The Evening critic., 1882-02-04
WRECKED BY FIRE.
JEFFERSON BUILDING DESTROYED.

At about 3:a5 this morning Tom Coffee,
of No. engine company, discovered fire
in. the first floor of the Jefferson School
building, on Virginia avenue, between
Four.and -a-half and Sixth streets, and re-
ported the discovery at the nearest station.
Foreman Sorrel ordered a general alarm to
besturned in at once, and soon the engines
trucks, hoolS.and ladders, &C., from every
part of the city were fastening to the
scere of the conflagration.
Foreman Sorrell sent messengers at once
to summon Julius Strobell, the ianitor of
the school, and the fremen were admitted
TO the building, when they found that tho
fire had already reached the elevator shaft
and had gained such Roadway that
the streams of water, which began to pour
upon it, as the engine companies came
upon the scene, seemed to be Of no effect
whatever.
BY 4:30 the large Mansard roof was
burning as though it had been made of pa
per. By a. IN. the roof was entirely de-
stroyed and the building was evidently
doomed to total destruction.
The news that the Jefferson School build
ing was on fire spread very rapidly, and
long before daylight an excited crowd was
soon gathered. THE Critic emf ssary, when
he arrived on the scene, interviewed the first
persons who entered the building.
Foreman Sorrell was the first person to
gain access to the burning building, and
entered by forcing open one Of the front
windows of the first floor.
When he got in he found the cloak-room
to be on fire and the flames to be circulat-
ing throughout the building by means of
the ventilating-s shafts, which served as
conductors, carrying the flames to every
room in the entire edifice, and booming the
whole to inevitable destruction. He heard
the roaring of the fire in every part of the
building.
The Possible Causes of the Fire
were the principal subject of discussion this
morning, many saying that the only possi-
bic cause was from the overheating Of tho
boilers in the basement. The ianitor dis
claims this idea, and says positively that
the fires were all out by o'clock yesterday
afternoon at the conclusion of an exhibition
of Edisons phonograph, which was given
yesterday afternoon in the largo lecture
room on the upper floor.
The janitors theory of the fire is that tho
audience who had attended the exhibition
in the afternoon had gone to the cloak-room
on their way out of the building, and some
one had dropped cigar, cigarette, or
lighted match on the floor, which had
smouldered there during the evening and
night until the little room had taken fire,
and
Then the flames Communicated
by the register to the main shaft in the
centre of the building and by this means
leaped upward to the roof. The space un-
der the roof is divided into the very large
rooms, and the doors being all open and a
high wind blowing, the whole open space
was at at once
Filled with Flame,
which in its fury consumed the roof in q
very short time, and then burned rapidly
downward until the ground was reached,
while the fire in the cloak-room had also
spread, and was burning upward at the
same time with great fury, making the
whole building mass of fire and smoke,
and burning with equal rapidity in every
direction.
This is the most reasonable though not
the most popular theory, rs it would be
difficult to explain otherwise the course of
the flames and this idea is shared by Fore
man Sorrell and others who arrived early
on the scene. Many persons believe that
the fire originated in the lecture-room
From Some Cnrelessness
on the part of the persons who occupied the
rooms during the afternoon, but Il briel
meeting Of a debating society was held in
that room in the evening, and the members
saw no indications of fire in the building
The Progress of the Fire.
The flames had reached the roof of the
building by Ithe time the first fire com
panies arrived on the scene, or at about
3:45 a. M, and the first streams of water
ad ri win 4 g . H.,
mansard roof and the cornice around the
roof.
The Water Was Entirely Insufficient
and the force equally inadequate, and ac-
cordingly the roof burned with as great
rapidity as though there had been no re-
sistance offered. The fremen, however
worked faithfully and we'll, and disre-
garded the great danger in which they
were placed by the falling windows, from
the roof and the tumbling timbers.
AT about $50 q. M. tho fremen engaged
| under where the immense bell was hang
| ing were compelled to fall back, as the sup.
| ports around the great mass of metal had
| burned away and the bell came crashing
| down, ringing wildly in its rapid descent
| The firemen returned Immediately, and Q
moment later an immense timber
| Struck Foreman SorreI on the Head
| and kHocked him senseless to the ground
| Sorrell was carried away by his comrades
| in senseless condition and attended by
| DR.. Hazen, who pronounced his injurie.
serious but not dangerous. The fire, a
about 6 o'clock, had totally consumed Tho
roof and burned the timbeTs supporting tht
upper floor, which few minutes later gave
| way.
The few fIemen who had remained OF
| the lower floor of the building amid tht
sitting smoke were compelled to retrea
at this stage, leaving only John Kane,
! private of No, engine company, in th
building. This mans cries soon wer
heard, and some men went to rescue him
but when he was carried ont his clothe
were on fire. Kane was taken to his hom
in the police ambulance and attended b.
DR.. Riley.
At late hour IL was reported that h
would not survive his injuries, The Fir
Department soon learned that all effort
| to
Save the Central Portion Of tia
Ruiiding
were unayailing, and directed thoir atteu
ton to the two wings. The ire continues
to burn very rapidly down, the floors civ
ing way, the windows falling Inward, TIA
furniture, etc, being totally destroyed.
About o'clock two more men were re
ported as injured, and ON investigation
was found that Priyates Noss and Adams
Of No. company, had both been painful
burned on the hands, and were obliged {
retire FROM the scene of the fire. By 1
o'clock the third and second stories ha