The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-12-04
I X ! X A (!
A DEPOT BLAZE.
Serious Fire This Morn
ing at the Penn
sylvania Railway
Terminus.
FERRY TRAVEL EMBARRASSED.
The New and Temporary
Waiting Rooms are
Almost Uniniured.
The Red Brick Office Build
ing Badly Damaged,
However.
AN EXPLOSION OF GAS
The Conlagration Began in the
Remains Of the Old Build
ings About 4 A. M.
FIRE A DELAYED
A Broken Box as usual-The Tel
" L
The Conhagration Began in the
Remains Of the Old Build
ings About 4 A. M.
FIRE ALARM
A Broken Box as Usual-The Tel
ephOne Worked.

Fire visited the Pennsylvania Rail-
road Company again this morning,
and half of its handsome new Office
building on Exchange place and the
entrance to the Desbrosses street ferry
are a heap of charred ruins and a
mass of tangled iron girders and sup
ports. An ugly blackened gap mars
the symmetry of the glass and iron
roof of the massive train shed, and q
large portion Of the wooden sheathing
of the roof of the new passenger wait
ing room bears evidence of the flames
destruction.
Shortly before four o'clock this
morning Policeman Fred Helmer, who
patrols Exchange place at night, was
standing in front of the entrance to
the Cortlandt street ferry, when he
heard an explosion coming from the
opposite side of the street in what
used to be the waiting room to the
Desbrosses street ferry house.
BOLT OF FLAME.
Upon looking in that direction he
saw in the building a bolt of flame
such as is made by the burning of a
large stream of gas, shooting upward.
He Immediately to signal box No.
81, which is on Exchange place in
front of the Western Union Telegraph
office. and attempted to send out an
alarm, but the box would not work.
He then rushed into the telegraph
office and had Night Operator Bitter
telephone the fact of the fire to Fire
Headquarters. While Mr.. Bitter was
doing this Helmer ran up Montgom-
cry street to Green street where box
No. IL is located and sent out
an alarm from there. While
he was doing this MI. Bitter's mes
sage had been received at head
quarters and Engine Company No. g.,
which is housed on Mercer street, and
Hook and Ladder Company No. 1,
which is located on York street, had
been ordered to the fire.
GOT THE STEAMER HERE IN TIME.
Engine No. 8 is the new apparatus
which the Pennsylvania Company re-
Gently furnished the city for the en-
CINE which was destroyed at the Bar
row street crossing, the night
Stoker Dan Oman and Chief
Farrier were killed. and it
was a singular coincidence that al
most before the first deep tone of the
fire bell was heard this apparatus
was straining every nerve to save the
property of the company.
WHERE THE FIRE STARTED.
The building in which the fire or
iginated was formerly used on the
ground floor for the waiting room of
the Desbrosses street ferry
house, while the upper floor
was occupied by the offices
of the Superintendent and General
Superintendent. These officers had
recently moved into the handsome
new brick ofice-building, and the
partitions of the old building
had been torn away, leaving a mere
shell.
This was used as a passageway
through which the passengers from
the trains passed to the ferryboats.
The material was old n
thoroughly seasoned, making ex-
cellent food for the flames, while
running from the old building to the
new brick building was q large box
OF highly inflammable yellow pine
which covered the steam pipes.
SHE'LL AND A FLUE.
When the first engine reached the
ssene this old shell was burning