The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-10-07
BURNING OF THE NEW YORK CRYSTAL
PALACE

The Crystal Palace located on Sixth Ayenue no.
tween fortleth and forty-second street, was de-
= stroyed by 1re last evening" and is heap of
ruins. About O'Clock smoke was seen issuing from
large room in the north nave, and in front of the
entrance on Forty-secOnd street, and in less than
| halt an hour thereafter the Palace was n total
wreck, and nothing renaing of this edifice but
heap OF unsighty ruins. The octagonal turrets at
each corner still remain standing, while here and
there on every side may be seen stacks of iron the
remains of saircases, and portions ofthe framework
| composing the galleries.
FROM the room above mentioned, flames soon
maze their appearance, and spread with incredible
rapGlty IN every direction. There were about
1000 person scattered about the edifce Mt the time
all OF whom, the moment the alarm of 'ire" was
raised, made a rush for the Sixth avenue entrance
| the doors of which were thrown open. The en-,
trance on Fortieth street was closed there beinu no
other means OF ingress or egress except on Sixth
| avenue. Under the direction of ex-Capt MAYNARD
and several of the Directors of the Institute the
| crowd OF visitors were conducted safely to the
| street. and no one that we have heard of was in
| anywise injured Some of the exhibitors endeavor-
ed to save their property, but were forced to turn
| toward the door and were compelled to flee to
the street. The amount property saved is com
The Herald says: Therei every reason to believe
that the fire was the work of an ncendiarv, as it
originated in part Of the building in which no fire
| was used, but which was filled with inhammabIe
MATERIAL the debris of the Palace, which was nut
IN IN an out OF the way place, for fear of accidents
The building was large that it proved difficult to
spread an alarm, and it some time before the
visitors could be warned of their DANGER and the
danger to all in the palace most imminent for
the hames, when they got under headwav, spread
with fearful rapidity, and if by magic the vast
e%dlflce % was one mass of glowing fire and fame
There were eight hydrans in the buildipp: but the
suddenness with which the fire spread gave the en-
ployees of the American Institute no time to use
them; and almost before the hose could be screwed
on the contagration had made such headway that
all attempts to save anything on exhibition much
building.
The scene in the Palace during the progress of
the ilames was one of indescribabe confusion. A
pane seemed to seize every and the bewildered
visitors scarcely understood their dangerous posi-
ton we'll enough to provide for their own safetv-
The chlleren screamed, women tainted, and their
distracted male attendants with difficulty found
their way to the doors. Last night was to have
been concert night, and the managers estimate
that at least 10000 persons would nave been pres
ent Had the fire. therefore, taken place three
hours later there is scarcely doubt but that thou
sands OF lives would have been lost, as all could not
have passed the doors before the dome fell
The pitch pine which formed the flooring, stairs
ana framework OF the entire palace, afforded
most intammable pabulum for the contlagration to
feed upon, and this explains the reason of its rapid
spread. The scene when the fire was at its height
was one OF fearful magniiicence. The huge dome
was like vast ball of fire, and the flames leaped up
its sides in great waves of lurid light At one time
the whole palace was glowing like burning coal
and vomiting fire. All who witnessed the specta-
Gle declare that it was one of those things rarely
in lifetime.
About twenty five minutes after the fire was first
discovered the dome fell with fearful crash. In
forty minutes from the breaking out of the fire the
Palace and all it contained were totally DESTROYED;
and all that mark the site are few standing tow
ers and 4 smoking heap of ruins.
EN-CAPTAIN MAYNARD'S STATEMENT.
We give the following statement from ex-Capt
MAYNARD of the Municipal Police:
The fre originated at the Forty-second street en-
trance, North Nave, at about o'clock. This en-
trance Is Enr, tnlo =,
to form a lumber room, and there is no fire any
where in the neghborhood of it. | was standing
at the public entrance on Sixth avenue, and the
first intimation | had was the cry of "fre"
There was then rush of people for this entrance
which was the only open. In connection
with the visitors, exhibitors and employees
there were about two thousand people in
the building, all of whom appeared to 1ush
Tor the door. In connection with the Managers,
Kept them back, so that accident should
happen by their piling on top of each other while
gong down the steps From the time the fire started
untlthe crowd passed out, which not fifteen
or twenty minutes, the building was filled with
smoke and flames from the dome to the floor, and
the speed of the fire great that no one of the
exhibitors had time to save anything except what
they could carry easily out The only property saved
at the SiXth-avenue entrance was few light arti-
ces which the exhibitors carried in their hands,
one light carriage, and glass case containing
the gold and silver medals, silver cups intended
| to be awarded to the exhibitors at the present
! Fair The visitors had for the most part got out
before there was much spread of the fire, and when
all, or pretty much all were out, was startled by
! tremendous crash or fall of glass, rushed in to
! see what caused it, when found the fire immedi-
/ atey over my head, on the Sixth avenue entrance.
/ The last thing taken out was the above men
toned and the flames leaped after we left the
ediiice with it.
A young man named Smith, in the employ of the
| Institute about the last in the building, and
! saved a case of valuable watches.
! In an almost incredible short space of time the
fall.
/ feet wreck.
STATEMENT OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF
MANAGERS.
/ From Frederick w. Gessenhainer, ESQ, the
| Chairman of the Board of Managers of the Ameri-
can Institute, reporter obtained statement of
| facts connected with the conhagraton.
MIR. Geissenhainer was standing in the south
nave near the Forteth street entrance when he
heard the alarm of fire in the north nave. He ran
rapidly to the FOrty-second street. entrance,
! where he discovered a quantity of wooden patterns
of the iron work used in the construction of the
! Palace, and which had been deposited in the west
side of the entrance, enveloped in rapidly extend
| ing flame, which had already communicated to the
| flight OF stairs near the entrance. The pitch
pine floors only invited the flames and they licked
| over the planking, rolling up dense clouds of
smoke, which nearly suffocated those in the north
nave. After dspatching a man to turn off the
gas, which had just been turned on for the evening,
| Mr. Geissenhainer ran to a hydrant with hose
attached, near the north entrance, and caused the
! low water in the reservoir, it was of no avail In
the mean time the flames had progressed with a
fearful rapidity, rendering the steam pump and fire
engines and apparatus at this time unavailing, had
! there been a suffciency of water. As it became
evident that there hope of saving the build
ing, the hundreds who, the first alarm, rushed to
! the point where the fire was burning, rapid
lv toward the FOrtieth street and Sixth avenue en-
frances in the greatest confusion and excitement,
| while the employees of the Institute and few
Others devoted their efforts to clearing the build
| ing of the people,
! Without any preconcerted arrangement. they
! distributed themselves throughout the building,
looking for persons in retired spots and warning
! them of their danger The flames ascended to the
second oor and seemingly rolled along the surface
of the woodwork like molten iron, at a speed as
rapid the ordinary pace of pedestrian on the
! street. After going through two of the galleries
Mr.. Gessenhainer proceeded to the picture gallery.
lie went behind the panorama, thinking that the
men who were engaged in winding the panorama for
the evening exhibition might still be there When
he returned from the gallery he found both stair
ways in blaze. He ran to one OF the towers and
finding one board displaced in the floor he easily
removed another and slid down the iron pipe lead
ing from the water-tank to the floor below, and
moment after made his egress from the building.
The last persons had hardly left the building
when the dome fell in with n tremendous crash
just twelve minutes after the fire was discovered
The Institute saved only the three entry books and
their safe, with the medals and premiums and these
with great difficulty. On side of the Sixth
] "
had received done up and saved it without Difficult
ty. The other ticket seller was forced to leave,
leaving over 5000 in the tlls. The Institute had
expended over $4,000 last year in fitting up the
Palace. But little property was saved.
Mr.. Geissenhainer thinks that there were thou
sand persons in the interior when the alarm was
sounded. In the rush for the entrance large num-
bers of persons became separated from their friends
and families, and for a long time many were run
ming about in deep distress, in the fear that their
family friends had not been fortunate as to es
cape from the building Up to the hour of Mr..
Geissenhainer's leaving the ruins he had heard of
no deaths One old gentleman was found living at
the foot of one of the starways senseess he having
fallen in his efforts to escape. He was carried out
of the building. Some fears were expressed that
there might be persons in the water closets who
were unable to make their escape. Mr.. Geissen-
hainer thinks this is improbable, as any person
there could have easily made their escape through
the machine shop, both ends of which were open.
Mr.. Geissenhainer estimates the amount of pro-
perty in the building destroyed at nearly $500 600
1t is stated that there policy of insurance on the
articles in the building in favor of the bondholders
and city for S50,000.
The cause of the fire remains unknown but Mr.
Geissenhainer thinks it the work of an incendiary
There was no flre used within two hundred feet of
the spot where the flames were first discovered
Hewer's engine, which was running near the north
entrance, was moved by steam conveyed two hun
dred feet. Fearing that there might be an explo-
sion, the engineer early in the conhagraton re-
moved the ball from the safety-valve of the main
boiler, and allowed the steam to blow off.
There were about $500 exhibitors, more than half
of whom had entered exhibition, bed quilts
6Iau e