New-York tribune., 1899-12-18
ONLY A COMEDY, AFTER ALL
BUT FOR A TINE THE POLICE Thoo"hl
THEY HAD A TRAGEDY TO
nEAI, WITH


u,,,horrv-s, ,ust after dark last night he would
never have believed he was In the famous romeo
HEADQUARTERS of the metropolis The rev men III
uniform and their listless manner were more III
keeping with some small statoh-say' "aAeiie.
or tho remotest part OF remote Richmond Borough
VIC would have found the policeman who receives
tho calls and reports from the precincts Taking
with his fellows about the South African war ihe"
~ ne were fortunate enough TO walt moment ne
would have witnessed most remarKaoie meta
morphosis ~.
suddenly the telephone bell began TO ring Not
tho ordinary everyday ring indicating that some
aereeant wanted 10 tell that John smith, tmr'y
wears old homeless" had been found oy 'he way
side full Of the nQuG that intcSicates anu ha'
hoep gathered ir II was not that kind OF rhe'
I'M, rather },uzz and a series OF ourrs that sus
gested accidental crossing of telephone wires Win
a trolley feeder The Beers were inste1uy FORGOT
ten A policeman ran to the phone ana s-"ng
down the receiver, this Is what he hehIo'
"Eello! Helol Police Headduaf'erF' IN voice
that betrayed excitement Of the greatest KIM
Yes What's the natter
.er1,s Is Queens! Queens Borough! Borough OF
oueensp and the man In Queens was 90 exeteo
by this time that the other policeman at the "e"u
quarters end OF the wire could hear ms voice a "
gurgled and spurges out Of that part OF tne ,In
net which was not covered by the operators iai'N
large ear.
"seventy-sixth Precinct Queens"
.syes. hut what's wrong?" asked the operator
losing patience. s.o.,,,ro
steamboat on fire Hundreds people drownihs,
In the Sound off oak Point Send reserves from
-" but the operator waited no more
FASTENING TO THE SCENE.
ou,cllv he reported to his superior officer tho
purport OF the awful message AS quickly as ''io
electric AuId could flash the news over the wires
Captain Wiegand In the Morrisahia stauon' anu
Sergeant Reilly. in the Alexander-ave stauon' re-
ceived a command to get all their reserves 10 the
scene Instantly Several reporters sent the news a,
70 their respecsNe yet PSPers Psi5g HpTemWard qnG
AT Headquarters everything was aenny; ,bsssves
In readiness for the scores of victims that were
coming to them and at the Morgue ghastiy pIepao
rations were made for the corpses which were
The Harlem Hospital and the Fordham Hospital pnd
OF East One-hundred and forty ninth st, or OAK
Point where the supposed horror was oeihe
In the Morrisania and Alexander-ave stations
the policemen had Just come IN after ine [pub beo s0
raining and they were soaked TO the SKIN Bu, the
awg danger they believed " waiting h d t0d ~ sn
they piled into the patrol wagons taxing ohIy n or
What meRod Of Of SSed they would "nen
It's the worst time of the year said one Most
arned e PSas @ snd are the eS 5r too oe cod 10 Tor
In this all agreed. But somehow they expected IN
some way 10 do something. and Knowing that
Harlem expects every policeman to do his duty,
they went forward
FIRE. BUT NO RESCuES.
The patrol wagons from the two stations came
together In the Southern Boulevard. Sure enough,
there was the fire. Tongues OF fame leaped sky
ward and volumes of dense black smoke were
plainly visible.
She's close in shore" said the driver OF the
Morrsania wagon. Maybe well be able to do
something anyhow"
Listen. there's somebody calling for help" said
another policeman.
BY this time the fire engines from the nearest fire
houses were added to the procession. All turned
into One-hundrsd and forty ninth-st and made good
progress until after the 'w-Iork and New haven
Railroad tracks crossed. Beyond that the ad-
was slow and dangerous The streets in that
part OF the city all laid out, wide and regular
on the map. In reality they are mere lanes, which
nothing but series after series or wallows and
chuck holes. which appear TO have few, II any, bot
toms to them.
After half an hours plunging and cursing and
advising the patrol wagons got far as they could,
and back OF them were stalled the enginesall, sew
eral hundred feet from the shore The policemen
tumbled out and through mud and mre, which
threatened TO suck their boots off, they made for
the shore. The hremen laid hose after much hard
work.
Did they effect any rescues? Must another chap
records of the brave deeds OF the citys policemen
and fremen? No. Conditions forbade, No steam
boat, not even rowboat, was on hre. No lives
were lmpered at all But on the edge of the
was fast disappearing in the devOuring flames Ii
never was worth much anyway
No gayly accoutTed British regiment marching
forth TO eat Its Christmas dinner in Pretoria and
was more discounted And II they looked any
the worse for and tear they retreated than
did the fremen and policemen OF The Bronx Just
then, the lot Of the defeated Britisher Is hard.