, 1879-01-06

by the siairwa7s was cut oil, and shout twenty
people, mostly women employed In rho baR'fe-
pairing room, experienced considerable difficulty
In getting out Of the upper stories. All, how.
ever. were rcscucd. The smoke drove out the
employees Of the Poat-0fIlcc, but not before
those IN tho money.order ot1lcc and stamp dc.
partmcnts lad put their books, papers, money.
etc.. Into The vaults. The men In the west Wing
had ), to run fos their lives. this portion,
though separated from The main building by
court, si1itug 70 rapidly will. smoke that they
could not sare .nythiog; The dremcn. how. ~.
smoke bc!nE driven out by the wind. tie EN-.
plo. es went to work with will and III vory
short Nn,r lad all the mall in tho street, whcnca
It VAS carried to tho American Express Hul'd-
The Gre made It's way from tile rar,,cnter'shop
tnto the storage rooms, and reached tho roof
through the elevators in the south cnl Of the
hut,dtnE. No particular blazo was noticed IN
the basement at sll, tho stavInes, paper, and
woodwork seeming to hc smoked to pieces.
Along toward 4 o'clock the roof hegan 10 lllazr.
first In ono part and then in atsottler. Every
faw minutes taFRc pieces q eor,usated irnn md
tparknb1u metallic figure on thu hall which or
na,r,cntctl tho CENTRE Of the Dcarhori.stseet
froht. and whirh was onee aatlto II. IL. Ilonoro
rnottoatnR TO Eastern eapstatsstt, disarrcare0
ilcnt. The Mansard roof, eomlH'sed OF wood
aud cosrugnt-sl iron, yielded gradually to tho
flames, And by qliufter Of most ot It had ran
tahed, tho tlro By this time having possession Of
the tfth flour. particularly that part south OF
st,e Dearborn street entrance. and, by u'tlock,
Of tl,a wholu OF It. Below no tlamcs wcrc to bo
seen trunl Dearborn etEcct cxccpt In The centre
Of tile structure, where the stair~ays we're lo-
/ rntcd. branua having fnllen down through tho
| elevator and set the wood.worE nhlaxo; but IN
tho sraF the fro had wprked its war down to thu
third floor, nearly all the wfndow-fratncs having
| tgusecd. nt,t1 the Ftar rooms, separated from
t!osc fronting an Dearbnrn street hy u hallway
fifteen feet wt,e, wera Ill tlghtetup BY theblr1l-
ing Of ,c their so"sent:' THIS reaf pa, pa.t
eoa @ ID no. Se Hottcu 1t exccp. from tic rooi Il
! tho west wing and that Of tho l1owlansl Btoc1s
told ftnnure Dufltitnel Iu~t north Of thu alley,
| aud from these positl0ns wator could be thrown
Into only the nth tloor. There wcra fuur
streams On the tnp Ut tho lIowlant Hlock. eight
un the top or the wcst wing. sovcn On Dearborn
| street. mil five on Adams street. Tho two 1Ise
| mentioned did good exerttton,-that Is, the
QUO OF two exceptions, the balance wcru Tor a
lnng time useless, siuca tue water could not BE-
forced mp high enough. Only tho Ers:.elass
steamers could do that. Efforts were made II
| brcnk the window pancs with the streams bnt
thov were unsuccessful, as LII tho case Ut the
Singer Building; 10 guns md Davy rcyoiveta
weru procured. and bullets anil buck
shot fired at them. rs It was iat
possible to take aim. owing to the
smui;o mud steam which alIcd the street, yer,
llttio glass was brokeNt the inissiles generally
hitting the atono frunt, Whena pane was struck
by accident tho crowd yctlcd. This was I'll,
only way wetcr could be gotten into tho stories
below tho nth, and tI,e attempt was tuall,
s.icccasful to q limited cxtcns.