The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-11-20
L0ND0N'S DISASTROUS FIRE
TWO ACRES or BUILDINGS RUINED
WITH Loss OF Se5, 600, 900.
Fifteen Hundred Employees Are Thrown
Out of Work and by the Confagration
Lose All Their Belongings-Gas Meters
Explode With Sounds Like the Reports

Lose All Their Belongings-Gas Meters
Explode With Sounds Like the Reports
of Field Guns.
London, Nov. 19-One of the most dis
| astrous fires in London history since
the great fire of 1856 broke out in a
large block Of buildings lying eastward
of Alders Gate street and between that
thoroughfare and Red Cross street just
! after / o'clock this afternoon. The
flames were famed by a strong wind
and were fed by highly inflammable
| stocks of fancy dress material. Conse-
quently the conflagration gained head
way with surprising rapidity. For four
hours and a half the flames had their
own wGy, and it was only after more
than one hundred engines had worked
an hour that the chief of fire brigades
sent out the signal that the fire was
under control. This was at 5:45 p. m.
When the good news became known
nearly fifty warehouses and a dozen
or mole minor structures had been &C.
s:ruyeG
| The conf1agration was caused by the
explosion of a gas engine on the prem
| ises of Waller, Brown & Co., mantle
manufacturers, No 43 Hamsell street.
Their large factory was filled with girls
when the fire broke out, and it was in
stantly the scene of a panic. The fright
ened operatives, with many screams,
| rushed to the other buildings and eff
fected their escape. In less than a
quarter of an hour the flames had en-
veloped the adjoining warehouse, and
thence leaped across the street to an
enormous paper warehouse, which was
| fully alight in less than ten minutes.
| BY this time it was evident to the
| firemen that they We're face to face
with a great disaster and a general
alarm was sent out Then from all the
fire stations engines were hurried to
the spot, and the police gathered about
the neighborhood in great force. The
excitement among the onlookers, who
| crowded every possible point of view,
| was very great, as may be judged from
the fact that firemen had to be repeat
| edly rescued by their comrades from
| buildings which had caught fire after
| the tiremen had mounted to the roofs.
| At little after o'clock a dozen hose
| pipes with a twelve-foot spread poured
water into the blaze from an opposite
roof, but it did not seem to have any
effect. The confusion in the streets in
creased as the fire spread, the shrieking
of steam whistles and throbbing of the
engines increased and building after
building became ignited. Suddenly
there was an explosion Of gas meteres
sounding like the reports of field guns,
followed by a momentary hush. After
| that the wild rushing here and there
was resumed with increased energy.
Men risked their lives in order to rescue
| day books, ledgers, etc. One man actu-
ally hazarded his life to fetch his hat
and cane, two hundred feet of stone
work and glass falling at his heels as
he emerged from the building. Several
| firemen were almost buried in falling
ruins.
| AS the afternoon wore on the dense
crowds were still further enlarged
These excited masses of humanity had
police as the area of the fire-swept spot
increased in size. By dusk the picture
presented was extremely brilliant, and
horribly attractive. -Four streets were
blazing on both sides and there was
plenty to interest the gambling spirit
| of the onlookers in betting as to wheth-
| er or not the venerable tower of st.
Giles could stand the hail of sparks and
| burning fragments with which it was
enveloped.
There was no abatement OF the furi-
Gus persistence of the blaze until $50
n. m. Then the check came in Jewin
street by a tremendous use Of water
and in Well street, where the collapse
of n wall on the right hand side Of that
| thorouehfare was the means Of saving
the last building in the street. The
width of Red Cross street, a compara-
+ivelv broad thoroughfare, also formed
barrier there when at 5:45 p. m Com
mander Wells was able to breathe with
out anxiety, knowing that he had got
the INNER hand of one of the greatest
fires on record. Two acres of buildings,
however had been ruined.
| Though the fire was under control
volumes of flame were still pouring out
of many buildings and the situation
had deceived any but the fighting fire
men. No casualties had been reported
| UP to a late hour tonight. The most
serious aspect of the disaster, after the
| question of the enormous loss incurred,
| is that over fifteen hundred employees
have been thrown out of work and that
many of them have lost all their be-
longtngs. The property loss is now es-
timated at two million pounds.
| 1t is officially reported that $50 ware
houses have been ruined. A later esti-
mate of the damage done places the
amount at nearly e5,OOO,0 sterling.
Nearly all of the British fire insurance
companies are involved and fire insur-
| ance shares are practically unsaleable
on the stock exchange yesterday after
noon (Friday), after the fire was well
| under way. Nearly 300 telephone wires
have been cut thus incerrupting COM
| munication with many of the big pro-
vincial towns. The fire WILL cause an
enormous advance in the price of os-
trich feathers, which rose 30 per cent
last evening. Two feather firms alone
| have lost G15.OOO sterling.