The Sunday tatler and Jersey City express. (Jersey City, N.J.) 1883-1886, 1886-09-05
SHORT BUT DESTRUCTIVE.
RAILROAD PROPERTY WORTH $3.50, 200
BURNED IN THIRTY MINUTES.

Last Evenings Fire at the yorthern
and Greenwood Lake Depots ON
iienderson street-sevs raj Pullman
and Other Cars and ButldtnSs Burnt.
A noisy footing of locomotive Whistles
between four and five o'clock last evening
gave notice to this community that fire
had attacked some of the countless rail-
road buildings in the city. In this part of
the town the racket seemed 50 close
that the first suspicion was that it
was the Pennsylvania Railroad buildings
that were in peril. A TArTLER reporter,
directed by his ears and eyes. traced the
rocket tc the vicinity of the Erie railroad
depot. When he reached there the fire.
men were valiantly at work, but material
on which the flames had seized was 80 in
hammable that they had already COM
pleted their work of destruction and licked
up nes,ly $3.50, 900 worth Of property.
In the maze of tracks at the Henderson
street crossing of the railroad stood twolittle
clusters of buildings, frame and brick. be-
longing 10 the Greenwood Lake and North
ern Rtilrosd Companies, and the Pullman
Car Company. In the westernmost of
these clusters are the Pullman car and the
Greenwood Lake buildings. Adjoining one
cad of platform shed was large three
story brick building, used as store house
by the Pullman company. Adjoining at
thu other end were little tool shed, 20
feet square, and telegraph building q
little larger, of brick and two stories high
Lying to the west side of the long freight
shed were eight Pullman cars; on the
other side were six box cars and two plat
form cars, from which ice was being un-
loaded. They belonged to the Greenwood
Lake Company. In the easternmost clus-
ter of buildings were the Northern Railroad
sheds and buildings. The shed was $50
feet long, and to the south of it were two
little frame buildings.
just after 80 o'clock an Erie loco
motive pulled past, and red
spark dropped upon some oil, the Pullman
Gar Company expected TO use, that lay on
the western mosty platform Before he
first whistle could blow an alarm, the
whole of the structure was in blaze. The
heat was SO intense that the tenants of the
tenements, hundred feet away, expected
momentarily to see their homes ignlted;
and the swearing crowd of men and women
began to lug their household effects out of
the buildings. The flames caught to every-
tning within their reach. Three of the
eight valuable .Pullmans were drawn to
places of safety but the remaining five
crackled and blistsred till they burst into
flames and had to be abandoned to their
fate. The six box cars and two platform
cars on the other side OF the track, with
the brick buildings at either end of the
platform were licked up in atwinkling and
all the fremen could do was to try to keen
the fierce blaze within limits. That was
hard work. Showers of sparks fell upon
the Northern Railroad buildings across the
track, and in a jiffy they were enveloped
In flames with i've box and four platform
cars from which fruit was being unloaded.
All the buildings that are described 10 the
pladi below had been consumed before
the firemen could do much to save them;
and the work of destruction ceased only
because there was nothing more for the
flames to feed upon.