New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-12-21
WHAT THE GREENFIrLDS SAY.

OVER a HUNDRED PERSONS 81 wUEK IN THE BUILD
IyG-Hpw I.s PHormEToR~ ESCAPED.
Ernest CTeenfel and his two sons Nelson and
Earnest NJ, live No 345 West Twenty second-st.
Thetwo ,ons were found there last evening but all
access Co Mr.. Greenfield himself was denied The
young men seemed calm. bat said they were too
much excited to give much information. The
younger Of the two, Earnest NJ. whose age was
about twenty, appeared 70 have more sel!-po,,cssOn
than his brother AID old the coherent STORY.
Il was standing said he, near the entrance to
the retail department on Barclay-st at The till and
had Just taken ont $500 in bills. II was htlle al
ter O'Clock think. The store was full Of Gus
tomcrs-twcuty-fye, perhaps-as it generally was
at that time Of day. had just picked up the bills,
leaving the silver, when suddenly the whole room
seemed full Of flames and flying timbcrs. ] heard
no explosion OF great noise Of any kind. ! believe
/ jumped through the window, for presently
i found myself IN the street. My hand
IS only slightly cut. We employed some
times 200 people on ali the floors, but the force
was iucguarly employed and how many We're busy
to-day cannot tell-peThap. over "a hundred. Forty
OF fifty girls were the inst floor doing up packa-
ges. Only men worked ID the upper stories. II does
not seem to me that many lives are lost. The two
buildIEgs were open from Barclay-st. to College
place the fr.t floor, and connected Ly iron fIe-
two exits IN each building and two starcsscs from
top to bottom. believe that the men above if they
did not entirely lose their presence of mind escaped
The boiler, were in good condition, as far as |
know and had lately been inspected. ! saw tho in
spector after the explosion, and he told me So HIS
name don't know. What caused the explosion |
cannot imagine. | dropped the $500 had in my
hand The cashier, W. II. Schumacher, aud the
book-keeper, Edward W0lirOm, tell me they put the
books IN the safe and the bills of sale for ;Ac day
in their pockets. ] don't know where they live.
Our paymastcr, Charles Nogel, had the list Of tine
employees assurances and all that sort Of thing The
cashier attended tO'
Nelson Greenfield tine elder son who's, age D. about
twenty-seyen, said " can't tell anything about
what happened. for l don't know. Suddenly u
seemed to be raining fire. l was near the angle Of
the store where the office was. Father was there
talking with SIR. Dick, the tasteles7 medicine man.
don't know in what way or auyb.dy else got
ont. met my father afterward waking along Bar
olay-st. He is not seriously injured but is not ~
any condition 10 talk about the fire. / don't know
how many people We employed, now OF any time,
nor what any of their names are, where, at
what they worked. have no idea how many were
lost / don't know anything about the insurance
nor the stock. ii yOu come around in the morning
perhaps we can tell ycu. Ny clothes are torn
don't know anything more about IT,"
Captain Sanders, of tho Twenty -seyenth Precinct,
states that the elder Mr. Greenfield SAID to HIM That
he feared only small part Of those IN the building
could have escaped.
Ernest Greenfield, the proprietor of the candy es-
tabhshment, is veteran cOufectiOuer. lie was
born ii Strtsburg and served a long apprenticeship
at making candy, both IN Germany and France. He
spoke both German and French with 1uency. He
same 10 NeWYork twenty -ye years ago. Nitha small
capital he began business IN 1892 IN ltue
old-fashioned dwelling house, which was
then No. 2O6 Greenwch-st. 1t is now No. 2lS, aud
is occupied by MossTs. Hall q Racket. Mr. Green
field occupied the upper part OF the building a
residence. and made candy 4 small scale in the
cellar lie was successful, and alter three years he
determined 10 enlarge ms business and in
crease his capital by taking partner. In
1855 the firm became Greenfield 81 Trues-