The weekly examiner., 1894-05-19
A FIERY FAREWELL.
REV. DR. TALMAGE LEAVES HIS TAB-
 ERNACLE IN ASHES.

Just as He Was About to Start Around the
 Burned Down-Trustees Decide to Build
 Another-Big Hotel Burned Also.
 BROOKLYN, May 14.-The fire that swept away the Talmage Tabernacle and the Hotel Regent and left it's mark on score 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 $2, ,O0O,0OO
 Dr. Talmage believes the fire was caused by the crossing of electric wires behind the organ pipes, for 1t 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 8 hundred streams of water were turned upon the blazing pile. But the church was doomed, and every effort was devoted to saving adjoining property. In three hours only the bare walls of one of the costliest structures of Brooklyn remained standing.
 Spectacular Fire.
 Long ere this, however, it became evil dent that the Hotel Regent was also doomed. The fire started there i'll the sec ond story, but was speedily extinguished This proved to be only temporary relief, for a little later flames were discovered in an upper story blowing fiercely up the air shaft.
 tremendous crowd gathered, f1ocking 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 infammable 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 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 blaze. So, too, were the houses on Waverly avenue, but as fast as
  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 Summerfeld M. B. church, short distance away. The streets were cleared as we'll as possible by the police, but hun dreds of people remained and clung within the courtyards, too eager to witness the sight to obey orders. l
 Hotel Burned Also.
 Within half an hour the magnificent 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