The morning news., 1899-12-31
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY. DECEMBER 81 1890
FIRE DID ITS WORK WELL.
LINDSAY & MORGAN's STORE SITE
A MASS OF BRICK AND MORTAR.


store of Daniel Hogan DismaBtled
and Gutted by the FLAMES and by
Water, and other stores In the
NeighbOrhOOd of Barnard ana
BrouEhton, Damaged by the
Flames Help. to Make Up the
scene of DesOIatIon-DangerOu
walls Pulled Down by Firemen.
streams Playing on the Ruins.
Insurance Mounts High Above
SIo0,0cO-HOw IL Is Distributed.
A pile Of brick and mortar, massed to-
gether in inextrlcable confusion, with here
and there a pool of water and a length Of
iron pipe, from all of which occasionally
arose portion of the old walls, marked
yesterday the site of the building in which
Lindsay & Morgan had, until the night
before, carried on the immense furniture
and carpet business that was theirs. 1t
was ruin. absolute and complete.
Untl the afternoon streams of water
were kept playing on the smoking walls,
to the end that they might not become
weakened by the heat and fall at an inop-
portune moment when the fall was least
ex ected, and cause additional destruction
of life and property. At the same time ef-
forts were being made to pull down the
higher walls left standing, and thus re-
move source of danger in which. there
was a constant menace. A portion of the
wall, as high as the original building, had
been left standing at the corner of Bar
nard street and Broughton lane, but it re-
sisted aA efforts to pull it down. AS fast
as the ropes hat were fastened TO IL were
tightened and anything approaching the
necessary force applied, they would break
and have TO be replaced with others. This
process was repeated until the firemen
were tired.
With the fire wall that separated the
store of Lindsay e. Morgan from that of
Geil & Quint, which had done such valiant
service in stopping the spread of the
flames, the fremen had better success
Urged on by the superintendent in per-
son and their movements directed by him
and AIDED by large force of volunteers,
the men attached ropes to various parts
of uhe wall and pulled with a will. After
"a long pull, a strong pull and pull to-
gether," the wall was seen to shake at IFS
highest point, then 1t toppled and fell.
Half of 1t only came down in the crash,
but this was sufficient TO remove the dan
ger, as il was this portion that seemed
to be unsteady and to be likely to fall Of
its own volition or by the force of a pass
ing wind. It's only effect on the sur
rouudings was TO fill the hole in the earth
with more brick and mortar and to give
the scene an appearance a tri1e more des-
olate than it had presented at first.
During the forenoon a successful ut
tempt was made to dig the safe of the firm
out of the ruins and expose 1t to view
but when 1t was finally exposed. lying
A1rr- 4 49,
the store where 1t had formerly stood, il
was too hot to be handled. A hole was
dug all around it and a stream Of water
turned on until the hole was filled in
this bath 1t was suffered to lie until the
afternoon.
Then a winch was secured and the eff
fort to get the safe up TO the level of the
street made. tt was found that the winch
was not large and strong enough, and the
work had to be abandoned for the time.
II will be renewed to-day or tomorrow,
it is hoped with better success.
The safe contains most of the books of
the firm of Lindsay & Morgan, the poll
cles of insurance and other valuable pa
pers. IL contains, indeed, everything re-
lating to the firms business with the ex-
ception of the comparative small num-
Der of the books that were taken out by
Mr.. Lindsay and his employees when they
became first aware of the existence of
Lindsay, would have to be secured before
it would be possible to fix accurately the
extent of the loss.
The store of Daniel Hogan, across Bar
nard street, is in a dsmantled condition.
The two floors that were burned are of
course, in a state of ruin, and the one be
low in not much better shape The ground
floor is gutted by water and the stock
appears to be so badly damaged that but
little can be saved. 1t is probable that
Mr.. Hogan Is a heavier loser by the fire
than his neghbors across the way, who
were fully protected by insurance. The
days and hours. though, bring additional
reports of policies that had been forgotten,
so that 1t is probable that so far as the
loss in stock goes none of the parties who
have suffered will lose as much as was al
first feared and believed.
The fronts of the buildings on the north
side of Broughton street, west of Barnard
to which the flames communicated during
the progress of the fire are badly burn
ed, Some thousands OF dollars will be
necessary to make good the damage, but
there is insurance to cover all, and from
the burning of the fronts of these build
ings their owners win sustain no loss The
same thing Is true of the damage TO the
stock of NJ. S. Brown, whose store ad-
joins Mr.. Hogans.