Evening journal., 1897-07-28
BIG FIRE IN YONKERS
Great Excitement at the Burning
of q Factory.
NARROW ESCAPE OF OPERATIVES.
ISperfect Fire Escapes Nearly Cause a
Great Loss OF Life-The Whole Busi-
ness Portion of the City at
One Time Threatened.

life, broke out last evening In the
blowing room Of the hat factory Of
William Reed & CO. on the lower floor
of the Shethsr building on Elm street.
The large gas meters exploded imme-
dlately after the flames first burst
forth, and the escaping gas from the
meters helped to feed the flames With
in a few minutes the fire was breaking
through the windows OF the FIRST and
second stories. The gas carried the fire
rapidly through the section of the build-
ing nearest to the spot where 1t started.
The alarm was given by the engineer
Of the factory almost as soon as the
fire broke out. There were about 600
men and girls in the building at the
time. The second story Of the building
was occupied by the finishing room OF
the factory. on the third floor was the
Yonkers silk company. Of which George
B. Skinner is the agent. The fourth
floor was used for storage. and on the
fifth floor was the silk factory of Pass
Bros. The building extended along Elm
street about 300 feet It was built %
brick on the side Of the building
farthest from the street the fire escapes
were located.
The stairways and elevator shaft act
cd as suction ways for the flames, and
through these the fire quickly commu-
nicated to the upper floors. As soon as
the alarm was sounded on the whistle
the operatives on every floor made a
rush for the stairway, but the smoke
which rushed up these caused them to
turn back and make for the fire es-
capes.
In a minute these were overcrowded
No one had time to save anything, and
the working clothing Of the men and
girls was all they could save. owing to
the nature of their work in the hat fac
tory and in the silk works the opera
tives almost entirely change their cloth
ing before beginning work. As a re-
suit all the street clothing worn to work
was lost.
Faulty Fire Escapes Retard Escape.
The escape of the employee was re-
tarded by the fact that the fire escapes
were unprovded with ladders reaching
from the second floor to the ground.
The ladder used for this purpose had
been fastened alongside the escape so
that It could not be lifted to It's place.
When the alarm was given and It was
found necessary TO take to the fire es-
capes. the word was passed 10 let the
ladders and landing We're crowded with
girls from the NTH to the second floors
before a man attempted TO leave the
building.
When the girls reached the landing at
the second floor ana found that there
were no means of going farther except
by jumping. for they could not manage
the ladder, they stopped. This caused
great excitement, and some OF the girls
become hysterical.
At this juncture a man employed by
Pass Bros. went out upon the escape.
He swung himself around TO the outer
side OF the ladder and went down the
three stories hand under hand. He
reached the last landing and there un-
fastened the ladder. which reached the
ground, and by a superb exhibition Of
strength placed II in position. with one
hand while he hung suspended by the
other.
BY this time the fire had begun to
attack the windows in the rear and the
/ fire was breaking from the windows
about the escape. The girls descended
amid smoke and sparks. One girl who
worked in Pass Bros. was a cripple and
could not make her way down the es-
cape. She was taken by two men and
carried down In safety. Then the male
operatives escaped down the iron lad
ders, which were now beginning to heat
from the fire inside the building.
The operatives in the lower floor es-
capped somewhat more easily than those
who were at work above; but as IL was,
the big building was vacated not a mo-
ment too soon. Ten minutes after the
first. sign Of fire the entire interior was
a mass Of flames. which were bursting
from every window and beginning to
show through the roof
Entire Fire Force Called Out.
The fire alarm sounded on the whistle
OF the factory set every one of the "a
companies of the city In notion and
within a short time the men were at
work on the flames. Streams of water
were poured into the building from
three sides. hut seemed To have little
or no effect The fire soon ate through
the floors. which, weighted down By
heavy machinery and stock. collapsed
| This left nothing but the shell Of the
building. as the roof followed the floors
in the flight into the basement.
The west wall of the building was the
first to collapse and fell into the Nep-
perbap river, which skirts the building
on that side The collapse NJ this wal
came near being a fatal one Two fire
companies were working on the far side
of the river and had their stream di-
rected into the building from that side
The wall fell with but little warning
and the firemen had to abandon theii
hose and run for their lives. The
bricks scattered all around the last mer
10 get away. but no one was injured.
There was a high east Wind blowing
and this carried the flames from ths
building in which they started to tho
one occupied by Rowland Bros. as a hat
factory. Despite hard resistance made
by the firemen. the flames obtained g
foothold in this building. and 1t was
gutted.
During the fire the battery OF foul
boilers in the big hat factory exploded
and hurled burning embers and bricks
in all directions endangerng the lives
Of the hremen. 1t took over three hour
of hard work TO bring the FIRE unde
control The losses are very heavy Thl
lowest estimate is 100000 and other
run up as high as S550.O0O. Reed & CO
place their loss roughly a 100000 Th
losses Of Rowland Bros, Pass Bros. an,
the Yonkers SIX company are set dow