The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-05
S1,0OO,OOO FIRE IN NEW YORK
STARTED IN ROGERS, PEET te CO.'S
 BUILDING.

In Half an Hour Nothing But the Shell
 of the Structure Was Left-Home Life
 Insurance and Postal Telegraph
 Buildings Also Badly Damaged-Oper-
 ators Compelled to Flee for Their Lives
 -Messagcs Left at the Keys-Many
 Valuable Papers Lost.
 New York, Dec. 5.--A fire started in the basement of the building occu- pied by Rogers, Peet & Co.,, about 9:30 o'clock last night. Two policemen standing within half block of Warren street heard the sound of a loud explo- sion and moment later saw a thin line of smoke curling up from along the side of that building. At that time the rain was falling in torrents and the
 wind blew gale. An alarm was sent
 in at once but before the first engine turned into Broadway the Rogers, Peet basement was a roaring furnace,
 with great flames bursting through the
 floors above and rushing fiercely to the roof Within ten minutes five alarms
 had been sent in bringing engine after engine to the scene.
 By h o'clock, so rapidly and fiercely did the flames make progress, there was nothing but the shell of the Rogers,
 Feet building left, with mountains of 1 flame roaring hundred feet in the air, encircling the adjoining structure, the Home Life Insurance building. In the blinding rain the firemen worked, sur ! rounding the block, stretching the black and slippery lines of hose through the
 building, fighting the flames from every side. Soon great wave of fire swept across Warren street. and caught the ! Gnited States Life Insurance company's building at the corner of Broadway. 1 The woodwork on a dozen windows was set afire in a moment, and from that on several streams were played on this building to save it from destruction.
 When the Warren street wall of the Rogers, Peet & Go. building fell at 1030 o'clock a dozen firemen were directly beneath the wall. Several of the men
 were struck by bricks, but none was
 more than slightly injured. Acting Chic: Feerle fell, but was dragged to safety by some of his men. Just be- fore Ii o'clock the Home Life Insur- aftce ccn1pany's building at 256 and e5S Broadway, caught fire. The firemen all ready had their lines in this building up to the seventh floor They were
 greatly handicapped by the many stories. The flames had eaten their way | through the side wall in many places and the huge white structure burned | fiercely. The elevators made trips up | and down until the men running them compelled to flee for their lives, | but many of the effects of the l offices were saved. The three l top floors were on fire almost simulta-
 neously from the beginning The smoke
 was dense Flames shot high above
 roof and over the massive brown stone | Postal building on the corner below. | All the operators and everybody at
 work in that structure had been or l dered out of the building, Desperate ] efforts were being made to save it.
 Within, the Home Life Insurance build l ing, was by this time furnace. From 1 the windows of the six or eight upper l stories the flames were pouring in
 masses Behind nine stories were afire l and the fire department, so far as this | portion of the building was concerned,
 was absolutely powerless.
 At 11:15 the Postal Telegraph conn.,
 pany's building of fourteen stories
 caught Chief Bonner, who had charge
 of the fire in person, went to the roof l to give personal direction. At this time l there were few operators who had | ignored the orders of the fire chief, two
 or three clerks and a few boys, at work i in the building in the stifling smoke.
 and messages were sent until the flames came in and all were forced to rush
 for the lives. The messages were left
 at the telegraph keys.
 Chief Bonner had under his direction all engines stationed in fire houses be-
 low Twenty third street, and in addi-
 tion five hook and ladder companies, | including water towers, were at the
 scene Most of the men worked in the | lower parts of the building and to save l adjoining buildings. Only few gangs | were with the fire chief on the top of l the Postal building. They fought with
 all their strength to keep the flames
 back, but notwithstanding all their ef-
 forts, at 1 o'clock three floors of this
 building had been partly destroyed. 1 The fire was then working its way
 downwards. Chief Bonner thought that l he had it under control, however. He ! did not expect it to get much below | this Even despite the downpour of
 rain the great crowds of people grew
 and the police reserves were called out from many stations and kept the people | back for blocks Great showers of sparks were carried by the gale, which blew sixty miles an hour, in all direc- tions It was picturesque fire.
 The Home Life Insurance building
 was occupied by that company and by a large number of prominent men in va l rious lines of business. Every effort was made to save the valuable papers
 stored in some of the offices, but many
 of these were lost. The offices of the Rapid Transit commission were on the ninth floor of this building and it is be- lieyed that all the plans and schemes of
 work with which the commission has been working for many years have been destroyed. In the Postal building as
 well there were many serious losses of