The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-28
S5OO,OOO FIRE IN YONKERS.
BIG HAT FACTORIES AND SILK
MILLS DESTRoYED.

The Fire Started About 8 O'Clock In the After
noon-l. GOO Employ ees were mt work
Only Two Hurt-Two Others Reported 60
He Missinr-Two Entire Hooks burned Over.
Several buildings in the centre Of the bust
ness portion OF Yonkers and used for manufac-
turing purposes were destroyed by FIRE last
night, the damage being estimated ut about
S5Oo.o 900. The loss is fully covered by insur-
ance.
The fire started about 8 o'clock in the old
Warning building on Elm street, a nvo-story
structure, 800 feet in depth, and having q
frontage OF seventy feet on Elm street.
Thore were over a thousand men, women, and
children at work there when Charles Chester.
field, tho engineer, discovered tho fire In tho
blowing room oftbe Empire Hat Works, situated
In the lower part of tho building, and owned by
William M. Reed & Co.
The alarm was communicated to the people on
the third floor. where George r. Skinner had his
silk works, and to tho fourth floor, where 800
hatters were at work in the employ Of Pass
Brothers.
The top floor was unoccupicd, and many Of the
girls employed on the third and fourth floors
ran to the top loft for safety. When they found
tho entire building enveloped in flames they
climbed out on the FIRE escapes and made their
way to the ground.
Half a dozen mon who jumped from second
story windows received slight injuries. and one
woman received q fracture of the ankle by fall
ing out of q window. James Cairns, employed
in Reeds establishment, jumped from q second.
story window and sprained his ankle.
Whom the Fire Department arrived the flames
had spread to an adjoining building, a long brick
| structure used by John Rowland as q hat fac
tory. Half an hour after the fire was discovered
the roof caved in and the east wall fell.
At 9 O'Clock the fire had spread from Row
lands factory to the Yonkers City Laundry
building, and then the flames crept along q
wooden shed to the Empire Hat Works Annex
building. which was completely destroyed.
Twenty feet In tho rear of the Empire Annex
was an old frame building used as a storeroom
for hat boxes. The flames soon wiped this out
with its entire contents.
The wind blew the flames along the lines OF
| cloth hanging in the factory yard to dry and set
fire to Simmons's hat factory. at the head of
Ann street. Several boilers exploded in the
burning buildings.
At z o'clock the frcmen from Mount Vernon
arrived in trolley cars. and, headed by Chief
William Jewell. marched in a body to the fire.
They had no engine with thom, SO their services
were of little value.
Many volunteer hremen from Dobbs Ferry
and Hastings hurried to Yonkers in time to
throw beds and bedding ont of the windows OF
tenement houses in the neighborhood of the fire,
houses which at no time were In danger.
The fire spread, however, to the Belknap row
Of tenements. which are occupied chiefly by ne
groes. and many of tho tenants fled into the
streets, carrying their household furniture with
them.
The end house and the row facing on Pail
sade avenue and adjoining one Of the burning
hat factories was partly destroyed. and two OF
tho tenants. Matthew Galliner and Mrs. Hattie
shavieu. lost all of their furniture.
The buildings on two square blocks running
from Elm street back to Ann and James streets
were destroyed. 1t was midnight when the fire;
men had the fro under control. They decided
OF the flames to Alexander Smiths Sons big
carpet factory. q few hundred feet away.
When the fire WAS discovered in the hat fac
tory. the superintendent Of Smiths works dis
missed the 1000 employees Of the lner sar ppst fac,
down the roof Of the Smith building.
The losses SO far as could be learned last night
were as follows: William n. Reed S Co., dam
age TO stock and machinery. 100000 in mair
building; skinner 8 Co., damage to stock Q!
OF hats and CLOTH, $4,000; John Row
land, damage In main building to stock, $40 900
i. skinner Z Co., $500; Rowland's hat box
and storage building, SO $500; Empire Baggina
building. The estimated loss on buildings wal
posed TO be fully covered by insurance.
Two persons were reported as missing. anc
the police believed that both had persisted II
the flames. One is a young woman employed II
Reeds hat factory and the other Is the factory
Waterman. Jacob Strauss.
Just before the factory wall fell Strauss wal
seen at q window on the top floor trying t.
grope his way to the 1re-escape balcony, Seal
that both were caught by the falling wall ano
dashed to death.