The sun., 1900-07-01


be under sixteen million" But he estimate
the loss on the burned boa's at $1,000. .OOc
which "a far out of the way.
THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRE.
Fire In bale Of cotton on Pier 3. the mos
soutterly Of the four piers belonging to tht
North German Lloyd Line. started the conha
grafton. II was few minutes after 4 O'Clock
wien o, l.. SpenRler. an employee OF the trans
portation company which handles the baggage
at the North German Lloyd piers, walked into
his company's ofice to count up and to carry
away the money which was there Looking
down the pier as he entered the offlce he saw a
bale Of cotton ablaze. Having worked abou,
the piers nearly all his life SpenRler realized a,
once that. with SO many more bales OF cotton
near the burning one. the pi,r and all property
on II were In danger. He at once so; nded ar
alarm which attracted the nttention Of a mum.
Der Of longshoremen on the pier.
The fire brigade Of the North G 'rm n Lloyd
Company got out a lin Of hose and began play.
ing on the burning cotton bnle. A strong wind
from the southwest vi blowing. and th' effect
OF lha, one line of lose was ike the pouring OF
cup Of water on the flames In a short time
the flames h2d spread TO other cotton bales. and
from them TO the structure Of the pier. and in
five minutes as il az pear d 10 those who were
Dtsr q va. aA and 70, hr
other.
FORTY MEN PURSUED sY THE FLAMES.
Capt. Max Mo"r. tho pier superintendent,
was In his osloe on Pier O. the next pier north to
the one where the fire started, attending 10 the
pa ying on OF lonsshoremsn. The Are was well
under way on Pier before he knew about it
Under his orders an alarm was turned In and
the Hoboksn Fire Department responded
He ran from his Office TO Pier g. fol-
lowed by about forty longshoremen. who were
waiting TO their money.
In trying 10 find out what the situation on
Pier was Capt. Moller and the men with him
became shut Of by the flames from tie yard in
iruat OF the isrs. and, seeing there was no way
out except BY the river he called to the long
shoremen TO follow him. They ran down to the
pier head. chused by the flames. and made their
escape by jumping to a lighter. From the
lighter they wers taken ashore by tug.
When the Fire Department arrived the
q mo, bod snra,d frop, pi.r north % ora %
Pier and we're racing for Pier /. The streams
from score Of lines of hose seemed to have no
more effect upon them. famed US they we're by
the strong wind. than had tie water turned on
TO the first cotton bale In less than twenty
every pier belonging to the North
German Lloyd Company was burning. as was
the pier Of the Thingvalla Line next on the
north.
EFFoRr TO SAVE THE SHIPS.
Four North German Lloyd liners were lying
at the piers. No ship was at either side Of the
pier on which the fire started On the south
side Of Pier 2 lay the Saale. On the opposite
side of that pier the Bremen was tied up. and
on the south side OF Pier lay the Kaiser VIII
helm der Crosse. On the north side Of Pier /
lay the Main, n brand-new ship which had
crossed the ocean n only twice.
As soon as It Was seen that a conhasration
was threatened the attention Of all the em-
ployees of the line was turned to saving the
ships. The great volume OF smoke which
skyward and was driven eastward by
the wind attracted the attention Of every tug
boat captain In that part Of the river The
stream imme diately In front OF the burning
piers soon swRrmsd with tugs. Two or Il rec
made for each Of the liners
The Kaiser was the first to connect with It's
tugs, but after they had made fast to her stern
her great steel hawsers were still holding her to
the pier. Already the heat had made 1t impos-
,ible for men to handle those hawsers and cast
hem loose from the mooring posts.
Chop the hawsers In two!" yelled some one
n the crowd,
II was the work OF only a moment to bring
lxes and stout arms began hacking away at the
teel ropes. One after another the hawsers
mapped in two. and slowly the great liner
moved out into the stream.
FLAMES ON THE KAIsER PUT OUT.
Before she was clear OF the pier. however. II
vas seen that her starboard bow was ahre.
rhe crow Immediately got to work on that part
II the vessel, and by the time she was well out
n the stream the fire was practically out. As
compared with the other ships the damage to
hls. the finest steamer Of the line and one Of
he finest In the world, was slight
AWFUL sIoHT ON THE sAALE
While the crew of the Kaissr Wilhelm der
irosse was at work on her the crews Of the
isae, the Bremen and the Main were doing
h.ir best to save those ships The Saale was
he next Of the four to get out into the river. As
he swung clear OF tho pier she was a mass Of
lame and smoke She was anre from stem TO
tern. Persons aNoat ard shore heard heart
nding cries from the men aboard. Suddenly
eada were seen at pvrt holes on the port side
nd then brawny arms were waving frantically
ut of the same holes. As the first head ap-
feared man on lighter near Pier yelled:
For Gods sake. somebody 20 to the Saalel
lot OF the crew are down In the hold
Tugs ran up as close to the burning vessel as
hey could and pixies were made fast TO some OF
he or; holes Desperate attempts were made
" those at the port holes TO get arm hold on
h. pixies. but 1t is feared that many
rho were In the Saale's hold when she