Morning journal and courier., 1890-07-19
WESTERN UNION ABLAZE Its New York Headquarters ? n<T
 Gutted by Fire. A MILLION DOLLARS DAMAGE. An Untold Loss to Busi-
 ness Firms. THE FROuCS OF 4 TORNADO, Consul Eugene Schuyler Dead
 in Cairo, Egypt.
THE FROuCS OF A TORNADO
A TALE OF TANGLED WIRES.

Ftf0 m the VI eBbeIn Oh1On H000S quarters at New York Destroys she Greatest Center of Telegraphic Com. munication on the COntinent-Mauy Lives In Peril but None are Lost Flremen Work in a Splendid Manner and Much Danger is Averted-The Loss one Million Dollars With No Insurance.
 NEW YORK, July 1s.-The operators room of the great Western Union building at Broadway and Dey street takes up the entire floor, and in the center, through great hole which was left when the building was con- structed, come the massive coils of wires which are known as the distributing ring. They lead up from the battery room. At one side of the room is the elevator by which the army of 800 employees comes and goes to and from the ticking keys. An operator this morning just finished sending message and looked up at the big clock tor the time to mark it. It was just 7, and as he wrote the figure on the back of the message there came to his nose the smell of rubber burning. There was no mistaking it. It meant fire. The operator had had @ like experi- ence; so he cried out: 'There is AA0J oho taoA Ao JumpcO 1oI tA0 wall where the hand grensdes hung. It didn't take minute for the thirty men to get to their feet. They all began to pull down the hand grenades and throw them down the hole where the flames were and unrolled the big hose wheel which is kept at the south side of the floor always ready for an emergency of this kind. They unrolled the hose and turned the water on. The only effect it seemed to have was to make the fire shoot up higher, and it was noticed that the smoke came rolling out of the big hole in greater volumes than before.
 The elevator men had brought the elevs- tors up to the top floor, and the three women in the operators room went in the cars with some of the men. As fast as the elevator cars could take them the men crowded in. As they passed the floor below a hot wave rolled over them, which made their throats dry and parched, and ss ths car proceeded down fire brands fell upon them and burned their clothing.
 The first alarm in this case, coming from the Western Union building, was as serious as the third alarm in ordinary cases, and 1t wasn't long before three blocks of Broadway were cordoned by tho police and pre-empted by the fremen and their engines and hose carts. The early crowd, looking up at the big building, saw row of half dozen girls and two men standing on the balcony which almost encircles the building at the base of the tower. They were ranged along the iron work and were calling for help. The girls seemed to be on the verge of a panic, and they moved up and down along the railing as far as they could go, wringing | their hands and crying. The crowd In the streets suddenly became quiet, and the hum l dreds of faces below stared up at the women. | Up to this time no one had given them a thought. They were working in the restau- ! rant, and slept up there. The fremen were quick enough to take action, for even as they looked darts of flame and puffs of smoke came from the windows below the unfortu- nate persons. It was @ time for quick action, and the department responde1 Rockets with Topes attached were sent oveI the roof as @ preliminary caution and ther the ladders were brought out and lashed to eethsr. Some were placed on the roof Of Dey street, directly in the rear of the burn. ing building, and bome were run up from the roof of the building at POI Broadway. The ladders reached easily, and as soon as tho top ends touched half dozen 6remen were running up like sailors. They were tht picked men who are trained for just such ar emergency and they worked thoroughly 1T harmony. One by one the terror -stricker servants were brought down to @ safe place and cheer went up from the crowds wh' were standing below. twas shout of rs joicipg.
 The great volume of water which wa poured in came down the stairs in a rsginl torrent. It soaked into every room, ant ruined the carpets and furniture, and hnall, found a level In the business office in tn basement. where it made pool foot deer In two hours from the time the smoke frs
 came up the distributing rings the fire ha
 been reduced to smoldeIing embers. Tn
 four walls, the charred ceiling and the burne
 floor were there, but that was all. Not
 vestige remained of the desks and furnisi
 ings. There were wires enough, but tn
 fearful heat had twisted them into all sort
 of shapes. The spot where the distributin
 rings came through the floor was steamiu
 hole. The night manager gave 1t as b
 opinion that a crossed wire might hay
 started the fire. He said 1t would be at lea
 a week before the company would begin
 recover from the shook of the fire.
 With thousands of gallons of water pour '. ing In and out of the building 1t is difficu = to make an exact estimate ot the damag
 In the operating room there were 760 fl
 struments.
 The switch board, which was the large
 in the world, is total loss and cost whs
 new $250, ,600. The loss of the instrumen
 and other fixtures Is immense and in rour
 numbers about q, ,00O, 900 will probably
 reached.
 |, The company has absolutely not cent ], insurance other than that carried by itse
 On an average the company received al IS transmitted 126, 900 messages daily. Not
 single one can be handled in the ma III office. In addition to the loss maintain' N by the Western Union company, the Ass es ciated Press loses about $15, ,000. Their 'a struments have also gone up in smoke.
 by far their greatest loss is in private paps |, and records that ran from the year 1S40
 to date. These, Manager William Hen
 Smith said this morning, were beyond walt us These records have been totally destroyt , not vestige of them remaining.
 JL Among the offices damaged by water { cb those of Jay Gould, Russell Sage, Sidn ui: Dillon, Dillon & Swsyne's law offices and nd commercial news department
 is,", The railroads all over the country will . the effects of the fire very strongly, as m E. of their dispatches come through the oper iss, ins ing room of the Western Union.