New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-09-13
AN OLD LANDMARK RUINED.
FLAMES DESTROY TIE INTERIOR OF TIE
BROOKLYN INSTITUTE.
TIE VAIE ABLE COLLECTIONS PROBABLY SAVED
NEARLY PANIC IN AN ADJOINING
HONE FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN
THE LOSS ABOUT $4,000.

THE LOSS ABOUT $4,000.
The third fire which has broken ont in the
Brooklyn Institute building at Washington and
Concord sts., i'll that city, within six months. was
discovered at p. m. yesterday. and this time
the institution did not come of so luckily as
on previous occasions. when tho fire started III
the cellar and was put on, without much dam-
age Last night the fire started at the top of
the building, and the way it was discovered is
bcst told in the words of Professor Franklin w.
Hooper, the secretary OF the Institute.
To Tribune reporter he said: II was just
leaving the hailding to 30 home to dinner when
] saw a man the street running
and shouting Fire / stepped out
into the street and looked up and saw smoI'
coming from tie roof Of our baldi?s. The man
] saw running sent out the alarm. do not know
who he was. ! at went upstairs with Mr.
Davis, the janitor and on the third floor locked
up to the skyights. and saw the flames in the roof
timbers and the cliarrcd wood dropping down the
openings | think the fire must have au.,t in
the garrett above the third floor. How, cannot
imagine, for we have had no fires in the building
ali summer and the garret was entirely empty.
There were no electric wires there that l know
Of"
The two alarms sent ont brought six engines
and two hook-and-laddcr companies. and several
streams We're at tIrned on the roof. Inc
valuable paintings in the hall of tic Institute
on the second floor were carried out by citizens
and policemen ard taken to the First Precinct
police station Nothing else was removed. The
first floor is occupied by the Offices and the il
brary. The books were badly watcr->oakcd in
some places, bu, not burned. Tic audience hall
takes up the whole second floor, and tho third
floor is devoted to the studios of the teachers,
fhn xic coll n
the audience-hal
At 80 p. m the roof fell, CARRYING with it
the ceiling and also the floor of this lecturc-roon.
so that the whole mass lay upon the floor OF the
main audicnce-room below. At about the same
time the rear wall gave way and fell against the
side wall of an extension of the Home for Friend
less Women and Children, in Concord-st. As
sistant Chief Engineer Dale and Foreman Fliz-
gerald were under this wall when it fell. hut the
wall of the liome saved their lives. They cane
of with only few bruises.
The fire did not reach the front Of the build
ing below the third floor. The from; is Of massive
gray granite blocks, and ii stood firmly. Ihc
Concord House. at Washington and Con-
cord Its, is kept by \. +. Kramer
The building was no: hurt. but hos"
was carried up tie Railways and water
damaged the furniture to the extent of abort
Women and Children. hut there was nearly d
panic among its ninety-two inmates Tie mat;ol,
Mrs. Conkling. got the eighty childicn, who were
in bed, dressel bat the twelve dccrcpit women
created good deal of conmotion Dr. Rae
finally got them together and started hymn and
they Quisted down.
The fire was out by o'clock, bnt n stream Of
water was kept up for some time after. The IN
terror of the building seemed to he completely
burned out. As to the collections it is difficult
TO fix the damage. y visit To the third story
with the light of a single lantern showed some OF
the casts to bc wrecked. but that the botanical
mneralogical, chronological and other valuable
collections were comparatively uninjured. Some
of the cases in the icctUrc-roOm were left hang
ing to the wall and it was impossible to get at
Them Professor Hooper made happy by
seeing his microscope case thus hanging on the
other side Of a gulf. Guys picture of BROOKLYN
in the Winter of 1876" which was damaged in
the fire of SOL and restored, was saved with the
other pictures. Professor Hopper thinks t.at She
most valuable of the collections will be found
practically unharncd
The Fire Department estimates the loss at
about S4O.O00, though if the books aud colicc-
tions should bc found 10 have suffered much il
would nc much more. Tho insurance, which was
general upon lmlGng and contents, is Sd0,00o
A large part of il is in the Liverpool and London
and Globe Company No ore can give SITS
factory account of the cause Of the lire. Assist
ant Chief Engineer Dale thinks that it must
have originated in some OF tine studios on IL"
top floor Ills theory gains crcdcncc from The
fact that Professor Boyle had his studio there
filled with electrical apparatus.
4 meeting oi the directors Will bc h"!I on
Monday or Tuesday To consider what is lrh -
bc done. II is probable that the fir, will lead
IN a one Ot 81
posed new Brooklyn Museum, OH the Last Side
Lands, near Prospect Park
The Brooklyn Institute antc'latcs in its history
the Incorporation of the city. for il sprang rn'n
the Brooklyn Apprentices Library Association
whicl, formed in 1924. ON the Fourth Of
July of the following ycaT the cornerstone Of
the first building was laid az Henry and Gram
berry SITS, by General Lafayette, who was revisit
ing this countrN. \ free library Was on" Of
the principal features OF the work carried on in
il. In 1898 tAc hUi!dirg sold to the city,
and after the library had ben nnusucd for
time it was transferred 10 the present bnildine
which WAS erected in Is43, and the name Brook
lyn Institute adopted Augustus Graham was
instrumental mainly in the reorganization. and hc
paid of the debt on the building in lels and
his will. Many scientific and other lectures lv emil
nent men were given in the hal! Of the Institute In
yne n,e Gays when 1t was the best public meeting
piace IN tile city. Since 1887 the Institute has
taKcn on new life and broad and comprehensive
S"erIe s., snc Ior making !, the nucleus Of mnscnm
o, M ScaenGc nee, ano art Commensurate with the size
FALLING sAsHwElGHr CAUSES A FIRE.
Flames were started In peculiar manner II, the biz
factory building No. a;o Second ave Yesterday morn.
ing. A sasl-wcght which had lain ON . hca, I'm Peter
Discho's elcctroplsting >hop the second Nc,r ya
Jared out OF place by the motion Cf dyna, and o!.
into portable furnace, sending a shower of live
Goals into jar Of urpentinc. The fame, snr.,d 80
quickly that D,chO and c,e Ctler workmen had N
run for their lives. Several wood workers had ,ns IN
the building and the lumber furnished fuel ~ snrc,d
tho fire Three alarms were sounded. and the engine,
threw tOis Of water into the building before the a,r.
were under contr.l. D-rIOS loss was 81 ,uO ,na
his property Insured for ~ OOJ Other Occunan,
Of the building iOst as follows: >l"lnbcrgcr & Uurrr
ctpar r.l,oyc. George A.