New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-07-19

there was little done in the pit. The Commercial
tickers. which are operated from the Western
Unl<l, were of course silent Quotations were
obtained by several sources from chicago AN, on4
all the orders it could subject to delay, and
transacted large volume of business.
1t was not entirely dull day; hut 1t rcsembled
gated 100000 bushels Of wheat, as against
1900, 900 on Thursday; corr showed Slight in
crease. aid oats fell away in activity.
The Cotton Exchange not affected so strong
w. This is the iull season there. The Exchange
received It's foreign news as usual by the Com
mercia Cable Company but was cut of from
receiving any intelligence from the south Tl en-
ccpt that which came by the Postal Telegraph
{ ompany Superintendent Powers said that the
fire happened at fortunate time for tEe, C9'tou
Exchange. because business was so dun there;
The Exchange cot no orders from the South and
no weather reports, but no one on the Exchange
seemed to worry over il. Only about "a ,Oo2 haIes
were sold, considerably less than on Ih9rsiay'
II was a cuict day at the Coffee Exchange
But the Maritime Exchange was tronged wlti
visitors anxious to get the news as uSuai. super
intendent Iloughton early established inesschFGI
system between this city and Quarantine, by which
the Exchange will serve is patrons until The
wires are working again. The officers OF thc
EXCHANGE also operated long-6istance telephones
with success between this city, Baltimore and
Philadelphia 49, A., o,i >-.s
Office with Fire Island, Sandy HOOK; ana QuaIdn-
tine was of course, cut of. Intelligence OF ar
irving vessels received by the old-iashloneu
system Of sending up reports from quarantine 10
The railroa,i service suffered for time with
the general public in the loss Of telegraphIc com
munication through the main office OF the western
Union The trunk lines have their own Hlc-
graphic service but IT is uScd LOT loc'ti WIN
along the routes. large business goes by mes
sengcr or local Geographic wires 10 the p,l" ~
at broadway and Dey-st and thence taxes t'le
wires to the West This service lncIudcs the various
communications with connecting western ralllo1'
officers, and affects large part Of We or, Tnes
The Western Union gave as prompt connection aS
possible for this branch OF It's service ana tin
interruption did not exceed three OF lOuI hCHis
as regards outgoing messages. IL was lnlpoSslple
to estimate the amount of business delayed OH
the incoming wires. That it was enormous was
communications were turned upon the regular
railroad wires that otherwise would have been
sent through the Western Union main Office
CABLE WORK INTERPRETED WITH.
Three European cables had their termni in the
Western Union Building, the Anglo, coming
from Maine overland the Direct, overlan"
from Rye Beach, New-fiampshire, and the
French cable, coming overland from cape
Cod All these cables terminated on
the European side at Valencia, IN ireland
The destruction of the local termini of necessity
threw great quantity of work the two re,
naming cables known as the American or Uou!d
cables. running from the coast of Norway, Eng
land to Coney Island and terminating au 'le
Western Tnio1 Gable Offices, No. l6 Broad-st
Fortunately the batteries and instruments lOr tHe
operation of these lines are kept III separate
building from the other three, or the company
cable business would have been at a Standstul.
AS it is the pressure of business is so great on mes
two intact cables that the Commercial CaDle O2h-
many has had to relieve them of some OF H. Inc
Postal Telegraph Company have also had great
incnase of business, and report that they VIII
have to work night and day for few days 10 get
'ne TriSnnc reporter visited the Western Union
cable offices at No. 16 Broad-st. and was informed
that though the stress Of work was eXceedlngN
Of
having been cut off, the facilities they had We're
enough TO keep the work going, and though al
kilograms received were taken subject to delay AZ
midnight last night the Anglo cable had peei
connected and messages were TRANSMITTED DX IT,
and it is expected that by tonight they will all be
in operation.
Several other cable companies were visited by
the reporter, who was informed by each one that
owing TO the Western Unions having Two intact
cables in BrOad-St the fire had not thrown any
appreciate excess of business on their oiices ana
that they thought, the chief inconvenience To
the Western Union was the destruction OF thelI
batteries electric power could soon be procured
from other sources.
HARD WORK UPTOWN.
An extra force of operators was sent at II
o'clock to the Twenty-third-st. Office of the West
ern Union where it was found possible 70 " cut
In" number of wires running north and east
The wires along the New-York Central and New
York New Haven and Hartford roads are brought
down from the Grand Central Station under
ground TO the twenty third-St. Once, WneTe COIL
nections can be made for testing purposes Usually
the large number Of messages received from the
public at that Office are forwarded to the main
office through pneumatic tubes. The tubes haV-
ing become useless by the destruction of the
machinery at the lower end, il was necessary t.
send the messages To such repeating stations as
could be reached by wire.
Linemcn. therefore, connected the through un-
Cerground wires with instruments at the Twenty
third-st. Office furnishing direct communlcation
on six wires to Boston. four 10 Buffalo, TWO 10
Syracuse and two 10 Chicago BY the time the
extra force Of operators reached Twenty -third-st
large amount of business had accumulated, but
within two hours the skilfu manipulators OF the
KEYS had dispatched a greater part OF the delayed
messages, and after that the work went along
smoothly during the rest of the day.
There was a great increase in the number OF
messages received for delivery in the city, as many
Of those usually taken at the main office were
sent from distant points direct 70 the , dweh ~
Z livered by the messenger service.
no business was forwarded by wire from the
Fifth Avenue or OIL e. hotels having Western Unlon
offices. but the telegraph employees recelvel them
and forwarded them by messenger TO twenty
thrd-st. or any other near c!llce having dlrect
communication with out-of-tOwn points
HEAVY LOSS TO TIE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
SOME SORT OF ORDER QUICKLY BROUGHT OUT
OF CHAOS, HOWEVER.
The loss of the Associated Press by the fire is
estimated in money at 81 1000. 1t is not covered
by insurance But the actual extent of the loss
cannot be stated in dollars. 1t is beyond the
measure Of money. Records that cannot be re-
placed have been burned. Material for history
of the growth Of the press in America was piled up
in lctter-boxes and in files. valuable reference
library had been accumulated Documents dating
from s45 were stored in careful order William
Henry Smith, the superintendent of the Associated
Press had many books and papers Of his own
in the ofice-rooms. Among them were hundreds
of pamphlets collected in Europe and correspond
ence worth preserving that had accumulated
during many years. All these are gone; and in
comparison with this loss the destruction of tcle
graphic instruments, tSpewriters and other
means employed in the distribution of news from
day TO day becomes insignificant.
Still, without the talent for ready reorganiza-
ton out of chaos possessed by William Henry
Smith, and the ready and quick-witted co-opera-
ton Of all the men connected with the great news