Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-04-20
Six Hours Of Flame
Sweep Away Property Valued
at Over 100000.
EFFORTS OF THE r1REMEN USELESS

Confiagra ton Falls Out of window
and Receives q Mortal Hurt-Workmen
Forced tn Jump for Their Lives-Mis-
ceIlaneous Disasters.
New YORK, April 2O-The most destruct-
i've 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. 1t destroyed more
than 81 s. o. 900 worth Of property belonging
to the New York Central Railroad company
and at least $500, 600 worth belonging to N.
K. Fairbanks. of Chicago; the Rossiter
stores, and others.
Where 1t Got Its Start.
The fire started Oh the ground floor of the
Fairbanks lard refinery formerly the W. j.
Wilcox Lard company, building 200 feet
square, stretching from Fifty-ninth to Six
| tieth street and facing the North river 1t
seems TO have originated at spot where
some workmsn were putting in a new lard
cooling apparatus, but the exact cause can
not be learned. The building was old and
soaked with grease, and the flames quickly
were three immense watts in the factory, con-
tanning 10000 gallons of melted lard and
cotton-seed oil, and when the flames
reached them the mixture exploded, throw
ing the burning fluid in all directions.
Had to- Jump for Their Lives.
The $50 employees found escape by the stair
way cut off, and most of them had to jump
from windows. Many were injured, and one
was killed outright The excitement was so
great and the police had so much to do that
it was impos ible to secure the names of all
the injured. The unfortunate men were
hurried away to hospitals as rapidly as am
balances could be procured. The police kept
back a crowd of women, many of whom had
relatives in he building. The building,
which contained also the Rossiter stores,
was soon beyond saving The blaze was a
most imposing spectacle, and attracted the
attention of people in Jersey City and all
along the Jersey shore, and of thousands of
passengers on ferryboats crossing the river
for miles up and down. The six story build
ing was soon destroyed.
Great Grain Elevators AbIaze.
Meanwhile the efforts of the firemen to
save the two grain elevators opposite the fac
tory had been fruitless, and the great struc-
lures were soon ablaze. All the fire engines
between Four zenith street and Harlem were
on the spot, but the elevators were SO
situated to he difficult of access by the fire.
men. Twenty seven sunken tracks of the
New York Central railroad and line of
stock-yard inc osures interviewed between the
burning factory and the elevators and the
only way to reach the buildings was along
Sixtieth street, where the heat was too great
for the fremer to live in it. A company of
the tiremen, however, got past and into the
railroad yards, but there was only six inch
water pipe the e, and with the engines so far
away they could do little effective work The
flre-boats working from the river side, aided
by number o. tugs belonging 10 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 play
ing as long as they could remain, but at
last they had 20 abandon their posts Ele
vator A was tie first to go, and its flames
communicated to elevator B. The sheds of
the stock-yards next fed the flames, and the
confagration spread rapidly northward
Work OF the Firemen Useless.
When the will of the factory fell an inn
mense quantity of goods that had been
packed in the Rossiter stores fell outward
into Sixtieth street, blocking the thorough.
| fare, and preventing the firemen from doing
further work through that channel There
never was fire in this city before at which
the work Of the fire department counted for
| so little. 1t was impossible to make head
| way against such odds. Tie streams thrown
| both from land and river seemed ridiculous
The pier and pier sheds connected with the
| elevator system were Of course badly dam
aged and rendered temporarily useless, and
| some freight which they contained was de-
| stroyed-
Counting Up the Losses.
The elevators were each about 1926 feet by
l25 feet, and had capacity of over ,OOO, UOC
bushels apiece, but they were almost empty
Elevator "A" contained only about 10O, OOC
bushels of oats, and elevator "B" a smaller
quantity of bar ey, making the total value OF
the contents not over 100000 The build.
ings cost respectively $3.50, 900 and 5000, OOC
] when built thirteen years ago large part
of the cost beirg for the foundations, which
are probably not totally ruined. The New
| York Central Railroad company also owned
the factory bull ling in which the fire origin
ated They leased it to Fairbanks 1t was
| worth about git 600
The losses ON contents are not accurately
known, but Fairbanks loss is estimated at
$500, 900 and that of Rossiter & Co. s custom
| ers, comprising IA large number of merchants,
| at $3.50, 600 The owners of the goods are
| probably fully insured, and Rossiter d CO.
themselves lost but little. Fairbanks is also
| said to be fully insured, and the railroad
| company kept its property well covered.
stopped for Want of Material.
The fire swept along the shores to Sixty
sixth street, where it stopped for want of ma
terial to feed upon. The fire lasted from
about O'Clock until . and was witnessed by
vast throng. The police estimated that
| the crowd conta med over 200, COO 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.
Many estimates place the loss far above
81, 600, 900 and some as high as 81, 1000, 600
The police estimate is So, 100000. The prop
erty at the Union Stock Yards company wa,
not seriously damaged, owing to the direc-
ton of the wind being favorable.
The Killed and Injured.
The workman killed by jumping from
window Of the factory was Henry Benning
single, of 6S4 Tenth avenue The workmer
injured, so far as their names could b,
learned, are: John johnson, SIT West Forty
second street, back injured; Charles Brown
sos West Forty-third street, severe injuries
to head. Two iiremen were Frustrated by
heat-,-Wi lillian J. Noble and E H Tobin.
While looking at the fire from a window O
the house SAT West Fifty seventh street
Mary Murray, an aged woman, lost her bal
ance and fell to he pavement, twenty fee
below, and her skull was fractured. She wa
taken to the Roosevelt hospital.
HAD A PHENOMENAL. ESCAPE.
| Remarkable Luck of au Express Trair
i Ind Ilx...