Morning journal and courier., 1883-08-23
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. OIL WORKS ABLAZB. Thousands of Tanks of
 Burning Fluid. LOSS OF NEARLY A MILLION. Workmen Terribly Burned in
 the Flames. A DEATH DEALING CYCLONE, Over a Hundred Lost i'm the
 Blow.
FIRE RECORD.

OH on Fire-WOrkmen Roasting in the Bnrning FIuid-Near 8 Million Gene up in Smoke-Terrtble Scenes in the Burn- ing Ruins.
 NEW YORK, Aug. 22-A terrible fire in
 Long Island City to day involved loss of over three-quarters of million and endang-
 ering many lives. Five persons were seri-
 ousIy hurt and some of them cannot recover.
 The flames broke out at II o'clock in the can
 ming department of the Empire Oil works and spreading with such rapidity that the 25O
 employees only escaped running and tumbling down stairs, saving nothing A few were hurt by their falls and by the rush, but none seriously. There followed for an hour fus- ilade of exploding oil cans. The heat be- came so intense that it could be felt quart CT of mile and the smoke made g cloud ;1 the sky visible for miles. The fire origin a.eh.in the packing shop where two hundred men were engaged in soldering cans. Patrick Cooney leaned over the twenty quart can which he was soldering to spit and in doing so inadvertently allowed the red hot point of his soldering iron to touch the oil, which at once blazed up, burst the can and threw the burning oil in every direction. Some of the braver men stayed to save Cooney and, carried him out. He was horribly burned and had piece of the tin from the can forced into his skull. The men who helped him were burned about the head and face. A man named Dexter fell in the fire aud his body was burned to crisp in places and his hair burned of before he could be dragged out. Peter Long had his clothing burned of and was badly hurt by the feet of the workmen who had no other means of ex- tinguishing the flames in his clothing but by was on fire when he jumped from the third story window upon a shed and fell to the ground where he was saved by turning the hose on him. He and Cooney cannot live and others may die. It is also believed that there may be burned bodies in the building, although that is not certainly known. Ed ward Clare jumped from an adjoining building roof after his clothing was on fire into the canal. A dozen men jumped after him and drew him out unconscious. His skin came off and his hair fell out at the touch. Long Island Git y has no efficient fire department and aid was only rendered by the company's organize d department and half dozen tugs until the Brooklyn department arrived. Had it not been for the tugs the flames must have de stroyed much adjoining valuable property. They confined the fire. Over one million cans of oil were in storage and the heat drove the firemen so far away that their streams could little more than reach the building. Men fainted and fell and were dragged away by their comrades, while there had to be constantly reliefs at the hose. The flames spread to the docks, where there were five thousand barrels of crude petro- leum and the ARitator with one thousand seven hundred barrels caught fire and ex- ploded with terrific force. The box factory was destroyed with all it's stock and machin- cry and about one thousand empty barrels. The barrel room and tin shops were gutted and their contents destroyed. Nineteen laden vessels lying at the dock were lowed into the river with little loss. The wind shift ed and the timely arrival of the Brooklyn fremen saved the other large buildings. The brig Nero was cut loose before the tugs ar rived and drifted aground on the Astoria shore. The company estimates it's loss at from $75O. .OOO to $500, 900, although this is a rough estimate. The machinery in the packing shops cost $2OO, 900 and is worthless. Machinery of equal value was destroyed in the other shops. The loss on docks. stock and buildings will reach at least $400, 1000.