The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-07-03
FIREWORKSEXPLODB
A Careless Boy Causes a
Serious Conf1agation in
Lynn, Mass.
AN ENTIRE BLOCK CONSUMED
Several Persons Injured and One
Man Thought to Have Perished
in the Flames.

LYNN, Mass. July 8. 1S95.-At 1o:5s
this forenoon there was an explosion of
fireworks in front of the L. A. May Com
pany store in the Sycamore Hotel
block, corner of Union and Mulberry
streets. at the temporary counter erected
outside the store on the sidewalk I'M
mediately the whole mass of fireworks
was ablaze and the fusIlade of exploding
rockets. cannon crackers. bombs, ETC.,
startled everybody in Central Square.
A. B. Simpson, who was in charge of
the fireworks counter. was knocked
against the glass front of the building
but not injured. He did not even have
time to save his cash in the drawer.
The flames which had started communi-
Gated to the store of L. A. May & Co.,
and spread with alarming rapidity. The
firemen did not get the alarm rig,3t and
for nearly fifteen minutes the flames
had everything their own way. gem
eral alarm was finally sounded
Half an hour after the fireworks had
exploded the entire block which is
four stories. of brick. about 100 feet
front on Union street and more than
that in depth, was a mass of seeshing
flames. At Has the flames broke through
the roof and the adjoining wooden
building. three stories, occupied by
Goldsmith. Moore and Company, carpet
and furniture, was in great danger.
Opinion varies as to whether any one
perished in the L. A. May Company
store. Mrs. Harriet, guest at the
Baggmore Hotel which occupies the en-
tire three upper stories, was rescued
from the third story by fireman on
a ladder.
THE SECOND EXPLOSION.
The heat caused an explosion which
blew out the plate glass front of the
L. A. May Company store and injured
one of the firemen, Sidney Greenwood.
quite severely.
The bookkeepers in the L. A. May
Company store did not have time to
even save their books and accounts on
the desks. An eyewitness claims to
have seen boy light bunch of fire.
works with slow match intending to
throw them into the gutter, but by ac-
cident he dropped them into the bunch
of roman candles and rockets and
started the general explosion of every
thing on the fireworks counter.
At u O'Clock the fire was under cons
troll and confined to the Sycamore Hotel
block The large wooden building ad-
joining occupied by Goldsmith Moore s.
Co., did not catch fire, on account OF
the heroic efforts of the firemen, who
carried lines of hose through the building
on every floor and brought them to
bear on the flames in the Sycamore
block 1t is thought that everybody
escaped from the building with possibly
one exception, an old man named James
H. Winslow, who has not been accounts
ed for as yet.
THE LOSS s65ooo.
The L. A May Company state that
their stock, which will be total loss, was
valued at $4,000, with about $4,000 in
surance.
The Sycamore Building is owned by
GageTI. Hawkes.. trustee. and the loss is
estimated at $4,000; insured for $4,000.
Thomas Bogue, proprietor of the Sag
amore Hotel. will lose about $4,000, with
an insurance of $1,000: Susie NJ. Jenkins.
candy store, loss sS,Ooo insurance. $2,5oos
William Gilman. saloon in basembents
loss about $4,000. insurance. 81, 800; w. N.
Brown, barber, loss 5000.