New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-10-28
THE NEWS OF BROOKLYN.
FOUGHT A FIERCE FIRE.
A DOWNTOWN BLAZE MAKES Thi-'"'
LIVELY FOR OVER AN HOUR
EMPLOYEES IN THE BUILDING AND THE ONE
ADJOINING PANIC sTRICKEN-A MAD RUSH
FOR THE srREET-MAyOR wURsTER
coMpI rMI,NTED THE FlREMEN.

ADJOINING PANIC sTRICKEN-A MAD RUSH
FOR THE sTREET-MAYoR wuRsrER
CONTAMINATED THE F1REMEN
o, an ,o,r Yesterday afternoon Of the
ooroov, e,es that has occurred IN the downtown Sec
,ion NJ tho city completely "guted' the sM-s'orF
building nj the corner OF Boerum Place ana S'a'e'''
owned by Ronald e. Co.. manufacturers Vi p''""' -.
materials and occupied by the hrH' anu ''0 - "
Chadwick Company. manufacturers Oh "o o.nnoo
underwear. The loss was estma'eu a' "o'"' F''
mostly covered BY insurance ~
.s..,,,,o ro,ala g. co = Is a four-story building.
ma ;owcr floor OF which occupied by Rohaiu 70
az q 81 oreroon and the upper floors occup'eu U! '
EFT g. Findlay gas and electric h~t"e''
Co paten, traps and Zeman d Co.. SIKH '"'aNeds
For a time the widest panic prevailed among ue ~
men and women employees of both buildings. ana no
sooner had the alarm OF fire been given than 'hey al
rshed down the s;arways and fiie-escapes INTO lie
street many Of them not waiting 10 gather up te
belongings. -, -,
The c. ~ Chadwick Company when Is 'he o'u
firm Of Foy. Harmon Il Chadwick occupies '"e INV
upper floors of the Ronald Building. The hre ofoNc
an, an the third floor and was first noticed coming up
through the belt boxes By the employees on the iour
floor Sixty women and fifteen men were employer
by the firm. and the smoke began II thlcNcn ere
women became panic-stricken and rliS!ied uo"h 'ho
stairs Scarcely three minutes had elapsed before 'ie
flames began shooting up the elevator shaft through
tho last one to leave and was forced to 20 dowh Oy
the fre-escape which he did after seeing that all me
employes were safely out and Joking the sale. IL
was then that The employees Of Zeman Co became
pa nic-strcken and fed screaming down the stairway
OF their building 10 SchermeI horn-s;.
Three alarms sent in in rapid SUCCESSFUL
When the first engines arrived flames were shooting
out of every window in the two upper floors Withh
the next minutes Chief Dale sen. in the fourth
alarm. bringing sixteen engines in an ana the water
tower There a; first great difficulty IN getting
sufficient head of water. Chief Dale at once 'eie-
phoned 10 the pumping station to have the gates
opened
The smoke at this time became thick and inter-
fered with the work OF the fire,nen They WORKED
under great difficulties, as the heat soon.-DecaHo
intense A huge crowd was attracted 10 the ilre
and the from three precincts had much
difficulty In harding IT.
FLAMES SPREAD QUICKLY.
The flames RAPIDLY ate their way down TO the
second floor and seemed 10 reach the roof about
the same time having excellent material TO feed on
In the tons of cotton material In the compah!
storeroom on the third floor. The firemen attacked
the building from all sides. On the east was
another four-story warehouse. belonging to Ronald
a. Co bridge from the fourth story or the main
building. used az a ire-escape. connected with the
roof. Several lines of hose were carried up 10 the
top of the warehouse. and streams dlrecteo III
through the windows At Bocrum Place and state
ST. are several broad Microscopes Wheii the names
were fercest on this corner several fremen labor
iously carried the line OF hose 10 the roof But be-
fore they could get any water Chief Dale noticed
crack about two feet long just under the roof the
west wall appeared to be In great danger OF faii-
ing and the firemen quickly ordered TO tho
ground They came down in hurry leaving the
hose on the fre-escapes. One company Of pipemen
on a ladder near by ordered down about the
same time Chief Dale deciding not 10 endange- the
lives of his men any more than he could possibly
help With the exception of the water tower on the
west side and several streams from the roof OF the
warehouse the other side. the fire was fought
from the ground until the men could get streams
from the north side on the building adjoining.
Fortunately the walls did not fall. but large pieces
of stone from the upper copings began TO crack
with loud reports. and the pieces were sest'ereo
for fifty feet along the street. This rather damp
az far as the police would allow and many OF
them began TO edge back for safety. ~
the building that 1t came down the State-st stair
way in perfect torrent In the beginning OF IN, w
from the first floor. but the smoke soon drove the
ou Am s e pI oo b"i this job
half completed the men were co'pe"eu ~
quit.
CARS BLOCKED FOR TWO HOURS.
The Atlantic-ave. tne was blocked for fully two
hours and the Court-s,. line for about an hour On
the latter line raised tracks were run over the hose
at Idyingston-st. and after much trouble the cars
,yere started again. Perhaps the greatest excite
ment where there was least danger occurred among
the employees Of Zenan Co. mos: OF them girls
under eighteen years old Several Of them tainted
and the services of two ambulance surgeons were
in great demand for few minutes. The only serl-
ous accident far as Is known occurred 10 a pipe
man named McCarty. belonging to Engine No, o
His foot was badly crushed, and he was compeheu
The fire brought out large number Of city Off
Gals In one group were Mayor Wurstcr Fire Com.
missioner Bryant, Joseph r. Clark president OF
the Common Council; Sheriff Buttling. Assistant
SUPERINTENDENT Of Police Mackear. ana many
others Mayor Wurster appeared to be greaiiy m
teresfed and COMMUNICATED Fire Commissioner Bry-
ant repeatedly on the good WORK peihs zone D! ''e
firemen.
THE CHADWICK co. THE HEAVIEST LOSER.
c. ~ Chadwick who. by the way was recently
appointed a m .mber Of the Board OF Education by
Mayor Wurster probably the greatest sufferer
His firm had an expensive plant They were at the
height of their season. and were running full time
IN III orders Mr.. Chadwick was totally unable to
tell the amount Of his loss. When the fire broke
ont no was out at luncheon. He happened 10 meet
William c. Redfied, the candidate for Congress
Who told him that his building was on fire. Mr.
Chadwick did not wait to ask any questions, but
ran several blocks only to find the report true He
will resume business just as soon as n suitable
nothing NJ. Chadwick thought. however that
$40 900 would cover the loss OF the two firms.
Tho ad Joining building was III great DANGER III one
time by fire ignitng their roof. But otherwise the
hu,,dine is separated from Ronald Il Co. by a
Sombl' Are wall The building was only slightly
damaged
RETTER BUSINESS WITH VENEZUELA.
John T. Dallas superintendent OF Boulton. Bliss
e. Daletts Red d Line to Venezuela. said last
ont a