Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-18
THE BURNED BUILDING.
How the Fire Cripples the Telegraph
Service-The News In Washiugtou.

Service-The News In Washington.
The Western Union building in New York,
which wss this morning destroyed BY fire-ac-
cordine to the only information at hand-was
built in 1876 at a total cost of about 5000, 0O0
1t stands on the the corner Of Broadway and
Dey street, we'll down in the point of the island,
and. being nine stories in height, is promi-
nent structure, visible from every part of the
harbor. II was "fre-proof' building. 40 far
as such large aggregations Of iron, brick and
stone can be, and is not covered by cent Of
insurance. This is the custom Of the Western
Union Company, whose property in the various
cities of the country is 30 large and valuable
that to insure it would cost an enormous sum
ARRANeEMENT OF THE BUILDING.
The ground floor is used as the public offices
Of the company for the receipt of messages.
The second and third floors are rented out as
offices, and the upper stories are used by the
general Offices of the company, the Offices OF
the Associated Press and the other departments
of the business
The operating room occupies the entire sew
enth floor and gives accommodations for ga
operators. Of whom All are males and 1873 fe-
males At the early hour at which the fire
started the full force was probably not ct work.
GREAT CENTER
This building is one of the great nerve CEN
tiers of the nation. Into it pour great daily
grist Of news. tragedies, commercial transac-
TONS sensations horrors. II is calculated
that the hundreds of wires that pulsate around
the building. coming in from all possible direc-
tions, are the means of sending forth from this
great metropolis an average Of 10000 mes
sages day. Allowing an average of fifteen
words to the message fair estimate-this
would mean daily business of messages sent
out of 1,65O 900 words. This record is probably
equalied by the incoming business.
This means great deal of money. 1t means
large income to the corporation and millions
upon millions of dollars involved in business
transactions The stoppage of this great con-
duit of intelligence for a single day signifies
almost as much to the commercial world as the
choking of his windpipe does to a man. So
valuable, so indispensable has this service be-
come to the civilization of the country that the
effects of calamity like that Of today are wide
spread. 1t has the most stupendous bearing
upon the daily life of fully one-fourth Of the
countrys population. This is all the more
true because of the fact that New York is the
head and center of the entire system. In the
transmission of journalistic news the great pro-
portion comes through the main office of the
Associated Press there, which, using not only
the wires but the building of the Western
Union Company is thus doubly crippled by the
present disaster.
AT THE WASHINGTON OFFICE.
At the local Office of the telegraph company
nothing definite was heard up to late hour
this morning, except that the operating room
had been Quilted. All messages directed to
New York were taken subject to delay" which
meant that there was no guarantee gwen to
the time OF delivery at the other end. In
structlons were received at 10 o'clock to send
all New York matter by the way of Chicago
and PIttsburg. with the possibility of getting it
into the city in that direction.
OPENING UP AT JERSEY CITY,
Jersey City soon sent word that q number of
the New York operators had been sent over
there, and that part of the business would be
handled thus. But the accommodations there
are by no means adequate to even a small frac-
ton OF the messages which pour in and out Of
the great city every minute. There is q large
number of branch offices scattered through the
city, which will probably be worked to handle
the stuff, but if the early reports about the
destruction of the operating room are correct
1t will be at least week before the company
can do its regular business. The storm which
passed over Pennsylvania and New Jersey last
night did great deal of damage to the tele-
graph lines and added to the confusion caused
by this mornings fire.
SENDING NEWS.
The local telegraph officials advise the WASH
ington correspondents to send their dispatches
over to Philadelphia by wire and thence to
New York by mail, which will take little over
three hours. The Associated Press Office in this
city is severe sufferer from the New York
calamity, as orders were received there early
this morning to receive all New York matter
here and transmit it the best way the wires will
allow.