented Sefcockjng pistols and rifles, manu-
factured by IL. S. North Of Philadelphia, was
taken cut as the same entrance. Two stories
prevailed as to whether the the case contain
| ing the medals to be awarded by the Institute
at the close Of the Fair was removed or not
The total value Ct these medals would be not
less than $4,000, The articles above enumerat-
ed comprise all the property saved, excepting,
as stated elsewhere, the case containing $4,000
worth Of icwery.
An attempt was made to remove the fire
| engine though the FCrtieth street entrance
but the fire had gained such headway that the
man attempting the removal had to reuqush
the undertaking.
The moment the alarm of fire was given,
Mr.. johnson, one of the managers, attempted
to get the hose into action reserved in the
building for emergency in case of fire. 1t was
impossible to force water through it, and
the effort to eXtinguish the fire in this way was
of necessity abandoned. Had this apparatus
been in working order, the conhagraton un-
doubtedly might have been prevented
\ feature Of the Palace was the steam Cal
liope introduced for the first time at the ex-
hibiton of last year There We're three of
these singular musical monsters in the Palace.
One was placed there yesterday, and was not
quite in working order The other two were
in full blast. They were placed on the platform
in the centre OF the building Immediately under
meath the dome, and daily discourScd music to
the great wOnderment and delcctation of the
visiterS to the Palace. On one of the inStru-
mentS tune had just been finished when the
fire broke ont the air by seeming strange
fatality, being " Pop, goes the weasel The
value Of three instruments were all con-
sumed--was $4,000.
The value of the property destroyed can
scarcely be estimated with any degree of ac-
curacy. The Palace was valued by the Amer
lean Institute, when they essayed to by it, at
1925, 600. The goods on exhibition at the Fair
aud the statuary which had been left since the
Worlds Fair, at a low estimate must have
been worth 1928 900, making a total of $3.50,
600
The Herald says, all the statuary and
paintings in the Palace were, of course destroy
ed, Some Of the statues were very fine and
ranked high as works of art The most strik-
ing object in the statuary department was the