The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1892-10-08
s1FlREPROo F, MyAiD EN- Me-
q precious metal District zllanoss s

The Precious Metal Dtstr1ct lose -
| ss.s eaps from, Big $Gonaag is,ns.
Made lane has been ingularlyy. free
from destructive fires for many years,
and there is superstition among the
|Siewel1y and diamond merchants Of that
street that the lane will never succumE
to flames or streams of water, and that
the old rickety buildings lining it on
both sides are pretty nearly .hreproef.
The records. of the fire patrol, which
go back to 1874, prove that in the las1
eighteen years 113 fires have taken place
in that neighborhood, all Of which were
Of little account. Those fires which af~
/, fected jewelry Establishments We're the
most insignificant Of the lot, and theil
stock was never damaged by any fire.
This seems strange, for the reason
that in the majority Of houses occupieo
by jewelers. numberless small ane
rickety rooms are used as smelling fur
naces and workshops, with plenty Of op
portunities for creating heat and flames.
talked with number Of merchants
located in the precious metal district,
between Broadway and William street
and all of them said they had never lost
cent by fire. One Of the reasons for
this happy state of affairs is their ex-
IRENE cautiousness. They have watch
men constantly GU the premises to guarts
against thieves, and these men are bouna
to look out for CONGREGATIONS likewise
Whenever there is the slightest cause
for danger the thick doors of the safes
are locked in jiffy, and all hands in the
building combine to remove that cause.
AS one of the ''Maiden laners' ex-
pressed himself, there is no inducement
for fires either Ali the wealth the jew,
eler's stock represents is kept in safes.
the doors of which may be barred in al
instant. Even if there WAS a frebug
among that respectable class Of mer
chants he would not dare set fire to his
building in order to claim Insurance or
his stock, for such thing woultl give
him away in an instant. II a really de-
structive fire should occur in one of the
large jewelry e1nporiums i'll the lane the
safes would tumble down into the Gel
lars, and the precious stock would be re-
covered as soon as they had cooled off.
And even if the safes were injured or
their come down their contents woul(5
not necessarily be lost. We all remea
Der the great fire in Bond street whici
destroyed q number of wholesale jew
elry establishments. When the proprie
tors of those precious safes looked fer
them they were nowhere, only twisted
and distorted fragments being found
but when they dug up the soil under the
destroyed building, they turned up large
chunks Of precious ore that had once
been watch: chains, breastpiIs or wed
ding rings. The police We're notified
| and formed line all around the seat Of
the fire. Then a mining camp was es
tablished. A long gutter was rue
| around two sides of the spot made va
can't by the fire, a stream OF water was
led through these cutters. the earth was
| carefully washed and fortune recov
cred, the proceeds Of which were divided
among the former occupants Of the
building according to the extent Of their
business.
Maiden lane is not the only down towE
street that Of late years has been free
from CONGREGATIONS, though no other has
srch record to show as the lane.
Pearl, Williams, Beekman and Full
| ton streets were once notorious for
big fires. That was in the times when
! the big paper warehouses and simila,
establishments made their headquarters.
! there. The part of Maiden lane ada
cent to the river still gives the fire de-
partment work from time to time. OIL
and paint stores are mostly responsible
for confagrations in that vicinity
| York Herald. y