The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-05-31
Another Destructive Fire I'm Boston
Another Warning Against Combustibie
Buildings I'm our Crowded Cities.


Another Warning Against combustibie
Buildings I'm our Crowded Cities.
The patriotic observances of Decoration
Day were rudely interrupted yesterday morn
ing in Boston by the breaking out of an alarm
ing fire in the heart of the old city-a fierce
and angry fire, threatening for q time work
of destruction which might approach or exceed
last. All the conditions but one favorable to
an extensive sweep of the flames marked the
beginning of this fire of yesterday. II broke
out in furniture factory, an immense build
ing Of six stories in height, filled to the roof
with combustible materials. This building
was in the heart of a densely built district
Astounding in combustible matter; and the fresh
northwesterly wind prevailing at the time,
from the moment of the bursting of the flames
through the roof of the furniture warehouse,
gave them Roadway in the inviting field
before them from which other buildings must
have been destroyed had not all the fremen Of
the city at this point Of time been on the
ground.
| But the one condition needed yesterday for
fire to be recalled hereafter with that of Boston
in November last and with that of Chicago in
| October, 1871, was the condition of darkness
of night instead of day, and the general be-
wilderment and confusion incident to
raging fire in the night instead of the general
readiness, GOODNESS and efficiency with which a
fire breaking out in the full light Of the day is
always resisted In this view it was fortunate
for Boston that this fire of yesterday did not
come as surprise in the night, but at the very
period of the busy day when her active citizens,
! all abroad at their various avocations, were
ready at moments notice, to meet the enemy
in assisting their fremen in every available way.
But even with all the advantages Of daylight
against the fire of yesterday, the wonder is not
that so much Of the neighboring property
was destroyed, but that SO much was
saved. Our dispatches inform US that,
when discovered, the fire was in the
upper floor of the furniture factory Of Haley,
Morse Il Co., among the workshops (some
negligence here); that the flames were issuing
from the roof that the piles of light ma
terials packed away ION the several foors)
were like so much finder that before the
alarm could be given great volumes of flame
were rolling up fifty feet into the air that the
heat generated was intense, and that in twenty
minutes the upper stories of the building, from
front to rear, distance of two hundred feet,
were mass Of glowing flames.
From this magazine Of fire, this seething
and cracking mass Of combustibles six stories
in height and two hundred feet deep, there
was no escape for the adjoining property;
and SO the flames extended to and consumed
the adjacent clothing, dry goods and mil
linery stores and, sweeping into the
great piano factory of Chickering & Co.,
and into the Globe Theatre, the con-
fagration speedily assumed its most alarming
proportions. Now, if next to depot of
petroleum, or a storehouse of fireworks, or an
old museum of wax works and other finder,
theatre may be pronounced the most likely of
all inAammable establishments. A furniture
or piano factory filed with seasoned cabinet
woods, cut up into kindlings, when fairly
ablaze, is simply inextinguishable till its con-
tents are consumed. But infammable as are
the paper forests, cottages and castles and all
the shifting scenes of the play house, seldom
has great fire resulted from the burning of
theatre. The vast hollow space within its
walls between pit and dome gives room for the
flames which otherwise, rising higher in the
air, would carry destructive brands and Gin
ders far and wide Hence fire in theatre,
if never arrested short of the destruction of
the building has seldom extended beyond its
walls. The burnings of the Bowery, of the
Fifth Avenue, the National Theatre at Wash
ington and of numerous other temples of the
drama, from time to time, may be mentioned
in support of this statement The fact is es-
tablished and we think we have accounted
for it.
But furniture or piano factory of half a
dozen floors, more or less, packed with kim
ding materials when fairly ablaze, sends a
volume of fame and shower Of sparks up
wards which, under strong wind in dry sea-
son. may carry destruction to wooden sheds or
mansards two or three blocks distant. We are
again warned by this Boston fire Of the danger
of combustible buildings in crowded cities, es-
pecially when such buildings tower above the
mass of the surrounding houses. But if such
establishments in the situations indicated are
to be considered as one of the necessary mis-
fortunes Of great cities, where lies the remedy
against this ever present danger Of fire? 1t
lies in more rigid precautionary measures, in o
more systematic vigilance over these danger
GUS establishments and in more effective prep
arations and means than any now in general
use for the extinguishment of fire in such
buildings on the first alarm. Nay, as far as
human foresight can prevent it, there should
not be allowed the occasion for fire alarm
within the walls Of any large storehouse of
combustibles, night or day. The rules and
regulations in reference to lights and fire, to