The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-16
ELLIS ISLAND ALL A RUIN.
MONEY AND RAILROAD TICKETS DE
STROTED IN THE SAFES.

Tho BnrEe once to ne the Imunigrant Depot
for the Pressnt-RarEes May No Usea Tenn
porariiy for y Detention Burcau-Treasury
Omciais TO Begin an Investigation To-Day.
The official Investigation Of tho fro which
destroyed ali OF tho buildings on Ellis Island,
with a single exception, carly yesterday morn
ing, will be begun to-day, when tho officials of
the Treasury Department will arrive here from
Washington. OF tho fire itself scarcely any
thing remains to be told to SUN readers. II was
made certain yesterday, the first thing, that
there had been no loss of life. Tho number of
people that were on tho island, immigrants,
Government employees, and others, was known,
and every man was accounted for. This is con-
sidered little short Of marvellous, when the
character of the buildings that were burned and
the swiftness with which the FIRE spread are
thought OF.
The island. yesterday, was simply one desc.
late ruin. Here and there were a few feet of
brick wall standing. These were the walls of
the buildings that were on tho island before the
Government used II as an emigrant station. On
the southwest corner stood tho slate-covered
machine shop, which was only scorchcd. A
dozen streams Of wator were kept playing on the
ruins all day to cool them Off, and there were n
dozen gangs of men at work on the safes that
had been in the buildings and that contained
money and railroad tickets and valuables. The
specie was lOunu intact. Inc paper money IN
some instances was scorched and shrivelled up
in a heap. In other cases it was uninjured, and
Of some all there was left was ashes. A good
many thousand dollars was taken out Of these
safes during tho day. The railroad tickets were
nearly all destroyed.
Aside from the money and these tickets the
most valuable things on the island were the
records of the Department OF Emigration going
back TO 1910. These records were formerly the
property Of the State of New York. and they
were turned over by tho State to the National
Government when the immigration Bureau
was established on Ellis Island. They were
nearly all of them stored in a brick house known
as the powder house, which had been used for
the storage of powder before Ellis Island be-
came tho receiving station, for immigrants.
destroyed. The fire started in an unoccupied
room in the northeastern tower of the main
room. There were electric lights in the room.
and one surmis9 Is that the wires supplying
these lights had crossed. But Thomas Nc
Loughlin, the chief engineer on the island,
vigorously disputes any such proposition:
Nal 5Ss MIre sa nc tb II w Eosm a6 s@nId ~ ann %sans
have become crossed. He saw that all the cleo
trio wires in the building were perfectly, in;
sulatcd; that the whole system had been visited
by expert electricians many times, and had been
carefully inspected. These electricians. he said.
itself in use was the very best that they had ever
seen. The other officials corroborated him in
Inls, ana WcTc lnClineu 10 lay inc origin OF inc
fire to a dropped cigar stump or a match ignited
by rats or mice. which were plentiful in the
All OF the officials declared that the very
greatest credit for the excellence Of the work of
handling the elnigrants, sick and well. was due
TO Mrs. Run, the matron in the female ward of
the hospital. where there were thirty-one women
and children sick in bed; to the watchman. Y.
Christensen, and to Capt. William J. Burke,
The burning OF the buildings and the destruc-
ton of a large part of the baggage belonging to
the immigrants who were detained there COM
plicated the business Of the Immigration Com
missioner very much indeed. There were fifty
five sick immigrants. seventy-three who were
barred and were awaiting deportation, and six
ty.one who had not yet been fully inspected but
who were held on suspicion, as II were. When
the charges on the, Government as possible,
thirds OF those who had been ordered to be de-
ported. declared solemnly. raising their hands
hundred dollars apiece to a million dollars, and
that because they had 80 much money they were
hands and cried ali over tho floor Of
the Barge Office about their hard luck in
ssSying Wb 19it to these Sa sD fssu iSe ci a%%n.ts BY w .as
the question. They had no proof that they had
had the money. and the Government officials
had had any money. and it had been burned in
the fire. they were certainly to bccommisscrated.
ali the stories the officials sifted twenty-five that
they We're certain were false. and the twenty
the Chateau Latte, which sailed in the morn.
ing. Then forty other stories were sifted out of
the lot as certainly true, and forty immigrants
were discharged and departed with their friends.
Last night there were forty-ive who were still
detained. and who slept in quarters improyised
for them in the Barge Office. The sick had been
taken to Bellevue Hospital the night before.
Commissioner Senner was around the Barge
Office all day. He had frequent communications
with the officials AT the Treasury Department in
Washington. and no was informed that an in
vcstigation would be made as soon AS the proper
officials could get here. The Commissioner said
that he would request the Government to estab-
lish floating dormitories for immigrants who
might be detained until the Government had
built anew on Ellis Island. His idea was to hire
n number of barges, fit them up with cots and
other accommodations put watchmen aboard
them, and then put the immigrants who had
no right to land aboard the barges directly from
the piers where the examinations will be con-
Quoted. The barges would then be taken
ont in the bay and anchored until the ships upon
which the men were to be- deported were ready
to sail. DR.. Senncr said no thought that this
scheme would be- carried out. He said that all
the examinations would be made at the steam
ship piers for the present He received letters
yesterday from all the agents OF the steamship
companies offering to do anything that was in
their power to assist him, TO give him the use of
their piers, or to, do anything else that he
thought might. help him out. Meanwhile the
Barge Office will be used as an immigrant depot
when 1t is needed.