The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-07-19

looked up, never dreaming what
S was to Of f0low, smok. he so. sow twi.,1da thin
and curling from the net work of distrib-
uting rings Night Manager Tobin, who
was sitting over at his desk on the opposite
side, had also seen the film waited upward,
and as Lewis approached from one side he
came up from the other, but before the
place was reached more smoke came up. 1t
meant fire.
RUSH FOR THE HAND GRENADES.
Chief Tobin is quick witted. and, besides,
he has had experience, so be cried, There
is fire." and then jumped for where the
wall hand grena les nung. 1t didn't take a
minute for thirty men TO get to their feet,
and when they looked they saw, besides the
smoke, which by this time had increased to
thick black column pregnant with sick
ening smell, javeli as of flame, which
pointed straight up and came higher
and higher each second. They all began to
pull d Jwn hand grenades and throw them
down the hole where the flames were. Their
contents splashed out when the glass vessels
broke and the liquid sputtered little as it
met the fire. but that was the only visible
effect Hand grenades could not fight a fire
like this.
SENDING OUT THE ALARM.
Chief Tobins call boy was nearest to him,
"Go downstairs as fast as your legs will
let you" he said, land send out an alarm"
and the Il tile fellow ran with white face to
the stairway in the northwest corner of the
room and tumbled down the steps at pace
he had never known before. He was only
telegraph messenger, but his speed
down the stairs Wis remarkable.
"Fire in the operating room," yelled
Martin as he fisw along the
corridors, passing the colored janitors, who
stared at him in open-mouthed astonishment
As soon as he reached the street he ran for
the automatic fire box on the corner. He
knew the big brass handle had to be turned,
50 he reached up, and, turning it, pulled the
door open. Then he gave the hook inside
jerk and the bells in all the engine houses
rang out the number.
UNRoLLING THE HOSE.
AS soon as the boy had started down
stairs the operators unrolled big hose
wheel, which is kept in the office always
ready for an emergency Of this kind. They
unrolled the hose and Chief To in turned
the water on. 1t was a pretty good stream,
but the effect it had was to make the fire
shoot higher, and more smoke came out Of
the big hole than before These were GER
tainly brave men, and Miss Emma Ander-
son, MISS Foley and Mrs Adams, who
were among the early arrivals, stood
right there, half choking with the suffo-
eating smoke, and encouraged them as we'll
as they could. These operators worked the
hose till the smoke became so thick that
they could not see where the fire was. The
women never lost their heads They kept
as cool as veteran firemeD and the mon
worked like beavers. 1t was evident that
they didn't know what was going on in the
battery room.
FURNACE BENEATH THEIR FEET.
If they could have obtained one glimpse
of the furnace that was burning under their
feet they would have fed in a state of panic.
The elevator men had brought the elevators
to ths top, and the three women-Miss An
derson, Mrs. Foley and Miss Adams-went
in the cars. The hose had been dropped
by this time, with the nozzle pointing in the
direction Of the distri outing board. As the
elevator cars could take them the men
crowded in. They then began to realize
that the fire was going to be much more
serious affair than was at first thought.
Smoke was coming through the cracks of
the floor, and it was becoming pretty
hot to stand on When the last
few men crowded in the last car they were
just little frightened. Fire brands fell
upon them aud burned their clothing.
When the car reached the bottom they were
all glad to get out, for with the heat and
water which the firemen had begun TO pour
in the building they were pretty near the
door which leads to eternity. They were
in bad way. Not till then did those men
realize that escape had almost been cut off.
EFFECT ON THE EXCHANGES.
By the fire the commercial exchanges
were completely cut off from all telegraphic
connection. The cotton and produce ex-
Changes depend on the Western Union COM
pany to distribute their quotations over
tickers All the transmitting machines by
which the tickers we're worked were de-
stroyed. This caused a complete sus-
pension of the ticker service
and brought business to a standstill in
the cotton and produce exchange. In addi-
tion. all outside cities which are reached ex-
clusively by New York wires were cut off j,
and the public and cotton ca ables were also
lost through the cutting of the wires The
suspension of telegraph facilities had q
worse effect than blizzard for some time.
The only business transacted has consisted
of arbitrage dealings with Boston aud
Philadelphia, and the execution of orders
byshouses having private wires with the
east, south and west. To-day the operators
working these wires were idle and brokers
had no interest in the market.
IN THE STOCK EXCHANGE.
In the stock exchange business was dead
and two of the brokers there tried to liven
up by starting game of ball The chair
man, however, summarily checked them
with smart fine and then the exchange
appeared dismal all the generally active
brokers having deserted 1t. The
commercial tickers will not be in running
order for some weeks, and the brokers are
anxious about how to obtain their quota
tions In the cotton exchange the absence
of reports from the south was severely felt,
and business less than half its usual volume.
Efforts to keep posted by private messages
over the Postal wires and to gather quota
tions by messengers resulted meagerly, and
the loss in comm issions was so large that
fears were enter tanned even in the esti-
mates.