Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-12-08
NEW YORK FIRE.
Cl, thing House Of Rogers. Poet Il Co.
Was Roaring Furnace.
The Losses Are: Rogers, Feet A Co Build
ing. s8JO,oOo; Home l. f- Insurance
Co, s5OO,COD; Postal Telegraph
Huiiding, 100000

INV 1bish. nee Il ire bEOhtaOuA
in the basement of the building occu-
pied 10y Rogers. Pcet & Co. clothiers.
about a:;;0 o'clock. The policemen
standing within half a block Of Warren
street heard a loud explosion and Il mo-
mcnt later SAW - thin line of smoke
curling up from the side of the Rogers,
Pcct Il Go. building. ~ that time the
rain was falling in torrents and the
wind blew gale. An alarm was sent
in hut before the first engine turned
| into broadway the Rogers. Pect Il Co.'S
basement was a roaring furnace with
great flames bursting through the
floors above and rushing ficrccly To the
roof. Within ten minutes five alarms
had been sent in. bringing engine
| after engine To- the scene.
by 10 o'clock 81 rapidly and ficrcely
| did the flames make progress that
there was nothing but the she'll of the
| Rogers pcct building left with noun
| tainS of flames roaring hundred
feet in the air and encircling the adj
1
surancc co. building. In the binding
rain the fireman worked. stretching
the black and slippery lines of hose
through the building, fighting the
flames from every side. Soon a great
wave of fire swept across Warren
| street and caught the United States
| Life Insurance Co. building at the west
| corner of broadway. numbering 259
windows was afire in moment. and
| from that time ON several streams were
played ON this building to save il from
destruction. When the Warren street
wall of the Eogcrs-Peet building fell at
1880 o'clock, dozen firemen were iii
rcctly beneath. Several of the men
were struck 10y bricks: but none was
more than slightly injured. Acting
Chief Pcrlc fell, bu. was dragged to
safety by some of his men.
| just before II o'clock the Home Life
Insurance Co.'S building. Ii stories
high. at 30 and 20 Broadway, caught
4
lines in this building up to the seventh
| floor. Tney were greatly handicapped
10y the many stories. Flames had eat
Tn their way through the side wall IN
many places. and the huge whit,
structure burned fiercely. The Gle.
vators made trips up and down until
| the men running the cages were
compelled To flee for their lives and i'll
fees were saved. The three top floors
were on fire almost simultaneously
from the beginning. The smoke was
dense. Flames shot high above the
roof and over the massive brown stone
postal building on the corner below.
! All the operators of the postal building
and everybody at work in the structure
had been ordered out of this building
long before.
| vt HIS the postal building of -
stories, caught fire. Chief Bonner. who
had charge of the firemen. took the ell
cvator and went to the roof to give
I
there were a few operators who had ig-
norcd the orders of the fire chief. two
or three clerks and a few boys at
work in the building in the sti-
fling smoke. and messages were
sent until the flames came and all were
| forced To rush for their lives. The I'M
sent messages were left at the tele-
graph keys.
| At : o'clock Monday morning the fire
was still burning ficrcely in front and.
although not observable by the thou
sands of spectators, was burning still
more ficrccly and extending lower
down in the rear.
An insurance man roughly estimated
the losses at about rs follows:
Rogers. Pcct n TO-, building and
stock and losses To other tenants in the
building. $500. 600.
! Home Life Insurance Co.. building
/ and losses To- other tenants. 100000.
| Postal Telegraph Co.. building and
losses To other tenants. 100000.
Losses to surrounding buildings,
\ $50, 900
Chief Bonner thought that this csti-
mate ON the basis of a million dollars
loss. was about as near correct as it
was possible To make.
| At 30 o'clock Fire Chief bonner
| went home saying that the fire would
burn itself out in short time. and
that it could not spread. and was prac-
tically out.