The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-12

building facing on Ann street. Inc nrst pulld-
ing here to catch Ore was n four.story structure
at 37Ann street. Then came a building Of similar
size also sndzI Ann street. The next build.
building which faced at liz Nassau street. The
latter two buildings formed an L. which was
R%o just about - saH the time that tho fro reached the
OF the ,buiidines north Of the Nassau chameers.
at lis Nassau street; Thsnse tho flames
lspresd to tho d rear prs OF d bTS b SdisisGH St TSsn
IRE burning out the windows in the rear
e Ss tsIS Su A 42s Sss. S5t stTosts t ap TO rear a rS ~ wSiSS
was also damaged By the IRE, The next build i.l:
ing, e the north q I2t MAS the old o Vanderbilt ds tht
corner Of Beekman street. The flames spread
to the southeast corner OF this, doing consider
able damage.
K A DOZEN BUILDINGS ABLAzE.
Y BY the time the Ere had reached the old Van
lderbilt building a dozen structures were burn
Ing. and the occupants OF the others ON the
Ann. William, and Boekmsn streets. believed
that the entire block would be destroyed. Many
Of these tenants lost no time in getting out their
BY o'clock the Nassau Chambers building
bad been completely Quilted. This building had
tire contents OF their. offices, 1t was en-;
tiroly an office building, and was owned
S SS : SS,SoE Sy E sSo ton.n nse william fHHana F. aS Murray %S:
s~tationcr and bookseller. and the Derby Desk
S sTs1ps yyirG mhS ls tss LEFT sSn Sine q Rilf the 1 Snilaies
and bad an entrance at As and AZ Ann street,
At 112 Nassau street the ground floor Of tho
place also extended to Ann street. At los Mas.
sau street III. Boytell had a cigar store on the
Henry Wilkins had a saloon, Tho ground
floor Of tho building at 81 Ann ID sttTTe seSr was
9Ies so tSe g Gn a ssdO States 1s z c %am S"%s Man9 sfSctSF:
Ing Company occupied the ground floor. At,4l
the ground floor Of the building was occupied
by the Ward Electrical Supply and Construction
The building at lis Nassau street was an Of
cupiep the ground floor. He had occupied the
'plasc foF forty years .,S G%E psn m Si,sh saloon hS.,1ii on the he
f9% %s. t,oSf s q eeo w Gls damaged hrsss Siq by 9 S"itainF The he
s sRsff fP eeI several Ss az ys SH.;1'19f z. q i$2 S MIA; Sssn ss Sss%;
floor. The upper part OF the building was oe.
cupied by dealers in sporting goods. Hayward,s
the ground floor of 124. Tho upper portion of
this building was tenanted by small trndesmen.
sPsIld ! 8 Co. d dealers ,kg in rnr sporting ting G e IDS o &C;
Vanderbilt building. The damage which they
sustained was principally due to water; .s y;
ground floor OF the Vanderbilt building at the
corner OF Beekman street. also sustained con:
siderable loss to his stock, which was damaged
by water.
FIRE IN HAM b MIDNIGHT.
It was after midnight when tho firemen had
the fire under control, although as, early as 10
D CLOCK HE 1OHneT uGCluTcu IhdJ WINS uo
danger OF It spreading beyond the dozen build
ings, which were burning at Tint time; The
i Sr'si hight 1T Ali All th hG' the seu palle e9' su Ss aSsfnf ID
finding out was that the fire had first been dis.
covered, by John Kearns. a night Waterman en-
formed the janitor of the building that while
he was standing in the hall he saw
WHICH HnHa conneeted with the Herald cycle Com:
pany's establishment in the basement. He i'm
mediately notified Janitor. Smith and both ran
I'M Uiya tho alarm Then the innitOr went I'M
in the building and warned the members of his
family and two scrub women.
THE RI BUILDINGS.
The Nassau Chambers is a COMPOSITE building.
is said to be fifty years old. The Nassau street
section Is comparatively new. No portion of
nights fire. The iremen said that IT. was ono
Of the few buildings downtown which the
The new Notwithstanding is n ifteen.story
skyscrapcr. which was believed to be ireproof.
TIL The h freme e n were we're Of 1t the :. opinion , 3 h.un last aNn aiE r + that hat
not been for the fact that 1t was peculiarly con.
strusted; having a court between the portion Of
the main part facing on Beekman street.
IN APRIL, iss4. when a typeyriter sIrl
named Fuller was found dead in one
The revolver was found on the floor beside her
body. 1t was belieyed at the time that she had
u u . jury Ulo-
nounced 1t a case of suicide. There were other
stories about the building ding, one bd being sd that
oflce there some Years ago and who disappeared
mysteriously. At another time a story. was set
Afoat about the mysterious, noises which were
said to have been heard In the building at night.
OF THE LOSS.
No final estimate of the damage could be
made last night. Chief Boomers estimate, made
after a hasty survey. was $5O0,0O0. and was
At / o'clock this morning Assistant Superin.
tendent OF the Fire Patrol Graves had conIs
He estimated that the total damage to
bull lings, stocks. and fixtures would be about
100000 The police estimate of the total dam.
When the first Ave alarms had been respond ed
to there were on hand twenty.three engines, six
uty; Chief Bonner did not consider this ! a
30 he sent in the two mines" signal from
box 537 Mt Seventh avenue ana Fifty-irst street.
I L rinr was n ne effect com a third alarm la from that x6 SGI;
would have responded to a third alarm at that
point to Ann and Nassau streets.
AN ARM OF FIREMEN.
There were thus added to the fighting forces
twelve more engines. four trucks. one water
tower, and four battalion chiefs, bringing
the total up to thirty.iye engines. ten
siets., The number Of flre n'ee
engnged ~1. about $50. The apparatus
tpltas' Is fr s9a'i ,ns ar at 70 i TSscopG%Rs ss Ta Ei EnFyIi I'd
01Reet. About two-thirds OF ali the apparatus
oOuth of Fifty-ninth street was out. but all dis
were kept covered by the constant shift
ing Of engines in the upper part of the city to
points vacated by tho engines called out.
ONLY ONE FIREMAN HURT.
The only fireman injured was Assistant Fore
man Edward Fagin of IL engine. Fagin. with
n number OF other firemen. was standing in
front of the Ann street entrance to tho Nassau
Chambers building, when n number of windows
on the upper floors were blown out. There was
was a shower OF glass, and Fagin was badly cut
on the hands and face. The other firemen es.
capped uninjured. An ambulance was sum
moned from tho Hudson Street Hospital, and
Fagin's injuries were dressed. He refused to 20
to the hospital. and took his place at the head of
his company again.
J.L. " ~e.nberg. a lawyer OF 241 East Broad
way. has an office on the fifth floor of the Nassau
Chambers building. He was there when the fire
was discovered and escaped over the roof with
Janitor Smith, his wife. and a scrub woman.
1T WAS u few minutes before 7 o'clock, said
Weinberg TO a Sun reporter, when l heard a
woman screaming somewhere downstairs.
opened the door OF my office and as l did /
heard moro screams above me. Then some
one yelled: What's the matterf and the
woman downstairs yelled: The buildings on
IRE made up my. mind that it was
safe. Then / started downstairs. At the
second floor found l could go no further. on |