The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1894-08-18
BURNING OF THE GEN. KNOX.

! o'clock this morning.
Fer q time the fire baffled the efforts
Of the Department, and not until the
keel Ut the ship rested on the bottom
of the river and tons Of water had been
pumped into her did Deputy Chief REILLY
feel safe in declaring the fire under con-
troll
Capt. p. q. Libby. with his wife. two
daughters and son. and Il crew of seven
men, were on board. James Caser. a
boy, was on watch on deck.
At 3 o'clock Capt. Libby was awak-
ened by q sitting sensation, and imme-
diately went upon deck. Smoke was
coming out OF the fore ventilators. and
Caser was trying to locate the fire.
There were thousands Of cases of kerr
osene and many barrels Of benzine and
whiskey in the hold. and the captain re-
allied what the fire meant. He yelled
ship afire" as loud as he could,
and ordered the boy to run down
the dock and give the alarm. The crew.
awakened by the captains cries, came
tumbling out Of their hunks. and the
captain ordered the matches battered
down, and went to arouse his wife and
children.
policeman on South street, near
Maiden lane, heard the captains cries.
and started towards the ship He had
scarcely crossed the street when he saw
Hames bursting through the deck. He
Immediately turned in an alarm. which
brought Deputy Chief REILLY and en-
yines 4. 90 and 20.
The Chapman Wrecking Company
Jug, Husler was at q pier u block away,
md as the engines came down the street
Bne started LOT the burning ship. They
nad three streams playing on her before
the hre Doats reached The scene.
AS soon as Deputy CHIEF RELY ar
lived and learned OF the dangerous
character OF the cargo, ne ordered "A
second alarm turned In. The names
were then burning through the forward
The fre boat New Yorker pushed her
way up alongside Of the burning ship
ana served as q protection for the big
IRON ship +. Oakes, lying at the next
lock. The New Yorker had six streams
siSsd.
AT one u:ae 1t looked as IL the New
Yorker would be crushed to atoms; She
7. F. Cakes, when the former suddenly
:areened. The fire boat slowly drew
out into the river. The tug Flushing
Chief REILLY ordered her away and had
to turn a couple OF streams on her be
tore his command was obeyed.
work Of the firemen extremely danger
ous. The men had to be worked II
relays of five minutes each, the smoke
was 50 intense: Fire Captain WhaleI
capes, A volume of smoke, from one o
the hatchways snveloped them anC
forced them to the sioe of the snip
There they hung until they were re
giVQd RmftiniantlV return n II
The Ship Charmer was moored on tn
other side OF the dock. Beside her OF
the dock was piled hundreds OF cases o
oil and hundreds more were In her hold
The burning oil on the Gen. Knox wa
liable to cause an explosion at any mo
ment. which made the position OF tn
Charmer an extremely dangerous one
Her mornings We're east on. and sh
dropped out into the stream.
The dozens OF streams being pumpe
into the hold Of the Knox seemed I
REILLY held that heroic measures wer
necessary, and against the protests {
Capt. Libby ordered the decks to be Gu
Half an hour later the fire SCENE
The vast volume OF water that ha
p psin p pum as,sS into the hold caused ii
The cry that the ship was sinkin
was passed along and the hremen q
beard spf dang for the dock They he
EoorinE lines snapped. This was 10
The breaking Of the forward hawser hs
thrown an additional weight on the OF
- astern, and the strain caused ii
/epiies on the. dock to give way ri
ship eareened to starboard. the car,
shifted. and the flames seemed to st.
"a Deputy Chief RELY then ordered
feor additional engines and two no
and ladder trucks. fhe Seth IL
tsqboglIbls for her 10 obtain 4 Eooi no
ION 1hs shifting Of ths cargo canl