Morning journal and courier., 1889-04-20
News by Telegraph
 FROM ALL QUARTERS.
 SEVEN BLOCKS BURNED. Three And A Half Million Dollar Fire In New York. THE CALENDAR EMBARRASSMENT Terror And Excitement At|
 Oklahoma. l YELLOW FEVER AT JACKSONVILLE. l The President Inaugurates An Important Reform.
YELLOW FEVER AT JACKSONVILLE.
4 SWEEPING CONFEDERATION.

An lmpOfCaHC helOfm. A SWEEPING CONFLAGRATION. The BIegess and Fiercess Fire New Workers Have Witnessed i'm This Generatioa-A Clean Sweep of the East Bank of she North River for seven Bloeks-Few Casualties Re-
 eorded-The RrllliaRcy of the Flames Make am Imposing Spectacle A
 Dense Throng of Two Hundred
 Thousand Kitnesses-EstImate LOSS
 Three Million Dollars-GeneraHyC Cov-
 cred by Insurance.
 NEW YORK, April 19.-The biggest and fiercest fire New Workers have witnessed in this generation swept the east bank of the North river clear day from Fifty-ninth street to what would be Sixty-6fth street if the street ran to the river there. It de- stroyed more than million and half dol lars worth of property belonging to the New York Central railroad and at least half million dollars worth of stores of lard, flour and the like belonging to other persons, mo- tably N. K. Fairbanks, the great Chicago lard merchant. The two big elevators, IA" and "B." of the Vanderbilt system, big brick building stretching from Fifty ninth street to Sixtieth street and occupied jointly by the Fairbanks lard refinery, and the Ros- sitter stores and the dock property of the New York system from Fifty-ninth street to past Sixty-fifth street were wiped out.
 At least one man was killed in his head long flight from the fire at the first out break. A number were injured by jumping from windows of the burning building, but in the wild terror of the eonaagration no ac- count was kept of them. The police have record of the following casualties: Henry Benjamin, single, of No. 694 Tenth avenue, workman in Fairbanks' refinery, killed by SIS Srl zN, TN1y Johnston of No. 517 West Forty-second street, workman in Fairbanks, severely in jured in the back by jumping from a win dow; Charles Brown of No. sos West Forty third street, severe injuries about the head from the same cause; William J. Noble, fire while at work at the foot of Rifty-nin street; Edward H. Tobin, fireman, likewise prostrated by the heat.
 Rumors were flying around all the evening that numbers of workmen had been caught and burned in the Fairbanks refinery, but it was impossible to verify them.
 :. The fire started on the ground floor of the Fairbanks lard refinery (formerly belonging to the W. J. Wilcox lard company, 8 build- ing 200 feet square, stretching from 59th to Goth streets, and facing the North river. It seems to have originated at spot where some men were putting in new lard cooling apparatus, but the exact cause cannot be learned. The building was old and soaked with grease, and the flames quickly envelop- ed the whole structure. The 150 employees found escape by the stairway cut off, and most of them had to jump from win dows The excitement was very great, and the police with difficulty kept back crowd of women, many of whom had relatives in the building. The building, which contained also the Rossiter stores, was soon beyond saving. The blaze was most imposing spectacle, and attracted the attention of peo- pie in Jersey City and all along the Jersey shore, and thousands of passengers on ferry- boats crossing the river for miles up and down. The six-story structure was soon destroyed. Meanwhile the efforts of the firemen to save the two grain elevators op- posite the factory belonging to the New York Central railroad had been fruitless, and these great structures were soon ablsze. All the fire engines between 14th street and Harlem were on the spot, but the elevators were 80 situated as to be difficult of access by the fremen.
 Twenty-seven sunken tracks of the New York Central railroad and 8 line of stock yard enclosures intervensd between the burning factory and the elevators and the only way to reach the buildings was along Sixtieth street where the heat was to great for the hremen to live in it. A company of the fremen got past and into the railroad yards, however, but there was only a six-inch water pipe and with engines so far away they could do little
  ing from the river side aided by 8 number of tugs belonging to the New York Central were able to do more, but not to save the buildings The employees in the elevators kept the hose in the building playing as long as they could remain, but at last they had to abandon their posts. Elevator A" was the frst to go and it's flames communicated to elevator "B." The sheds of the stock yards next fed the flames and the conhagration spread rapidly northward.
 When the walls of the factory fell an im- mense quantity of goods that had been packed in the Rossiter stores fell outward into Sixtieth street, blocking the thorough fare and preventing the fremen from doing further work through that channel. There never was 8 fire in this city before at which the work of the fire department counted for SO little. It was impossible to make headwsy against such odds. The streams thrown both from land and river seemed ridiculously small. The elevators were each 320 feet by 120 feet and had a capacity of over a million bushels each, but they were almost empty. Elevator "A" contained only about 100, 900 bushels of oats and elevator "E" smaller quantity of barley, making the total value of the contents not over $100,00 The build ings cost respectively $750, 900 and $600, 900 when built thirteen years ago, large part of the cost being for the foundations which are probably not totally ruined. The New York Central Railroad company also owned the factory building in which the fire originated. They leased it to Fairbanks. It Is worth about $1O0, GOO. The losses on contents are estimated at $500, ,oO0, and that of Rossiter & Co.'s customers, comprising large num- Der of merchants, at $250, 900.
 The owners of the goods are probably fully insured, and Rossiter & Co. themselves lose but little. Fairbanks is also said to be fully insured, and the railroad company kept its
 he Hrah had swept along the sheds to Sixty-sixth street 1t stopped for want of further material to feed upon. The fire lasted from 3 o'clock until and was witnessed by vast thropg The police estimated that the crowd contained over two hundred thousand people. The spectacle was @ magnificent one ana there was nothing for blocks around to obstruct the view. After dark the sky was brightly lighted up all over the city miles away from the fire.
 The piers and pier sheds connected with the elevator system were ot course badly damaged and rendered temporarily useles, and some freight which they contalned was experimenting the work of putting in the new machinery at the factory when the fire broke out, thinks the flames originated in the engine room in the basement. lie says the engineer was upstairs running the elevator. Pearsall smelled smoke and went to the ele- vator shaft. and on looking down he saw the basement full of smoke and gave the alarm. Pearsall had not time to go into the next room for his coat before the flames drove him out of the building. He thinks 1t marvellous that the men on the upper noors escaped. There were thres immense vats, containing 90, 900 gallons of melted lard and cotton seed oil. The mixture exploded, throwing the burning fluid in all directions. The em- ployes had no chance to save themselves, ex- eept by jumping out of the windows. While looking at the fire from window ot She house No. 547 West Fifty-Seventh street, Mary Murray, an aged woman, lost her bal ance and feli to the pavement, twenty feet below, and her skull was fractured. She was taken to the Roosevelt hospital. Many estimates place the loss far above $2, ,ooo,0oO,