The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1897-05-21
BIG BLAZE
Whole Block Destroyed in the Pop
ulOus New Jersey City,
THE LOSS AMOUNTS TO s75o,OOO.


Hobolxen Firemen Were Unable to
Combat It., and Help was scnt From
Eeighboring Citios.
Hobollen. N. j., May 21-Twice last
night fire visited Hoboken, and the loss
is heavy. one whole block WIS re-
duced to ashes, 140 families we rem
dcred homeless and a big facto.r was
destroyed. The HobolSen fire depart
ment was totally unable to cope with
the flames, and help was summoned
from every portion Of Hudson county.
Later In the night, when the big dry
docks at Seventeenth street caught
fire, the only hope of saving them was
from tugs called to the scene by the
flames.
The first fire broke out at $3.50 in the
big factory building in the block
bounded by Thirteenth and Twelfth
streets and Washington and Hudson
streets. From the factory the flames
leaped to the apartment houses on the
block, and they were swept away.
The factory in which the fire was
first discovered was 400 feet long by
80 feet deep. 1t extended the full length
of the block. on the other three sides
of the block We're apartment houses.
The factory was a six story building.
The apartment houses were five stories,
double, with brown stone fronts and
brick sidewalks The factory was oc-
cupied by Strauss & Co. Or. II. Macy
& Coz, cut glass and. similar lines;
Gallagher & Palmer, toilet articles and
mirrors, and Benton g. Heath, wall
paper manufacturers. There were IA
of the double flats. Each one of the
fiat buildings were valued at $4,000.
The factory building, with its contents,
Is estimated to have been worth over
a quarter of a million.
The fire was at first discovered in
the airshaft of the factory building.
No cause for the fire is known, but it
is supposed that somebody dropped a
lighted cigar or cigarette in the toilet
rooms, and this smouldered in the
woodwork until it broke into a blaze.
So rapid was the spread of the flames
that when the first fire apparatus ar
rived the flames had been drawn up
through the airshaft and had broken
into the factory at every floor, and
were rapidly travelling toward both
| ends. Another alarm brought every
piece of fire apparatus in Hoboken. A
very few minutes made it plain that
the fire must travel to the apartment
houses Then a call for help was sent
to the other places in Hudson county.
The entire department of Union Hill
| West Hobollen and Weehawken re-
| sponded to the call for help, as well as
three engines from Jersey City.
Despite this big aggregation of fire
engines the flames spread with terrific
fury. The occupants Of the apartment
houses saved but little of their house
| hold effects. A policeman carried out
/ two children from one of the houses
| after they mad been forgotten in the
! flight of the other occupants. A dying
woman was rescued from one of the
! buildings after the fire had reached the
bed clothing, but she was not harmed
The glare of the flames lit up a scene
Of great excitement. The people fol
/ blocks around We're almost panic
stricken, and the police had great diff.
Guilty in keeping the frenzied tenants
from rushing back into the flames fol
valuabes left behind.
The factory building was separated
from the flats by an alleyway less thar
80 feet wide in places, and it was across
this gulf that the fire leaped to at
tack the houses. The 'firemen first OF
the scene tried to fight the flames
there, but the heat and smoke soor
drove them out Then all their efforts
We're directed toward saving the ad
joining blocks.
Mayor Fagan, of Hoboken, reached
the scene early and started the worl
of supplying the destitute with shelte
and clothing, and at a late hour th
many families We're made as com
Portable as families can who have los
everything in the world.
The buildings destroyed belonged t
the Hoboken Land and Improvemeu
company. They were erected by job
c. Crevier, and through them he sus
tanned financial loss which caused hin
about two years ago, to blow his brain
out
About 1890, while the big fire wa
at its worst, fire broke out in the bi
drydocks of Tietgen & Lang, at tn
/. foot of Seventeenth street. The dock
were seriously damaged and six canal
= boats were totally destroyed.
The burning of the factory will throN
out of employment about 150 hand
! directly, and many more who wer
dependent in minor ways upon it 70
, employment.
The property loss is estimated b.
, Chief Engineer Applegate, of the Ho
boken fire department, to be $75O,000