Connecticut western news., 1894-05-17
A FIERY FAREWELL.
REV. DR. TAlMAGE LEAVES HIS TAB
 ERNAClE IN ASHES.

| Just He Was About to Start Around tho World the Third Brooklyn Tabernacle Burned Down-Trustees Decide to Build
 Another-Big Hotel Burned Also. BROOKLYN, May l4.-The fire that swept
 away the Talmage Tabernacle and the of handsome residences was the most de- structive. rapid and furious that has wis Ited this city for years.
 It started shortly after noon on Sunday, when fortunately all but 100 of the 1000 morning worshipers at the Tabernacle had departed and at time when the guests at the big hotel were somewhat prepared for such an emergency. It spread with light ninglike rapidity and before sunset had destroyed property to the value of nearly | e, ,O00, 900.
 Dr. Talmage believes the fire was caused | by the crossing of electric wires behind the organ pipes, for it was from the organ pipes that the flames were first seen shoot ing out by Mrs. Talmage
 It was nearly 20 minutes before the fire men arrived on the scene, and then half a | hundred streams of water were turned upon the blazing pile. But the church
 
 to saving adjoining property. In three hours only the bare walls of one of the costliest structures of Brooklyn remained standing.
 | A Spectacular Fire. Long ere this, however. it became evil ! dent that the Hotel Regent was also doomed. The fire started there in the sec ond story, but was speedily extinguished. This proved to be only & temporary relief, | for little later flames were discovered in | an upper story blowing fiercely up the air | shaft. A tremendous crowd gathered, focking | from all sections of the city. They surged and swayed around the burning buildings, | and the police reserves had to exert them selves to the utmost to drive the ever gath ering hundreds back to place of safety. The infiammable nature of the material and the great open amphitheater of the Tabernacle gave such draft that the fire was forced into the air in columns of glow | ing flames that made a fearful picture of destruction. Flakes of burning wood and | redhot cinders were shot up as from vol cano, and carried by a strong breeze they swept through the air in every direction. The heat, too, blistered the fronts of the houses on the opposite sides of the streets, and before long both sides of Greene ave nue were in a blaze. So, too, were the l houses on Waverly avenue, but as fast as they broke out the people and the firemen | extinguished them.
 Then the walls of the Tabernacle began | to crumble and fall, and the great rush of | flames which followed started the houses burning again, and at the same time flames were seen bursting forth from the roof | of the Summerfield NJ. l.. church, a short | distance away. The streets were cleared as we'll as possible by the police, but hun dreds of people remained and chung within the courtyards. too eager to witness the | sight to obey orders. | =. Hotel Burned Also. | Within half an hour the magnifcent%ho- tel was seen to have joined the Tabernacle on the road to destruction, and no water could reach the fire there. From every window on three sides of the building the glowing flames poured. They grew hotter and hotter and the smoke more dense as | the fire spread throughout the huge struc- ture An occasional crack signified to the