The Indianapolis journal., 1890-07-19
Crossed Electric Wires Cause a Destruct.
iveFire in Big New York Building.
Distributing, Operating and Restaurant Rooms
of the Telegraph Company and the ASsO-
ciated Press Quarters Destroyed.
Inception and Progress of the Fire De-
scribed in Unusually Glowing Terms.
Business at the Various Exchanges Greatly
Handicapped by Suspension of Ticker Serv-
ice-Elevator Burned at Charlottesville.
COSTLY FIRE AT NEW YORK.
Working and Storage Rooms Of the WesterI
Union and Associated Press Destroyed.

COSTLY FIRE AT NEW YORK.
Working and Storage Rooms of the Western
Union and Associated Press Destroyed.
NEW YORK, July 1S.-This morning. short
ly before 2 o'clock. flames burst from the
switchboard of the Western Union Tele-
graph Company's operating room. on the
seventh floor of their magnificent building,
corner of Broadway and Dey streets So
rapidly did they extend to the woodwork
that the escape of the employees by the
stairways was cut off, and number were
lowered from the windows by means of
ropes to the tops of adjoining buildings.
The fire extended from the fifth to the up
per stories of the building, including the
operating room, the Associated Press Off
ces the executive offices of the Western
Union, and the upper floors devoted to res
taurant and living purposes. For awhile
there was the widest kind of panic among
the men and women who had just come TO
work, but fortunately no lives were lost.
James Larrissey, wireman, who was on
duty in the building was one of the first to
discover the fire. About the same time Mr..
Tobin, night chief. noticed an odor of
burning rubber. and on looking into
to the operating room saw smoke very dis
tinctly. This was five minutes before z
o'clock. Two watchmen were supposed TO
be on duty, but no alarm was given by
them. Mr.. Tobin discovered the smoke in
the shaft and descended to the battery
room. He was surprised at the great head
way the fire had already made. The flames
followed the wires, which. being covered
with rubber oil and paraffine were very
infiammable, to the room behind the great
work was burning. The fire leaped from
table to table and to the window and door
castings, and all efforts of the men on duty
to suppress the fire by appliances
az hand were unavailing: All
carpets, papers, ere. The fifth and other
floors below are soaked with water. The
battery and storage rooms occupied the
sixth floor. The operating-room and the
gallery devoted to the work of the gold and
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
large, and it will require long time to re-
place the material. The large switch
board IN the operating-roOm alone cost $50
600. The Associated Press loses instru-
its books papers and records dating from
1S45, and valuable reference library. This
loss is irreparable. All of the material for
history of the growth of the press in
files, is destroyed and can never be re-
placed: The money value is estimated
at $4,000. There is no insurance.
Hon. William Henry Smith. the gen.
eral manager, is personally heavy
loser by the destruction of rare books
and papers, many of which cannot
be duplicated. Among these were hun
dreds of rare pamphlets collected in
| Europe, which Mr.. Smith supposed were
secure In this fire-proof building. An
extensive correspondence Of great value
was also consumed. Some of the cables
and pneumatic tubes are intact and will be
| soon available for use. General Eckert,
| vice-president of the Western Union, is of
| the opinion that the loss of the company
| will not much exceed 100000. He also
| believes they will be able to employ a con-
| siderable force In the main Railways in a
day or two. Already new switch boards
are on the way from Philadelphia, and all
that energy can do to quickly restore the
service for the public will be done.
The ruin of the operating-roOm renders
| every Western Union wire on Manhattan
| island useless for the present, SO the Asso-
clated Press opened headquarters in Jersey
| City, avery facility being afforded them by
the officials of the Pennsylvania Railroad
| Company, and before the fire was under
control the various circuits of the Associat-
| ed Press were in active operation. As soon
| as possible the Associated Press will use
| the executive room on the fifth floor of the
burned building and such other rooms as
| can be had In the neighborhood. Superin-
tendent Humstone, of the Western Union,
| called on Mayor Grant to-day and secured
| permission from him. as president of the
Board of Electrical Control, to string wires
| to be run into the old Baltimore Il Ohio
telegraph building 'at No. Ala Broadway.
which will be temporary quarters OF the
Western Union company: large force of
| linemen We're put to work at once, and by
| tomorrow it is expected that one hundred
wireswill be in use.
The fire burned out the ship news cable
and no dispatches were received this morn
ing from Fire island, Sandy Hook or Quar-
members of the Maritime Exchange have
| no knowledge whatever of the movements
or arrival of vessels. At the request of q
number of ship-owners the revenue cutters
Chandler and Washington were ordered
down the bay to find out what ships had
| arrived at Sandy Hook or off Fire island.
The police estimate the loss on building
and fixtures at S25O,0OO. The fire Is sup
posed to have been caused by electric-light
| wires
Assistant Chief Reilly, of the fire depart
ment, states that the additional water sup
ply furnished by opening the new .aque-
duct probably saved the Western Union
building from being totally destoyed.
Previous to tuesday last 1t would have
been impossible to have secured water
enough to have furnished a useful stream
|
powerful streams were brought TO bear at
the very cupola of the structure. The ad-
vantage OF the increased supply of water to
the fire department cannot be estimated.
BY the fire the commercial exchanges
were cut off from all their telegraphic con-
nections. The cotton, coffee and produce
exchanges depend on the Western Union
Company to distribute their quotations
over tickers. All the transmitting ma
chimes by which the tickers were worked
were destroyed. This caused complete
suspension of the ticker service and brought
business almost to a stand-still in the cot
ton, coffee and produce exchanges. In ad-
dition TO this all the outside cities which
are reached exclusively by New York
wires were cut of. and the public grain
and cotton cables were also lost
through the cutting off of the
wires. The suspension of the telegraph
| facilities had worse effect than
the blizzard of 1883. For some time the
only business transacted has consisted of
arbitrage dealings with Boston. Chicago
and Philadelphia and the execution of or
ders by houses having private wire connec-
tion with the East, South and West. To-
day the operators working these wires were
idle and the brokers had no interest in the
markets. In the Stock Exchange business
was practically dead: Tickers will not be
in running order again for some weeks, and
the brokers are anxious to know how they
will obtain their quotations. In the Cot
ton Exchange the absence of reports from
the South was severely felt. and the nusi-