The sun., 1892-11-13
BROOKLYN FIREMEN KILLED.
TWO LIVES LOST At 4 FIRE IN TnE
H/RBECK STORES

six Men Were 9tssAine sn . Pile or Juts
90 the Tor Floor OF the BurninE nuiiA.
ing when It shirteA-Two Were Thrown
Now, Into the Fire. and tho Other Fosr
were Ip1ured-Firsmsn Worked All Day.
and At Night the Fire was san Raging
A Bad Loss for Cornell Uuiversity.
A disastrous nrs occurred yesterday morn.
ing in one Of the big Harbeck stores in Fur.
man street, between Fulton and Wall street
ferries. In Brooklyn. The four large build
ings. comprising what is known As Harbeck's
stores. front on the river and run bnck to Fur
man street. q distance OF 100 feet Each is
ninety-siS feet wide and four stories high.
and Is separated from tho adjoining buildings
by walls OF great soldity and thickness. IL
was warehouse No. 3 which was visited by the
fire. and although no fierce flames were vlsi.
Bile, and the fire was confined to the single
building. tho loss will bo nearly $300.U0O.
Just what caused tho nro has not been A.
certained. and will probably remain mystery
or he credited to spontaneous combustion
Tho goods stored In tho building included cot
ton. iutc. juto butts. and sisal grass. 1t wRs
not until 4:i0 o'clock yesterday morning that
the nre was discovered. but it had
been probably smoudering for several
hours. At 10 o'clock tho previous night
Police Sergeant lTarkins. while passing
along Furman street. about 100 yards
from the stores. heard peculiar noise. us II
from an explosion. He made careful inves.
tigaton. but could discover nothing to indl.
cate that fire was In progress in the neigh.
borhood. Later on Watchman George Clark.
who was on duty on the river front side Of the
building. also heard what seemed to be .
rumblinG noise but as no are or smoke ap-
| psared no paid no further attention to the
matter.
1t was nearly 5 o'clock whom Watchman
Clark noticed smoke coming through the
crevices in tho iron shutters In such volumes
that there was no doubt that fire was raging
inside He hurried to the two engine houses
close by and gave the alarm. Within q short
time two additional alarms were sent out and
Chief Engineer Novins had twelve engines
and several trucks ut work. He sent eight en-
gines to fight the fire from the dock side and
four to Furman street
At 8 o'clock tho fire boat Seth Low arrived
and added half dozen streams to tho delues
| which was being poured into tho building
through holes cut in the root. The flremen
who we're stationed on the roofs OF the adioln-
ing stores were almost blinded from time to
| time by tho dense smoke which poured
through the openings. and when the roof fell
in with great crash at ah o'clock some OF
them narfoWly ssGnPef tb neihs dsawn @ INTO ne
ssA~S
About o'clock in the afternoon. whom the
from the river front aud also from the ROOT. an
gsafHa %nsS Of ti?
street and WsEand =; i Estes sfSd r. q 2
| Foreman James s.. Smith. James Donohue.
John Smith. and George +. Hanigan. Of the
Hy 81 ps
| iutc on the top floor directly under O port Of
For five or six hours score or moro flremsn
had been at work on the roofs OF tn. the connect
tsow p%Hf p%Henf yag ssS the No.
but it wa. B not Until nearly seiosE Ii at Fore:
| their hose lines across the sepnrating we'll be:
tween the two buildings .and. taking their stand
on tho piles OF jute. directed tho streams Of
burning stuff undern cath.
hs EGd the
IN IN bs the int TSa 30
which the men were standing and all the mon
A shout OF horror arose from the other fro
men as they saw their companions disappear.
'f vss Z xs s
gHppllng rods and ropes as close as p9,s1s!6lS
away, ihe sot ' ali the t men ont but spaudiHs
and Estes. and the search for them was only
he the to e
sHssf sp4ee hro%sh %s S Sch the H men
on them SO quickly that death from sufroca-
ti9n must have followed very soon. ,,u .,-
s0Vim"R Who WERE rescued wers bad
hurt. but they suffered So much from shook
and suiocation that theyhad to be carried .i
patrol wagon and taken TO their homes.
/ No Attannt could bA made to search for the
missing (remen. as the flre still ragged lerceiy
In tho centre Of the building, and the entire
nss aer IL
teen hours OF continuous work. very little I'm
preston seemed to have been Inads on the
oapse % before il will be entirely extlngulshsd,
Fireman SpnuldnC was born In brooklyn and
Since "is iss tss Hs%as one Of The
momhers oi the department, and had frs-
%msr1e F4smsn Etss BEEN
department seven or eight years and had also
an eyc.lent record. TN, ,.-,. A..
accident said that the men were not on the
jute by his orders and that they should not
shes sSts exnnssa 10 SfH
The iiarbeck stores are owned by Cornell
University. They were leased to- ,a,, thn Empire
oirs GSrs14ssfH 1T Hn""y4r n1' strs" New Y9rE wa:
stated at ths ofl'2s yesterday that tho burned burned
and .othsr vegetable hhre materials. which
had been transferred to it few days AGO 10
was even impossible to give the names Ok the
There have been several other fires n thsSSs
stores, the most iiSastrouS being IN iso3 ~
Ia expected that most of the losses by yester-
DAYS nrr arc cnysred hy insurance. The n Ioss
on tho bull ling will amount TO about SowsSSE:
of hs ne was @ towod from
the dock and anchored In midstream.
ABANDONED IHE VESSEL TOO soon: