Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-12-21
A NIGHT FIRE.
BIG BLAZE In PHILADELPHIA

A NIGHT FlkE.
A BIG BLAZE In PHILADELPHIA
Property Valued ar $40, 900 Consumed in .
Firo Starting no One Knows How
Public Buildings Threatened
Lofty, blackened walls, flsme.scarred
and gaunt, masking great heaps of debris
within their confines. are all that were
left Thursday morning Of the -storied
Goldsmith hall, on Library street, below
Fifth, Philadelphia, destroyed by fire
Wednesday evening. Heaps of bricks
blockade a side court leading from Library
street and an entaugling mesh of fallen
telegraph and telephone wires grid Ii
brary street telegraph poles and ensnare
the feet OF horses and pedestrians, while
fragments of charsed signs and cornices
show the ruin the flames have made. Ad.
jacent buildings with blackened cornices
and partly burned roofs indicate
further the narrow escaps they
have made. Two hundred and
seventy thousand dollars would probably
cover the loss that was mainly inflicted in
half an hours time. Old tiremen who
were exposed to the great beat said they
had experienced few such horrid scenes.
At one time the flames were SO fierce and
the wind SO strong that apprehensions
were felt for the post Office building, the
old Philadelphia library, now occupied by
the central news company and adjoining
the postoflice at the northeast corner of
Fifth and Library streets, and for the
American bank note company's head
quarters, in the former Mercantile library
building a. the southeast corner of Library
street, the venerable Philadelphia dispen-
sary next door below on Fifth street and
valuable properties occupied BY insurance
companies on Walnut street.
It was nip and tuck betwr en- the fire.
men and the ilames, with the odds dec,d
edly favoring tho destroyer for a long
time. Goldsnith's hall was put up in
1851 and was six stories i'll height. with a
frontage Of fiity-seven feet on Library
street and depth Of one hundred fee:,
but had wing subsequently attached in
the rear five stories in height and about
twenty -four feet square. The Library
street front was brown stone. As far as
it was possible to make such structure
it was designed to be fireproof through
out. Jacob Haehnlen was tho owner and
erected the building. At calculation
based on the enhanced value of the prop
erty since it was put up it was worth
500 900 yesterday.
L. c. Mark!ey u Son, printers, who
have had contracts to do work for councils
and public departments, had an Office OF
the first floor of 422 and carried on bust.
ness on the fifth and sixth floors, over all
A. G. Farley, manufacturer of blank books,
paper tablets, envelopes and other station
cry specialties, was the lessee of the five
story building in the rear. The hands
| employed by Lehman s. Bolton and
| Markley Il Son we're still at work
about quarter before seven o'clock last
evening, when American District Officer
Hess and two citizens, who were passing
along Library street, saw smoke in the
narrow ALLEY adjoining Goldsmith's hal
on the east and traced it to the back wing,
occupied by Mr.. Farley. An alarm was
given instantly and the work people rar
down the stairways to Library street and
escaped. Watckman James Morgan wa:
on the fifth floor at the time and could not
reach the stairs on account of tho binding
smoke, which had already poured into tht
front building. He descended the fire.
escape on the cast wall and was helped
down by Letter carriers Garrett and BLOW
Word was sent to to the central station
but the alarm was not sounded until re
serve arrived. Tho flames spread with
almost lightning rapidity. Mounting
through rear Latchway they burst int
every floor simultaneously, so it appeared
The first alarm, at Gas, had scarcely
sounded before great red mass of fire
was visible above the roof Efforts were
made at once to remove some of the fur
niture and safes from tho first floor of.
fees. The firomen found a poor water sup
ply to start with. Every minute of delay
increased the danger and the forcc of the
flames, which shot forth from every win
dow on the eastern side of the doomed
building. At 6:52 and Csc additiona
alarms were sent out and all tue extension
ladders were sent into Library stree: and
reared against the flaming structure
| Firemen mounted the roofs of the post
Office, the American bank note building,
a two-stOry saloon across All alleyway and
on Walnut street buildings, and attacked
the fire on all sides, bat without any pal
pable effect. The fire grew tiercer every
minute. At ten minutes past Z o'clock it
had full possession of Goldsmith's hall,
and it became a question whether it would
not sweep everything before it up to Fifti.
street. The roof Of Walther's military
hall saloon, 412 Library street, smoked
and the cornice and back part Of the roof
famed up. The tiremen, glad to escape
from furnace temperature, scrambled
down from the roof of the two story
building and flung streams against Wal.
ther's establishment that flew into steam
as they struck the heated bricks
A dense crowd Of spectators spread over
Independence square and the back steps OF
the custom-house, neighbur;ng house
tops and other points of vantage and
gazed at the fiery spectacle. The wind
| from the eastwa.l blew before it a perfect
storm of embers and sparks 1t seemed
to be literally raining fire. The back part
of the roof Of the dispensary, whicl,
touched the burning building. took fire,
but the flames were soon stifed. About
quarter past seven o'clock it was percep-
tible that the eastern wall Was about to
tumble. Engine 80 and truck Il were
moved back few yards and the hosemen
withdrew to the shelter of the postofice
wall, whence they kept up the attack
With frightful rumble and crash the wall
of the back building dissolved and when
it tumbled took down with it the floors
of the front building and about half of the
side wall. Ten minutes afterward au-
other big slice followed. The sound was
like thunder peal. The flames mounted
higher than ever as the floors tumbled in,
but this was only momentary, and then
the fircmen fell that their adversary
would not get beyond control, as they had
feared. Eighteen engines were throwing