The DeSmet leader. (DeSmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-07-26
le De Smet Leader.
CROWNED WITH FIRE.
Flames Destroy the Upper Portion
ofthe Western unoln Building IN
New York.


New York.
The Western Union telegraph build
ing in New York city caught fire on
the 10th inst. The distributing room
on the fifth floor, the operating room
on the floor above, the associated
press rooms and the restaurant on
the seventh floor were completely de
stroyed, James Larissy, a wire man,
was the first TO discover the FIRE.
About the same time Mr.. Tobin, night
chief, noticed an odor of burning rub
ber, and on looking into wire shaft
eading from the battery room to the
operating room, saw smoke very dis
tinctly. The flames followed the
wires, which, being covered. with rub
Der, oil and parrafine, were very in
fammable, to the room behind the
great switchboard, and soon all of the
woodwork was burning. The fire leap
ed from table to table and to the win
dow and door castings, and all efforts
of the men on duty to suppress it by
the appliances at hand were unavail-
ing.
All above the sixth floor is destroy
ed, carpets, papers, etc. The fifth and
other floors belaw are soaked with wa
ter, The battery and storage rooms
occupied the sixth floor. The operat-
ing room and gallery, devoted to the
work of the Gold & Stock company,
occupied the entire seventh floor, and
the associated press and a part of the
bookkeeping department the entire
eighth floor. On the ninth floor were
the Western Union files.
THE LOSS
of the telegraph company is large, and
it will require a long time to replace
the material. Thel arge switch board
in the operating room alone cost $50
600. The associated press loses in
struments, typewriters, furniture and
all of it's books, papers and records
dating from 1S45, and a. valuable re-
ference library. This loss is irrepara-
BILE. All of the material for u history
of the growth of the press in America,
contained in letter books and files, is
destroyed and can never be replaced
The money value is estimated at $l5-
600. There is no insurance. Hon.
William Henry Smith, the general
manager, is personally a heavy loser
by the destruction of rare books and
papers, many of which cannot be dup
Heated. Among these We're hundreds
OF rare pamphlets collected in Europe
which Mr.. Smith supposed were secure
in the fireproof building. An extern
sive correspondence of great value
was also Sonsumed.
.,,- -E3I the fire originated no one
seems to know positi%ly, but it is
Asurmised that two of the companys
electric light wires became crossed and
set the flooring on fire. Had the fire
broken out an hour later the loss of
life might have been enormous. Fully
seven hundred girls and men are EN-
ployed on these two floors.
At the start of the fire six women
eating in the restaurant at the top Of
the building, finding their egress to the
street cut off, made their way to the
balcony that runs around the roof.
and there, hurrying up and down it's
narrow confines, frantically wrung
their hands and between the putfs of
smoke and flames that came from the
windows in the battery room below
them a".
4ADE APPEALS FOR HELP.
Chief of Battalion Lally, with Hook
and Ladder No. 10, under the com
mand of Foreman Binns, with the
lin~c of engine of Companies 90, SO
sNzf1y1 4, entered through the Dey street
Vl6ide, and dragging the heavy lines to
@he eighth floor, fought their why into
the battery room floor, and driving
the powerful streams of water right
aV,1 lnfk Io q l,ns, 4 ca
way leading to the operating room.
IL was up this opening that the fire
had made it's way TO the upper por-
y tion Of the building. For five min
utes th& &ight was terrible one to
sufficiently subdue the flames to get
& up on the floor above, from which the
windows opened onto the balcony
where the women were. At last the
water gained the victory, and the way
was sufficiently clear, and the men of
No. 10 hook and ladder, with Chief
Lally, dashed up, and, quickly taking
up the thoroughly demoralized wo-
mes, carried them down to place of
safety. About the same time five men
were taken from the windows on the
north side of the building.
The loss to building and fixtures is
estimated at $250,OOO. The telegraph
company divided it's operating force
among sub-offices Mt Twenty third
street, New York; Jersey City, Brook
lyn and Weehawken, from which busi-
Iless will be done temporarily. Mean
while quarters are being prepared at
the old Baltimore & Ohio offices at
415 Broadway. The FIRE burned out
theShip News cable and no dispatches
were received that day from Fire
island, Sandy Hook or Quarantine.
Alhthe commercial exchanges were cut
OF from quotations by the fire, and
the outside business transacted in
them was meager The suspension Of
the telegraph facilities had worse
nffnct than fhn blizzard Of aS2