The Brookhaven leader., 1889-04-25
SWEPT BY FIRE.

Several Squares on North River. New York
City, licked Up by Flames - FL va
tors. Lard u hneries and Other Fscto-
ries Among the RuiBs-Two Million Doll
lars viii Hardly Cover the Loss wo
Men Killed and several Ioiured-An I'm
posing Spectacle.
NEW YORK, April 2O.-The most de-
structiye fire that has visited this city for
years completely swept the east bank Of
the North river from Fifty-ninth to
Sixty fifth street yesterday afternoon.
It destroyed more than a million and q
half dollars worth cf property belonging
to the New York Central Railroad Com
pany; and at least half q million dollars
worth belonging to N. II. Fairbanks, OF
Chicago, the Rossiter stores and others.
The fire started on the ground floor Of
Fairbanks lard refinery, formerly belong.
ing to the ]. w. Wilcox Lard Company,
building two hundred feet square, stretch
ing from Fifty.ninth to SiEtieth streets,
and facing North river. 1t seems to have
originated at spot where some workmen
were putting In new lard-cooling appa.
ratus, but the exact cause can not be
learned. The building wds old and
soaked with grease, and the flames quick
ly enveloped the whole structure.
The $50 employees found escape by stair
way cut off, and most of them had to jump
from the windows. Many were injured,
and one was killed outright. The excite
ment was so great and the policemen had
so much to do that it was impossible to
secure the names of the injured. The un-
fortunatss were hurried away to hospitals
as rapidly as possible. The police kept
back a 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 an imposing spectacle,
and attracted the attention Of people in
Jersey City and thousands Of passengers
on ferry boats crossing the river. The
six-story structure was soon destroyed.
| Meanwhile the efforts of the fremen to
save tho grain elevators opposite the
| factory, belonging to the New York Gen.
trail Railroad Company had been fruit
| less, and the great structures were in a
blaze. All the fire engines between
| Fourteenth street and Harlem were on
| the spot, but the elevators were so stu.
ated as to be difficult Of access by the
! fremen. Twenty-seveu sunken tracks of
the New York Central railway, aud a liue
Of stock yard Enclosures interviewed be
tween the fire and the elevators, and the
only way to reach the buildings was along
Sixtieth street, where the heat was too
great for the fremen to live in it. A
company of the firemen, however, got
past and into the railroad yards, but
there was only six-inch water-pipe
there, and with the engines so far away
they could do little effective work.
The fire-b boats working from the river
side, aided by number Of tugs belong
ing to the New York Central, were able
to do more, but not enough to save the
buildings.
The employees kept the hose in the
building playing as long as they could
remain, but at last they had to abandon it
Elevator IA" was the first to go, ant
the flames then communicated to Eleva-
tor "B." The sheds Of the stock-yard:
next fed the flames, and the confagratior
spread rapidly northward.
When the walls of the factory fell ar
immense amount of goods that had beer
packed In the Rossiter stores fell out
ward on Sixtieth street, blocking the thor.
oughfare and preventing the firemen from
doing further work through that channel
There never was a fire in the city before
at which the work of the fire department
Z
to make headway against such odds. The
streams thrown both from land and water
seemed ridiculous.
The elevators were each about 325 feet
by 125 feet, and had a capacity Of over O
million bushels apiece, but they were al
most empty. Elevator "a" contained
only 100 600 bushels of oats, and elevator
"B" smaller quantity of barley, making
the total value of the contents not over
100000. The buildings cost, respectively
$3.50, 900 and 5000, 900 when built, thirteen
years ago, a large part Of the cost being
for the foundations, which are prob ably
not totally ruined.
The New York Central Railroad Com
pany also owned the factory building in
which the fire originated. They leased it
to Fairbanks. 1t was worth 81 900, 009.
The losses on contents are not accurately
known, but Fairbanks loss is about $500, =
900, and that of Rossiter & Co.'s custom
ers, comprising number of merchants,
| S25O,0O0. The owners of goods are proba-
blay fully insured, and Rossiter &
| Co. themselves lost but little. Fairbanks
| Is also said to be fully insured, and the
railroad company kept it's property we'll
covered. After the fire had swept along
the shore to Sixty sixth Street, it stopped
for want of further material to feed upon.
The fire lasted from about three O'Clock
until nine. and was witnessed by a vast
throng. The police estimated the crowd
contained over two hundred thousand
people. The sight was a magnificent one,
and 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 workman killed by jumping from a
! window was Henry Benning, single, Of
, No. 694 TeGth avenue. The workmen in
jured, as far as names could be learned,
are: John Johnson, back injured, and
Chas. Brown, severe injuries to head.
Two fremen, VIM. j. Noble and e. H.
Tobin, were prostrated by heat While
looking at the fire from window of house
No. 5i7 West Fifty-seventh street, Mary
Murray, an aged woman, lost her balance
and fell to the pavement, twenty feet be-
low, and her skull was fractured. She
was taken to the Roosevelt Hospital.
An Alledged plot to Assas .inate the Cxar
OF Rusia.