The morning call., 1893-01-02
SCENES AT THE DOCK.
The New Years Blaze Brought Out a
Big Crowd,


Previous to the arrival Of the freboa!s
and the Fire Department large crowd
congregated on the wharf at which was
moored the Tiburon, and watched the fam
ing bands Of fire sweep the decks, whirl in
crimson revolving bands around the smoke
stack and disappear in the blue vault of
heaven. And with the flames came the
dark volumes OF smoke, out of whose black
depths leaped the sharp-shooting tongues
of fame. making a very pretty sight to
those who watched. but very expensive
one to the owners of the steamer.
The crowd was so thick when the fire.
men arrived that a dozen policemen, under
Captain Dunleavy OF the harbor police, was
insufficient to keep them back. So the
fremen had considerable difficulty In
dragging the hose through the crowd to the
pier where the Tiburon was burning
When a passsge-way was formed the police
had to use clubs to keep the people from
crowding on the hose. The hose used was
not of extra good quality. and several
pieces burst during the progress of the fire,
drenching large portlous OF the over
curious bystanders.
The crowd crushed and damned against
each other on the new piers being built at
the foot of Market street, and it was not
long before several lost their balance and
were precipitated into the bay. They were
rescued by boatmen who were near by
watching the fire.
When the fire was extnguished large
numbers secured the privilege of going
inside the dock to witness the effects of the
| flames. The Tiburon presented a very
| dilapidated and blackened appearance
with her top shell all gone and her smoke
| stack standing almost alone. Still she rode
the water well. as her hull was not in
| jurec.
During the progress OF the fire Engineer
| Mayback Of the Tiburon was one of the
hardest and most faithful workers in ex-
tinguishng the flames. When the fire
broke out he was In the engine-ro0m. and
| when told that the steamer was on fire he
would not believe it and refused to leave the
enginc-room. Soon the smoke reached him,
and he became convinced OF his error, and
after seeing that the Safety valve was all
right had barely time to escape. A few
minutes more and he would have been SUI
| located by the immense volumes of black
smoke which filled the engine-r0om. He
would not have been able to have found his
way to the deck.
As soon as he left the engine-room the cs-
| Gaping steam from the safety valve began
to make deafening noise which put into
the shade tho footing Of the 1000 tin horns
blown on the streets on New Years eve.
The tooters were not in it.
When the fire reached the coal Engineer
Mayback took personal charge of this por-
tion of the flames and soon had it under
| control.
Dan Baum, who owned the restaurant
on the Tiburon, as he does on other ferries,
arrived at o'clock and gazed with melan-
| choly sadness on the remains OF his property.
The Kitchen. or lunch-room. where the
| fire started presented a very chaotic APP
pearsnce after the flames had been extin-
| guished.
III
well done and very much 0verdone-were
| scattered about in great profusion. and
| from the number of eggs floating around
| one would scarcely imagine that they were
| worth forty cents per Dozen
Potatoes. sweet and Irish. strewed the
| floor and frying pans, coffee-pots and vari-
| Gus other kinds OF pots were scattered
| everywhere.
The irrepressible doughnut, Of both the
| sinker ard life-preserving variety. which are
| equally proof against fire and water as we'll
as ordinary digestive organs. was there and
| over the counter
| Chaos reigned supreme In the kitchen
and scarcely any one would recognize the
| charred and water soaked room as the
| former galIsy of the Tiburon.
During the afternoon till a late hour
! crowds continued to come and go to gaze
| on the burned steamer and watch the ferry
| employees packing away their injured and
| uninjured effects.
| The universal comment of the crowd was
| that 1t was a magnificent piece Of luck,
| both for the company. employees and pas
| sengers that the fire had not broken out in
| midstream. Before assistance could reach
| her. judging from the length of time it re-
| Quired when at the very dock, she would
| have burned to the wster's edge and great
loss Of life would have followed. That the
| fire took place at the dock when all pas
| sengers had been discharged and there
| were few people on board was consider ed
simply nothing short of miraculous.
| The greatest Inconvenience caused by the
fire was the stopping of the Marker, Suffer
| and Clay street cars. 1t does not look as il
| this was necessary, but a freplug on
| Market and East streets had to be used and
| the hose OF course had to cross the tracks.
| For nearly an hour the ferries were cut
| of from the rest OF the town and the cable
was being run for nothing.
| Cars were crowded on Market street up Is
| far as Stockton street. and large number
| of cars were penned In between the hose
| and the ferries.
When 1t became apparent that the delay
| was to last the Sutter-street line dispensed
| with the h0rse-cars and ran the cable from
| the junction of Mar ket street.
During the blockade most of the ferry
travel was carried on on the Mission and
HOWard-stroet lines.