New-York tribune., 1891-09-16
DRIVEN OUT BY FLAMES.
MARROW ESCAPES FROM THE OLD "CoM.
MERCIAL ADVERTISER BUILDING.
uorA1 LOSS OF THE STRUCTURE. WHICH HAD
RryN CONDEMNED FOR TWENTY YEARS
-1REMEN DELAYED BY
SCARCITY OF WATER.

-FTREMEN DELAYED BY
SCARCITY OF WATER.
The old building on the southwest corner OF Nassau
.rs Fulton sts. which had been the home OF Two
avsranrrs first of "The sum and afterward OF The
Conmercial Advertiser was destroyed by hre sooh
sser a. m yesterday. SO swift was the Destruction
that 100 men employed in the building had 10 run
FOR their lives and IL by means OF hreesc.apoS
that many OF them got away from the flames lheS
barely had time 10 get into the street anu i''N
hank before the entire building was ablaze ana III
Jaw minutes the sixstory structure began 10 cruo'o
For brief time The burning building presentea "
.rectacle OF the awful fury of fire. on the fulVon-
a. side, where the street numbers ran from lou ~
,oe avery window vomited forth great volumes "
eane The heat blistcred the paint and crackeu tlio
u1ndows OF tho tall Bennett Building, on the hOr'4
s,a. NJ the street. From the windows OF the Na
"a front OF the burning structure the naines i0P
almost across the narrow thoroughfare crsehins Si
glass IN the new Raub Building opposite anu soUee
out showers Of sparks, which threatehe" " nc
q. the other buildings in the neighborhood' li"'.o
s,.n,v the adjoining four-story building, NO o.
Sessan.st was seen TO be ablaze, and soon tle h"i
extended TO the higher and deeper building NO 20
Despite the frantic efforts OF the hTemen ~ io0"V
for time as an entire OooA 49, H.
s,r.nt away In general oonHagration, out "Hon u'o
eIciten,ent was at fever heat and the alarm VIZ,
.. .,o root and portions OF the walls OF the Old
VI
newspaper building fell with crash ana 'iie uA"e0'
was averted. =, .x
Is,er when the fire was under control and only rag
r,ents of ruined walls remained ABOVE Ile sinoA.e
debris although the flames had destroys" PiOPotS ,
worth hundreds Of thousands OF doiidrS' men Wv
had been watching the building iof years saiu - ~
Newyork had been fortunate to escape olsasoer III
49, ,,r =, The structure There had long been fear
mo. the building would fall the Taylor Building III
park Place fell and crush out the lives OF many nen
In falling II had been condemned as long ago aS
1870 some of the business men said ana alter oe'he
matched up had been considered unsafe. Inc nre in-
sprance companies had either refused to take rsKs In
.h bniIa,nr or had demanded such high rates for IN
,rance as practically to prohibit ii. Some tenants
bad moved away because they could get no insurance
and only a few OF those who remained had any pro
lection against the losses by fire yesterday Ihe top
,tory of the building had been vacant since lho
rornercial Advertiser Office moved last spring,
but the building was weighted heavily with inc
prcsses of Douglass, Taylor Co., whose JOB
-,nt,ne establishment filed the third story. Above
hat nrntng office were the of several jewellers
,,d opt,oans and below several shops, the most
important Of which Ira Pcrego's furnishing store.
psrero occupied large portion Of the ground floor
and also the same floor of the next building, NO.
81 Nassan-st- and his store formed connecting INK
between the buildings and helped to spread the fire
II was ten minutes after q. m. when the names
s4arad In the tailor shop Of James Gibbs, on the
second floor Of No 1872 Fulton-st. The business OF
the tailor was chiefly in the line Of cleaning ana
pressing clothes and he used small room opening
of the hall for cleaning and drying purposes.
mir Of trousers had been cleaned with benzne ana
hung UP 10 dry beside small furnace which was
nsed TO heat he pressing irons. The benzne caught
fire from the furnace and the small room was ablaze
I'm moment A few seconds later the flames shot
ont into the hall and began 10 run up and down
wooden hOstway which formed lue from the cellar
10 tie roof. Gibbs and his men got out in hurry
Two OF them, Frederick Gibbs and William wilson,
Jumped out Of window and Wilson spralned MS
ankle A. G. Tisdel manufactures Of Photographic
instruments on the floor, ran with pail OF
water but quickly saw that the flames were beyond
control He was obliged to climb out on hre-escape
as the hall filed with smoke. HIS son dashed
through the smoke and escaped by the stairs. From
other floors Of the building fed at the FIRST cry OF
shres knowing too well the danger in the place to
wait for hats coats but most Of them found their
way IN the halls aud on the stairs blocked by the
names and they took to the fre-escapes. The fire
was right at their heels as they climbed out of the
windows upon the balconies Before they all had
got down to the sidewalks in Fulton and Nassau ss.
the smoke and flames had burst from the windows and
Hremen were on the way to the building in response
10 an alarm which had been rung by a policeman.
When the hrcmen reached the fire they found the
harrow streets blocked by a dense crowd Of excited
men and boys and it surprising that loss of life
was not caused by the rushing Of the engines and
book and ladd,r trucks through the crowds. Police
men ran and fought with their clubs to clear spaces
for the frcmen TO work in Cali after call for help
sent from the nearest signal box until foul
regular alarms had been rung and six extra engines
had been summoned beyond the district embraced by
the fourth alarm. Twenty companies Of Gremen
fighting the flames at their height under the command
Of Chief Bonner and his associates, Deputy Chiefs
McCabe and Reilly. Police reserves from four pre-
rincts went run to establish frcllnes and keep the
cfOwds from interfering with the fremen. Inspector
Williams In command Of the police forces.
AT the beginning Of the fight the iremen found no
water ths burning building. Engine Company
No. 4, from Liberty-st. and Engine Company No. 90
from FultoD-st. made for the two hydrants at Fulton
and Nassau sts.. only few yards from the burning
building. but when the engines coupled and the
lines of hose ready only little
water drbbled from the nozzles although
the pumps worked at high pressure. With
the fire already roaring at the windows the lack Of
water made the hearts Of tle fremen sink. There
nothing to do but to leave the hydrants nearest
to the burning building and stretch longer lines of hose
to distant hydrants in search of water. The delay
seemed like age 10 the firemen, and when the first
good streams thrown from the nozzles the flames
making the building look like a huge bonfire.
Quickly enough the intense heat drove the nremen
back along Nassau and Fulton sts until the streams Of
smoke rolled in the mems faces and showers Of sparks
fell over the crowds Many shOpkeepers in Nassau-st
al distance Of block from the fire were fearful
that their places OF business would be lgnitcd by the
sparks Paint on the iron front Of the Bennett Build
Ing on the north side Of FultOn-s smoked and fell off
in rolls and the plateglass windows cracked. Firemen
turned streams of water Belmonts Hotel and other
smaller buildings on the same side of the street to
prevent them from taking fire. The Raub Building,
new fire proof structure the cast side of Nassau-sf
bore the brunt Of tho heat in that quarter and like
the Bennett Building, helped the fremen confine the
flames TO the block in which they had started Several
iAge Wlndows Of the Raub Building were cracked by
the neat. but no other damage was apparent
After spreading through the old newspaper bnjlalnr
te hre ran through the shallow building No. 81
NAssau-st., partly occupied by Perego's store In
few minutes the flames got into the next building No
3d. on the ground floor OF which were the wine and
billiard rooms Of Maurice q Johns That building was
hve stories high, with brOwnstone front and deptb
OF nearly 100 feet, and the fire soon raging IN