St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-05-06
LOST IN THE RUINS.
The Falling Of Five-story Factory in
Brooklyn, Sets the Mass in
Flames.
With Hundreds of People in the Build
ing, the Death List Mere
Conjecture.
Pathetic Scenes at the Police Station
by Relatives Examining
the Dead.
Arrest of the House Mover, Whose
Carelessness Caused the Struc-
ture's Downfall.
Met Sudden Death.

pdoU Uillo ilOl dlI dltlul Wdo SCllU OtU
to fire headquarters for the south ferry sta
ton, Brooklyn. Within half an hour there
were four alarms and two special calls,
which hurried eighteen fire companies to the
scene of disaster the extent of which will
probably not be known for some days.
Fronting 200 feet on State street is build
ing known as the estate street machine
shop" but it is, in fact, only portion OF a
series of irregular but connected buildings
which occupy most Of the space of the in
terror of the block bounded by Atlantic
avenue and State street and Hicks and Col
umbia streets. The principal entrance to
these buildings is Oh Atlantic avenue. It is a
gateway, which passes beneath two-story
frame building. The left portion, on the
ground floor, is occupied by Mr.. George L.
Abbott, the agent of the owner of the prop
erty destroyed. When the firemen got to
the Atlantic avenue entrance they found
that all the interior buildings were in flames
and that the westerly wall of the
FIvE-sTORY BUILDING
had fallen out and carried with it the eX-
tensions of the tenements fronting on At
lantic avenue and directly west of the gate
way entrance. The utmost excitement pre-
vailed and the most exaggerated rumors
were afoat as to damage done and the loss
OF life. Simultaneous with the alarms,
which were sent out by Chief Engineer
Nevins, calls were telegraphed for the am
bulance. When the excitement had sub
sided the conflicting rumors shaped them
selves into this one fact-that some workmen
engaged in putting new girder under the
west wall of building No. 5. To this end
jacks were employed. One had been
screwed up so high that the other jacks bore
no weight at all, and on the fact being dis
covered the foreman ordered the jack in
question to be cased down. 1t was while
the men were doing this that the west wall,
unevenly upheld, gave way and fell with a
tremendous crash carrying with it about
One-third OF the westerly end of the build
ing. Almost simultaneously
FLAMES BURST FORTH
in this building, being soap works and tin
factory, where furnaces were freely used,
and the wall, falling upon the extensions of
the dwelling houses On Atlantic street,
crushed them like so many egg shells, the
cooking stoves scattering their burning Goals
among the debris, starting the flames among
the tenements. The houses damaged
by fire in this manner number from 40 to 63
Atlantic street. On the east side of the
gateway entrance is a row of flats, running
from 81 to 63 Atlantic street. They are
owned by Mr.. Liddenberg and are mostly
damaged in the rear, where the wing from
the main building on State street almost
connected with them. No. was occupied
as follows: Henry L. Judd & Co., window
shade roller manufacturers, who had the
whole Of the top on the fifth floor. They
also occupied floors in the main building,
which fronted on State street. They alone
employed about
THREE HUNDRED HANDS.
The fourth floor was occupied by G. W.
half, and Benjamin Moore & Co., calsomine
finish makers, who had the other half.
William burst, metal Spinner, had half the
second floor, the other portion not being
occupied. George Young had half of the
first floor as machine shop, and William
Daniels, machinist, the other half These
were all the occupants of the building where
the calamity occurred. Those who rented
space in the other portions, according to
the statement given to the Eagle reporter
by Mr.. George l.. Abbott, the agent, are:
Thurber, Whyland 6 Co., securing soap;
Charles Schwitter, watch cases; J. u. &C.
row, pencil cases; the Columbia Rubber
works; George Whitaker & Co., Rich &
Co., watch cases; Frank Whitner, Howes
& Nobel, gold refiners; G. W. Butler & Co.,
tinsmiths; William burst, metal spinner;
Baker & Monroe, machinistS; P. 81. Nc
Gam, oleomargarine (not occupied); AL
bert Hinrichs, metal specialties; Elliott &
Gudlam, rod trimmings.
THE AGENTS STATEMENT.
Mr.. Abbott, the agent, stated that the
buildings were owned by Mr. Nathan Cush-
ing of Boston, who has been telegraphed.
All of them were furnished with steam
power and Mr.. Cushing's insurance on the
buildings and machinery is about $70,-
900. When Mr.. Abbott was asked about
how many men were in the building at the
time it fell, he said: 81 don't know; about
forty, 1 guess" The superintendent of Fl.
L. Judd & Co. laughed at this, and said:
why, we have 800 hands, alone, and I sup
pose there were over one hundred in
that building. All tried to save them
selves at first, and most had got out when
the flames were discovered. We had lot
of hand grenades, and we used them to
check the fire. They did so when they
were thrown, but the heat was so intense
that the flames would soon burst out again,
and we finally had to save ourselves and let
the fire go ahead. In the different manu-
featuring places in the buildings there were
700 people. In the New York Tin COM
pany's employ there were thirty OF forty
girls, and
WHETHER ALL ESCAPED
is question which cannot be solved. Some
of them were heard shrieking wildly up on
the iron fire escape of the fourth floor, where
the tin factory was located. The flames
seemed to leap from floor to floor and from
building to building with celebrity that
battles description. Within an hour the
whole mass of the structures was in ruins,
with the exception of building No. Z, which
fronts on Columbia street, but which was
thoroughly Quilted.
The fire extended to the buildings that
fronted ON State street. The buildings
went to pieces like houses of cards. The
crash of falling walls and floors, the vast
cloud of smoke and dust and steam, and the
spires of flame that shot from crumbling
ruins gave terror to the spectacle, and the
general excitement grew into panic, when
it was reported that several employees had
been crushed and burned to death in the
ruins. While the excitement was at its
height four explosions were heard in quick
succession. The
FOUR ENGINE BOILERS
under the State street sidewalk had burst.
Many of the employees lived in the neigh
borhood of the buildings, and their friends
and relatives were quickly on the ground
in state of wild alarm. Truck No. 1
turned into State street Immediately
On reaching the scene of the dis
aster, and Foreman Daniel Clarity
was appealed to to save couple of girls,
who were said to have been seen at one of
the windows of the fourth floor. He cried:
my God! if there are any people up there
they are lost The whole building is on
fire." Garrity was then told that the fire
man of the concern was in place Of great
danger and as the stairways were in
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