The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-05-21
HUNDREDS MADE HOMELESS
TWO DESTRUCTIVE FIRES IN H0-
BOKEN, LAST EVENING.

Help Summoned from Every Portion OF
Hudson County--Tugs Also Help Subdue
the Flames-A Number of Narrow Es-
capes-Property Loss Estimated at $780,
OOO-origin of Fires Unknown.
New York, May 20.-Twice tonight
fire visited Hoboken, N. j., and the
loss was very heavy. One whole block
was reduced to ashes, and one hundred
and forty families were rendered home
less. A big factory was destroyed. The
Hoboken fire department was totally
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 Sew
enteenth 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 p. m.
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 four hundred feet
long by fifty feet deep. 1t extended the
full length of the block. On the other
side were apartment houses with
brownstone fronts and brick Side
walls.
The factory was occupied by Strauss
& Co. Or. H. Macy & Coz. cut glass and
similar lines Gallagher & Palmer, toll
let articles and mirrors, and Benton &S
Heath, big wall paper manufacturers.
There were fourteen Of the double flats.
Fact one Of the fiat buildings was val
ued at $4,000. The factory building,
with It's contents, is estimated to have
been worth over a quarter Of a million
dollars
The fire was at first discovered In the
air shaft 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 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 air shaft and had broken
into the factory at every floor, and
were rapidly travelling toward both
ends.
Very few minutes made it plain that
the fire must spread. Then a call was
sent for aid The entire fire depart
ments of Union Hill, West Hoboken
and Weehawken responded to the call
for help, as we'll 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 two houses
after they had been forgotten. A wo-
man was rescued from one of the build
ings after the fire had reached the bed
clothing. but she was not harmed.
The people for blocks around were al
most panic stricken, and the police had
great difficulty in keeping the frenzied
tenants from going back into the
flames for valuables left behind.
The factory building was separated
from the flats in places by an alleyway
less than thirty feet wide and 1t was
across this gulf that the fire leaped tc
attack the houses. The firemen first on
the scene tried to proetct them, but the
heat and smoke was too intense.
| Mayor Fagan of Hoboken reached
| the scene early and started the work
of supplying the destitute with shelter
and clothing, and at a late hour many
| families had been made fairly com.
| Portable.
The buildings destroyed belonged tc
the Hoboken Land and Improvement
company. They were erected by Johr
Crevier and through them he sustained
financial losses which caused him
about two years ago, to blow his brains
| out.
| About 1:30 p. M, while the big fire
| was at it's worst, fire broke out in the
big dry docks of Tietjen & Lang. The
! docks with six or seven canal boats
which the tugs could not reach in time
to save, were destroyed. The fire was
hard to get at and the few steamers
that could be spared from the fire were
almost powerless.
| The burning of the factory will
throw out of employment about 15t
hands, directly, and many more who
were dependent in minor ways upon II
for employment. The Hoboken Land
and Improvement company is we'll in
sured. The total amount of insurance
could not be learned tonight.
The property loss is estimated at ovel
half a million dollars. Six canal boats
were destroyed at the dock fire, and ar
old barge, but the dock itself was saved
| from total destruction by the efforts Of
many tugs that went to the rescue.