The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-02-10
ALL FIRE, THEN ALL ICE.
err RLoCH TURNED MTO 4 SEM-
NAME or FROZEN NIAGARA.

,,,. a roaring furnace Yesterday morning and
,,,- tina, tr a solid chunk Of ice. almost as
r,,,ursslue a. frozen Niagara. The nrp
tanned 10y a vintry blast. threatened great
Image II might have burned two or three
,Io,Ls in that rart OF the city. for the streets
,ne-s arc very narrow. but the Hremen. some
~, Them hardly more than cakes OF ice them
,sryss saved the dav. as they always do. and
s.r, the flames confined to the one block. Had
The buildings boon ANYTHING but OH Gretraps
soms off them we're nearly a hundred years old
Tho men would have done even better. But
~. Nre began in the rear Of q building and
,r-e,d tn the rear Of tho surrounding build
ice Lespng itself hidden. go that fighting II
,prcesstllly was tho most difficult Job mag.
Unable.
All the time the fire burned the water iroze
Il. strnrk the buildings. The fronts were
co7tsd with ice. frozen in patterns more deli
,ate than the finest lace. There were the ilg-
,,as tnat appear in a frost-covered window
name From the ]cornices and windov sills
huge lrlcles hung. They had frozen in the
mos, ']antastir shapes. as the wind had blown
Tho water in the process Of freezing. The fire.
s.capss held hundreds Of these ~icicles, some
- them that hung down the depth OF an entire
story Ladders that had been put up by the
aramen when thay first arrived were ~slanting
rillar- ~ ice. artistically carved by the gale.
There was no semblance u the ladder left.
The erace between the rungs was frozen solid.
and the ice continually forming made each
ladder three times Its original size. Here and
there hanging from the roofs was an electric
wire Each wire carried a burden OF ice a
foot in thickness moulded in fantastic shapes.
The elevated railroad structure in Front street
hung thick with icicles. There was hardly a
share that the wind could conJure up that was
not there. There were human forms and
forms II beasts. LANDSCAPES. rivers. mountains
and forests. There were immense palms.
there we're Jacobs ladders and bean stalks
s,uriier than Jack climbed
49, Moving slowly and clunsily around in the
street below were the tiremen carrying almost
their weight in ice. Icicles hang from their
hats. from their ears. from their eyebrows. In
Front street at . O'Clock there was one man
who. held a hose alone. lie stood in water To
his knees and was fast freezing where lie
wi'h a hole TO breathe through. His beard
was long and white. 1t seemed to be Of ice
and hung almost t. his Enees. HIS fire hat
'ivG when two other iiremen lifted him up and
carried him away, the ice that covered him
cracking as thew lifted him.
The picture was au ever-chanRing one. for
MS more water was poured on the fire II frDze
in Jew forms. \ i~iercer blast OF wind than
hNuh N'Hl' N'S'S NV - SNN SH'NL
ing almost "a quickly as II takes - tell IT. II
was a scene that those who saw will not for
The FIRE damage was estimated at OUU.
Thu ives Of loo girls were imperilled for =
time aud many tlremen were more or less seri-
oUsIy frostblttcIn, some OF them had TO goto
the hospital. Three Of the buildings in the
block were noteIs. Hartman's. the South Ferry
ard the Eastern. Another was a storage
warehouse where thousands OF bales OF hops
were stored. Another was y bag factory.
where the 80 girls worked. The others were
T..4tF Moi - tlaalAr- in - ~ la - .ni .Iaa1ayl So,
produce, The fire began in the basement in
the, rear Of Hartman's ami JUMPED from there
ST led T9S walker r' & Bell any it was SSu a Quarter sSte;
after ! O'Clock in the morning and the girls
had Igst got to work: Owing to the, character
q their work most OF them change their cloth
ing before beginning. and they were taking
their stations when the Ire came with n mighty
sweep driven by the wind. The workshop was
an the upper floors and the fire caught on the
lower floor aud in the shutting OH
escape n the street.
bat there were some cool headed young wo-
men IN the crowd. Annie Mahoney; the fore
T TTImsP' T Tas B Bmej i ws6 ba Was sG a nSy s sse,s
and he led the way To the cloakroom. where
The, girls could get their clothing. Jennie
wills, who helped 70 gather the girls together
went 10 the scuttle on the top moor and tried
10 break the fastening, but Il was, too much
for,h her She called Burke and he did break it
yss a story higher than the building next to
II and he jumped that story and called TO the
LAlt- 70 IulIp " MN Ic SNOPl tntTt anu
caught them one by one. Not one OF them
va hurt. some fifty got out this way. The
others had worked on lower floors and had
succeeded in getting TO the street By the stair,
before the place was filed with smoke and
flame. BurEe broke open the scuttle OF the
hUilding they were on and got the girls down
safely TO the street. Then he got back into
the burning quilting to make sure that there
was none left. on the third floor he found
worked in the factory. When the fire ao-
reared Kate. instead Of saying, herself. thought
lad been overcome by fright and smoke and
bad tainted and The older one vas carrying
wildered ard had lost her way. Burke lie her
- me FoGl and Jumped again to the roof OF
iNto his arms and nmped herself. and Burke
showed them the way to the street.
The fire, had gained considerable headwav
lnent- were suow-covered and slippery and
Ilnne engines had hard work making time.
tartment. the hydrnnts were nor frozen. The
terartment had the weather bureaus predic-
ton OF Il cold snap on Wedne sday and sent
men around 10 salt the hydrants.,
Inc chic. who came with the first alarm.
-aN that The fire was a dangerous one. and he
sent out a se"pnd and a third alarm. Besides
boats New Yorker and l;oh-rt 4. Van Wyck.
which pushed their noses right up 10 South
WAS seen that the tlru was spreading. and there
W-', t""hfS or more engines on land beSifsS
IN" n~rebohtE, which can each pump az much
water ~ three or four engines. Inspector
Ndam Gross came with the reserves from the
downtown precincts. 1870 in all. and fire lines
were established a block away The fourth
and NTH alarms brought Ambulan"es and sur
eeons. and It. wasn't long before they had their
lands tull thawinE out half-frozen iremen.
FROM the bag factory the fire spread 70 the
storage warehouse, and IL swept through that
quickly. The hrempn Tough. the Are from
hcihl below and above. They got on the roofs
y me, buildings in the block and poured water
IoNn matches. The streams from below struck
ne sides Of the buildings. and the water
tp.ashed.o ff:and was frozen instantly and came
GOWN Ike hal, cutting into the faces Of the
utemsn, the policemen, and the onlookers. The
stret was fIlcd with ice in an hour. and II he
gan 10 NE IN ~ pergs as II does at Niagara
N me winter. The tiremen could not hut
t-,'eT Nor could the. police. The men who
WORKED on the roofs Of the buildings had the
hardest time, for they got the fun sweep Of the
WIZ, and IN" water fsozs to them and stlfr-
uncA 4 half dozen men on tho tops Of the
'lu1llgs were ordered down. and they were
ruc"Ol and sim thar they could not obey the
.,tder 4 rescue party went IN and helped
mem down Al another time Barney Blair NJ
,1e nrehoa' robert \, Van Wyck was over,
ZONE hF smoke and cold and Il cpmpanon tried
I"aFfy hum - The ground He was 80 stin
n'm"f that he Dropped his burden a floor
S-'Ee the. street and Blair was nearly Killed