The sun., 1891-03-18
TWO MILLIONS BURNED UP.

TWO MILLIONS BURNED UP.
sHI DANW OF 1EB 1xA1IEs REGINs
IN C0HMFELD's JOLLY
pssiAi,s Ansv Dsiiai.s In Blsseksr Street
Goes Up with . Dsastiral Display Untii
Firsprssf Brick wsn stays the Fire
Bssjsain's 0sne-whsrs viii the AEen
Get Their ssnnsr Clothes This Year -
oss or Cisain Co.pany's storage Houses
snd the Kniokerbeeker Brewery Anrs.
Nearly two millions Of dollars went up
n fro and smoke or sunk into water
soaksd and picturesque wreck last night In q
ars that swept from street TO street on tho
BlsccIer street end Of the block bounded by
Blssoksr. Houston. Mercer. and Greene streets
The lre began In Cohnfeld'f Folly" Eight
vssrs ago Isidor Cohnfeld. tho king OF the
hsthsr trade. began to build upon the south
sast corner OF Bleeoker and Greene streets Il
m his boast that hs would have the finest
and liehtsst lofts that there were In this city
for his 500 girls to work in. and he spared NO
sost to get item.
On q lot 8Oxl5o his building rose until It
lowered ten stories above the. street. and be-
low tneL aRAu tu0Ev was u C0uAE 1uu y SUD
ssllar. To get the requisite light the walls
were pierced with closely erowdinR windowa
Iron backed with brick WAS the material OF
the walls.
Seven OF the stories were within these walls.
and above them three stories more were within
the slope Of q Mansard roof More windows
pierced the walls on the Gust side OF tho build
inc wherc It rose above an old-fsshioned four
story brick house occupied by N. H. Rosen.
stein as feather factory. ana from these
ono could look across to another new
big building almost 40 tall. that occupied two
lots on Bleecker street. ran nearly IS far back
q Cohnield's Folly. and had an L that ran
through to Mercer street. at 1877. All of these
buildings were burned last night. and besides
these x-story building that abutted on the
Cohnfeld building in Greene street. Tho fire.
proof building on the Mercer street corner re-
sisted the flames.
Cohnfeld completed his building and moved
,ntoit. He was . great man then-drove fast
trotters and his word was Law In the feather
trade. Thsn came reverses And strikes. His
building is said to have cost him 100000 and
helped to ruin him. Finally he went to Canada
selling the building for $325.000. and TAX
ine with him the proceeds Of the
,sle. When he came back and went into busi-
ness again he moved into smaller quartorA
The building was sold to g. ". Msndel of Chi
easo. and It was rented to Alfred BENJAMIN 4
Co.. the largest manufacturers Of summer
clothing in the country. They ussd the whole
Il II And the building was filled yesterday with
The stock prepared for this seasons trade.
S760.000.
The nrst that was seen OF the nrs was .
snudge Of smoke that forced its way out Of
the sidewalk 9rstings from the subesllaE
The first alarm At S.20 brought four snginea
Thirteen and 80 Wsrs the first to arrive. Their
men forced their way into the cellar and even
alittls way into the subosllar. They saw no
nrs. but thsy were met By . smoke
- hiok and punssnt that all they
could do WAs b turn their streams upon the
snsks hlindlx. AAasaxly - they could judge.
ths ars came from the nsighborhood Of the
ssGins room. Faster and faster came the
smoke. and sti1l fighting. but aimlsssly. the
frensn Fstssatod. arss 70 the cellar and then
to the street.
Meantime help was Doomins. and coming
rapidly. A second and third alarm were sent
from the box ct the corner. That exhausted
the help that esuld b got from there. Then
from the boz at Hsrosr str fourth and nth
alarms were sent and these wsrs followed By
six or eight special calls for engines. At 8
O'Clock the building was surrounded BY hose
men. playing streams into the cellar through
tho srstinks ON both Greene street and
s.ss ss1sx and SGh .aS sS. q the
" SiadSs: e tSs ies:sS aess a n::s +: ssst
lighted sInia,5 Ss' liz th;.: Arena.
isss & 'fsSs pels5ssa.d stS sf sef.r nsa ssd 4: &:
TaFshsrs saw that the building vas doomed.
Before The Ss@ea could tprA hoe 6O;s 1Don 4
xindo Es along near tho ROOT and on the fourth
In.d foak x ne eoW and glass
u i've minutes. sttsr that the whole building
ss .1sps 5losasS KS sfsI .Hs
tSs t;SSs flames rom slL Ground: Il was throush
Ssis W.rs thres o. III thsss IL SsaIIialns @ ";
put up 6sioE: the lay ~ pfsssd Ehioh re-
+: a.d ;as %sh dea
zs 's s.SSI. y: . o a.1s.I ss SIX
y!sia. i .as II front Of ens Of thsss sievsters
sSS;dsn ,ns;ds shaft that the flame climbed to the
around the streets We're dllsd Win .wriihias
hose. turning and twtstins With the NE oi the
s ns ana bsH:a se.s ar ;Ss
'tS:sts plsniiislls Wiz % iounssin i.ss. '1'
.. Uorniocs and window frames BEGAN 70 smoke
,Hhhich ,ha had had been doing rush!ue busnss: o.
s streams were turned upon tho hopse It o.
eppled. and also upon the big building In |
spa Xsnd.rScof 4 g. s.Ii hats. w.
-k0llcsmen cleared the streets, for the iron
S, o. ths phenomsns which ,eh.racteriEsd the
hsr 1889. namely the ,grsnite that faced the
ioWsr walls OF Cobnfeld's Folly and formed the
lover courses Of the walls seemed ct tho hot
ffsst period Of the tlrs to add fuel TO the flames
~ cracked exploded. and much Of It dissolyed
ssuddenly into dust The granite ehipped of at
pmt in scales or larger pieces and fell crpm-
sharp report
The first piece Of wall to 20 was In tho mid
nSor is, up; and scattered Into the nir besuti.
in scntillating fragments Of the copper leads
6Hasrki,5s 6us 9th dns S,ssn hsot Hnt %S s%e;
bearing, with them. q comrads Who hsd bssn
down: aw F9rtq4nI,ely 70 was only sll9htiy hurt.
Walls 0Wayod and this time n Hr0at geOtion at