The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-06-22
TALLOW ABLAzE.
Fierce Fire Breaks Out in
Colgate's Soap Factory
Last Night.
DAMAGE ABOUT $4,000
Excellent Work by the Fire
men Prevents the Flames
Reaching G1ycerine.
Wild Excitement Among the
People in the Adjoining
Tenement Houses While
the Danger Lasted.

Fire broke out in the tallow house of
Colgate & Company's factory on Grand
street at 1920 O'Clock last night. IL
burned until nearly fou o'clock. At first
it appeared as If it would spread to the
other buildings and destroy the entire
plant. which employs hundreds of men
and women, and is valued at half a mill
lion of dollars. prompt work of the
firemen, however, saved the adjacent
buildings and even prevented the f1re from
eating it's way into the enormous tallow
watts in the building which burned. 1t
was a hard fight to a v the adjoining
property, but it was well fought and won.
with the result hat the total damage to
property will not amount to more than
$4,000. while not a single casualty has
been reported as a result of the fire. How
the confagration started is a mystery.
The tallow house comprises the row of
tenements which were acquired by Col
gate & Co. several years ago. It is on
Grand street. about Sc feet east of Greene
street. The walls are the walls of the
old tenements. They surround three enor-
nous watts which extend to the roof. four
stories above the ground. These watts
and the machinery connected with them
are about all that is in the building, which
is 125 feet long about 50 feet deep.
The fire was discovered at 1890 o'clock
by John Finnerty and John LETTERS, both
of NO. 66 Sussex street, who were in the
back room of Keleher's saloon at the
corner of Greene and Grand streets. The
-o-- 49, .-o,o ;n rxy7r cr,dAanlu I,uhfo6
by a bright light from without. Looking
from the window to see what it was they
J were startled to See a tongue of fame
shooting from the northwestern corner of
the tallow house on the top floor. Fin
nerty sent in an alarm and several en-
gines responded within a few minutes.
Short as the delay In the arrival of the
engines was it was long enough for the
fire to sweep its way along the building.
When the hose began to play on the fire
the Who upper part of the building was
a mass Of flames. There was rather a
high wind and the sparks were carried to
a great distance.
Fire Chief Conway saw at one on ar
irving at the scene that he had a diff
ficult fire to deal with. Many of those
present remembered that the box factory
used to be in the building which was
burning, and they did not know but that
it was still there. The height Of the
flame and the fierce heat from the fire
heightened the belief that the boxes were
burning and til word passed around that
little short of a miracle could save all the
adjacent buildings from destruction. Chief
Conway lost no time in sending in a Sec
ond and third alarm. summoning nearly
every fire company in the city. He d.
rected the efforts of the men towards
saving the adjacent property.
Half a dozen lines of hose were directed
upon the fire from the Grand street side
of the building. As many more were car
ried through the main building on York
street and through the court yard, which
has it's entrance on York street. The
burning building was deluged with water
from all sides. Just east of the tallow
house and separated from it by an alley
way about ten feet wide is the building
in which the glycerine is stored. The
building is less than one-third the size Of
the tallow house. Next the glyeerine
building and extending to within a few
feet of Hudson street is the stable. The
box factory was moved some time g
to the building at York and Hudson
streets. The main factory is on York
street, and runs from Greene street to
within about 50 feet of Hudson street. AT
the eastern end of the main factory is a
large gateway leading into a spacious
court yard. The entrance to the stabla
faces on this court. There is no outlet
from the stable on Grand street. The
many wagons, trucks and stages belong
ing to Colgate & Co. are kept in the court
yard Of nights.
AS soon as the fire was discovered dog
ems Of men set to work getting the horses
out of the table and removing them 70
places Of safety. They also wheeled the
trucks and wagons into lower York street
and Hudson street. This not only in
sured the safety of the wagons but gave
a clear space in the court yard in which
the firemen could work. The great fear
of the firemen was that the fire would
cross the alleyway on Grand street and
spread to the sglycerine stores. Clouds
of sparks did fall on the building, but It
was not long before the danger to the
glyeerine was removed. The main build
ing was in great danger because of the
platforms which connect 1t with the tall
low house. These platforms run above
the greater portion of the passage be-
tween the various buildings. Another
danger was to the boiler house which is
situated between the tallow house and the
main building at the western end of the
property. No portion OF these buildings
was burned, SO well did the firemen do
their work.
In the meantime, while the firemen
-x,1 oexvt, fha;r hon5e fill NTH thu