Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-08-01

thursday, AUGUST !
BURNING OF TIE GREAT ERIE MA
| CHINE SHOP.
4 Fireman Il ilics, by the Falling w MI
"A Carpenter SuppOscsl to have bec1
Burned TO Dcnih-Imnic''scL Loss.
From the New York Sun, of Thursday.
At BIS O'Clock last night the carpell
tcr's shop i'll the cast end Of the I'M
mense Erie Railway machine shops
Jersey City took fire. A general alarm
was ut once sounded, winch was re
sponded to with alacrity by the entir,
fire department. OF Jersey City, unde
Chief Engineer Farrier, and the Who'll,
police force, with Chief McWilliams q
their head. Before the engines couli
be put to work, the flames flashed
from one end of the building to tha
other, enveloping twenty-six locomo
tives which were under course of re
pair.
The building, which was brick, two
stories high with slate covered roof
faced Provost street and extended to
Meadow street, and from Tenth tc
Eleventh streets. It covered with the
ground used for storing aud repairing
the engines and cars several acres.
The fire illuminated the entire metro.
polls.
Crowds crossed over to Jersey City,
and 1t was estimated that 50, 600 per
sons viewed the destruction of the
shops and contents.
So rapid was the fire that the en-
ployees, who were soon on the spot,
saved only very small portion OF
their tools. They all lose more or less.
From the carpenter shop the flames
extended to the pattern shop, thence to
the tin shop. taking in the paint shop,
brass finishing department, boiler shop,
blacksmiths' FORCES, and machine shops
In rotation. The fire then commune
Gated to the offices and store rooms,
and in an almost incredible time the
whole structure, contents, and locomo.
tives were one solid sheet OF flame.
The many streams of water thrown
on it from all directions we're of no
avail. 1t burned with lightning rapid
ity, and destroyed everything in its
way. Then the tiremen directed their
attention to saving the adjoining build
ings. Henwood's extensive tobacco
warehouses were threatened, but
were saved by the exertiops of the fire.
men. The freight depot, which con-
tanned large number of cars and sew.
eral million dollars worth of freight
was also saved with much difficulty by
the Erie employees. A stiff westerly
breeze was blowing, which earned the
sparks toward the shipping, and endan-
gered the depot and many warehouses,
but the fire was providentiaily confined
to the machine shops.
One hour after the discovery of the
Fl e, the roof of the main building had
burned of. The rafters then fell in,
aud the north wall tottered for an in
slant and tumbled over with tremen-
dous crash. A few minutes later Chief
Farrier directed steam fire
engine No. 3 to take position in front
of the Provost street wall and play on
the fire. This order was protested
against by Chief of Police McWilliams,
but the latter had no discretion in the
matter, and could only offer sugges-
ton as to the danger of the men from
the falling walls. 1t was needed.
A moment later the wall fell outward,
burying the engine in the
debris, instantly killing Engineer Jas.
McGrath and seriously injunng Char
les Nagle. The former mad Just re.
turned, at the break out of the fire,
from picnic given by Hiram Lodge
Of Masons, of which he was member.
He is said to have been the best enRiu-
eer of the Jersey City Fire Department,
and leaves a wife and family to deplore
his sudden and untlmely death.
1t was rumored that one of the car
penters rushed into the building Just
after the fire broke out, and was not
seen to come out again. 1t is sup
posed he was smothered and then
burnt alive, This, however, needs con-
irmation.
Fears we're entertained that the large
BOILER would explode, and the crowd
vas kept back from it. AS it became
leated the whistle began blowing, and
continued for over fifteen minutes.
1t the same time steam was blowing
IF from the safety valve, and the ex-
'itement became intense.
Two hours after the discovery of the
ire the whole structure, with the entire
and all the books and papers,
we're destroyed. Some of the macl,in-
'ry was very valuable and cannot be
eplaced. Nearly six hundred persons
re thrown out of employment by the
ire, and the loss to the company is al
most incalculable. In money value it
vill approximate nearly three millions
If dollars.
By direction of the station master a
ong train of freight cars was drawn out
rom the vicinity OF the fire to safe
place, and all incoming trains were
stopped ut the Bergen tunnel until the
lanes had subsidized. When the fire
1ad destroyed everything. within its
reach, extensive depredations were
committed by the gangs Of dock rats
md thieves who had been attracted by
;he unusual glare caused by the fire.
They were checked as far as possible
~ the Jersey City police force.
OF the locomotives destroyed two,
Brooks No. 327 and No. 105, were new
md very costly. They were said to be
he finest owned or ever built in this
the Others, with three excep-
lions, were freight engines.
Among the property in the building
we're thirty locomotives, besides an
immense amount of valuable machine
~. Much of the latter can be saved
in tolerably good condition. The first
estimates placed the loss at 50, O00, 600,
but the directors have since announced !
chat SO large proportion of the ma
chinery has heen found III go, d condi-
lion that $500, 900 will cover the dam
age, which in turn is fully covered by
insurance.
The British Argument before the
Geneva Tribunal.
The summary Of tho British argu-
ment laid before the Geneva Tribunal
has been issued from the London For
pign Office. It consists of !, condensa.
lion into the limits of 80 folio pages of
the arguments contained in the British
Case aud Counter Case, or, more
of the general substance and
results of those arguments and evil
lence, with some additional remarks
made necessary by the new matter con-
tanned in the American Counter Case,
or arising out of the evidence put in by
the United States. In the beginning