The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-21
Two Destructive Fires in That City
Last Night.
TENEMENT BLOCK AND BIG FAC
TORY DESTROYED.
One Hundred and Fifty Made Homeless
ployment-PropertyL Loss Over a Half
Million DOllars-No Fatalities But
Several Narrow Escapes.

Several Narrow Escapes.
New York, May 20.-Twice tonight fire
visited Hoboken, N. j., and the loss was
very heavy. One whole block was re-
drced to ashes and one hundred and forty
families were rendered homeless A big
factory was destroyed. The Hoboken fire
department was unable to cope with the
flames, and help was summoned from
every portion of Hudson county, and later
in the night when the big dry docks at
Seventeenth street caught fire the only
hope of saving them was from tugs called
broke out at $50 pm, in the big factory
building in the block bounded by
Thirteenth and Twelfth streets and Wash
ington 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 four hundred feet long by
fifty feet deep. On three sides of the
block were apartment houses. The
factory was six story brick building.
The apartment houses were of five
stories, double, with brown stone fronts
and brick sidewalks. The factory was oc-
Coz cut glass and similar lines; Gala
CHER & Palmer, toilet and mirrors, and
Benton & Heath, big wall paper manu-
facturers. There were lao of the double
flats Each one of the fiat buildings was
valued at $45 900. The factory building,
with it's contents is estimated to have
been worth over $3.50, ,O00. The fire was at
first discovered in the air shaft of the
fac tory building.
So rapid was the spread of the flames
that when the first fire apparatus arrived,
the flames had been drawn up through
the air shaft, and had broken into the
factory at every floor and were rapidly
travelling toward both ends.
The entire fire department. of Union
Hill, West Hoboken and Weehawken, re-
sponded to the call for help, as well as
three engines from Jersey City.
Despite the big aggregation of fire en-
gines, the flames spread with terrific fury
The occupants of the apartment houses
saved but little of their household effects.
An officer carried out two children from
one of the houses after they had been for
lgotten in the flight with the other occu-
pants. A dying woman was rescued from
one of the buildings after the fire had
reached the bed clothing, but she was not
harmed.
The factory building was separated
from the flats in places by an alley less
than thirty feet wide, and it was across
| this gulf that the fire leaped to attack the
houses. The firemen first on the scene
tried to fight the flames there, but the
heat and smoke soon drove them out.
Then all their efforts were directed to-
ward saving the adjoining blocks.
| Mayor Pagan of Hoboken reached the
scene early and started the work of sup
plying the destitute with shelter and
clothing and at a late hour many families
| had been made fairly comfortable.
The buildings destroyed belonged to the
| HOboken Land and Improvement COM
pany.
| About 1920 p. m. while the big fire was
at it's worse, fire broke out in the big dry
docks of Tietjen and Lang. The docks
were badly damaged. The property loss
| is estimated at over half million dollars
Six canal boats were destroyed at the
dock, fire and an oil barge, but the dock
| itself was saved from total destruction by
| the efforts of many tugs that went to the
| ir rescue.
The burning of the factory will throw
out of employment about one hundred
| and fifty hands.
The Hoboken and Land improvement
| copmany is well insured and many of
the tenants of the apartment houses
carried policies.