The evening world., 1894-10-01
FlREMEN IN DANGER.
A Burning Factory Fell Apart
While They Were at Work.
Man Inside the Building Warned In
the Nick Of Time.
FLAMES Confined Amid Dangerous
surroundings-Loss ga, 900.

r,e factory of Jonas Naumburg, cutter
Of hatters' fur. in the double six-story
,,-,ck building $40 and 512 West Thirty
fourth street, was destroyed by fire this
,norning. The loss is about $4,000.
The flames came suddenly, and they
we're beyond control before the first
,,arm had been sent out. 1t was about
o'clock this morning that private
,atchman on the block noticed bright
lght shining from the fur factory on the
ed floor, The flames suddenly burst
ugh the windows. Murphy, the
hman, summoned Policeman Smith,
was a block away, and the latter
med in an alarm. ..
Engine Company "a was the first on
he scene. When the engine arrived the
lace was on fire from cellar to roof,
nd the flames had burst through
oxen windows. Chief Bonner at once
,rdered out a third alarm.
Next to the building on the west was
. vacant lot. Two streams were turned
On from this side, and one from the
'front.' of the house.
Twenty minutes after the discovery
Of the fire. there was a warning cry
from Chief Bonner, and the men who
we're working in the building and on the
street, as the walls threatened to fall.
The order was not given minute too
soon. The men had not yet left the
building, when there came a groan of
fell into the street, while a mountain
of flame leaped into the air. In the
dust Of the falling bricks and flying tim
bers IT was soon 3Sn S knGWn that TN, Inc last
The burning building had split in two;
half of the front wall, and all of that
on the west side had gone down, and
NAMED like wax.
On the north side Of the factory is an
apartment-h house. Three, families who
rushed out, to find the halls filled with
smoke. All got out in safety.
Back of the building. in Thirty-third
street, is the four-story factory of the
Central Lard Company. and next to It
the lnseed-oil factory of Decker &
Co. Both these places are heavily
stocked with lard and oils. The build
by a yard of twenty feet. Chief JAG
quel had three streams on the rear of
these buildings early.
Beyond the oil factories in Thirty
three tenement-houses, called the Bar
racks" There was a small panic in
these houses.
The tenants woke to find the rooms
lighted with the glare of the flames
Soon the halls were filled with scream
Ing women and children, while the men
were doing all in their power to get
the household goods out of the fires
path.
The flames raced though what v-,s
left of the factory after half of 1t h5 |
fallen. The place was stocked with
bundles of furs, which burned fiercely
and gave out great light and heat. II
may haNesbeen in one of these bundles
OF fufs that the fire started from
spontaneous combustion, or 1t may have
started in the drying-room on the first
Is machinery for cutting up the skins.
and skins in the various stages of COM
pletion for the making Of hats and caps.
The fire was confined to the factory,
but 1t required the most energetic work
from the members of the twelve COM
panies that had been called xout l,i-l
Besides being the largest concern of
the kind In the country, this is the busy
season in the business. and the stock
that was in the building this morning is
the heaviest that has been carried for
years past. There have been three fires
In the building before during the past
TWO years but none of them caused more
than nominal damages.
MIR. Naumburg, one of the firm, said this
morning that he would estimate the loss
on the stock at $55, 900. and that on the
building at $4,000. The building was a
nimsy affair, that has stood there these
forty years. 1t was erected as a dwell
tng-house, turned into a tenement, and
Afterwards for many years occupied as
plano factory. The loss is fully COW
cred by insurance.