The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-12-18
SERIOUS FIRE AT BROOKLYN
Warehouse Filled with Cotton and Jute
Burned, Causing $4,000 Loss.
Elevator at Martinsville, Ind, Destroyed
Three Race Horses Burned Near Evansville
500, 900 Loss at Cincinnati.

NEW YORK. Dec. 17.-Fire broke out In
store-house No. ], OF the storage ware
houses of Davis s. Arnetr, in Brooklyn,
to-day. These store-houses are situated on
the river. front. between Twenty-seventh
and Twenty-eighth streets. South Brook
Ign. They are two hundred feet in length
and eighty feet In width. and two are four
story brick structures and one q
two-stOry building, INT are num-
bered /. 2 and 8. No. 1. where the fire
broke out, is nearest the river, and the
breeze from the bay caused the flames to
make considerable progress before the ar
rival of the engines. Three alarms were
RING in quick succession, which brought to
the scene all the fire apparatus IN that part
of the city. The stores, it is said, were
filled with cotton. iute and other goods.
and, notwithstanding the efforts of the
tiremen, the fire burned fiercely. Chief
Thomas K. Nevins arrived shortly and took
charge. The police reserve of the third
precinct was first orderad ont.
The building had been considered unsafe.
At the top the walls bulged out about five
feet. About half an hour after the fire was
discovered about one hundred feet Of the
north wall fell across the wharf, on which
fifteen firemen were standing. Among
them were Chief Nevins, District Engineer
Doyle and foreman Matt Fehey, of engine
No. 2S, and Hugh Lafferty, of the same
company. 1t was thought that all the men
would be lost. as all were hurled over
board or had TO jump for their lives. 1t
Is rumOred that not all of them
were pulled out. Two boats came to their
rescue and succeeded In saving some. IL is
said that some are unaccounted for. Hugh
Latferty was very seriously injured. His
spine and right hip were injured. He Is
twenty-five years of age and lives at No.
SOP Court street. He was taken to the hos
pital. He said that he was on the wharf
when the wall fell and was knocked
In the basin alongside the pier. Fire
Chief Nevins was also hurt. but not
seriously, and he attended to his work OF di-
rectIng the iremen. A surgeon of the fire
department attended to these tiremen. One
or two of them WAS severely cut and
bruised. They were allowed 70 90 home.
Foreman Mcguire. of Engine company No.
20. had to 60 TO his home at johnson and
Cherry streets. also. He was struck by
wall at the east end of the building fell
and crushed a fire-engine working near by.
At noon it was said that a man named Will
Jams. who was known to be near when the
first wall fell, GOULD not be found any
where.
The store house was a building running
along the dock between Twenty-seventh
and Twenty-elghth streets nearly seven
hundred feet IN length, and extending to q
width of eighty feet. The structure was of
gray stone and three stories high. The
greater portion of it vas of fimsv construc-
tion. At least five thousand bales of cotton
and q large quantity of bagging and jute
were stored IN the building, Loss. $3.50, 600
on contents and $3.50. coo on building.
1t was learned this afternoon that all the
firemen had been accounted for. 1t is q
marvel, however, how they all escaped.
Fireman Lafferty was the only one seriously
hurt .-